1

Covenant Connections

Remembering Sabbath II

Feb 8, 2020

by Van Herring

“The church should be a place to improve yourself, not a place where you must prove yourself.”

Montreat 2020, was a time of Sabbath rest. This Montreat was one of the most applicable and relevant lessons for college kids in the past few years. That’s because this year talked about something most college kids, particularly us at Furman struggle with; which is resting and taking Sabbath.

We had the privilege of listening to and learning from a variety of speakers who taught us so many wonderful lessons. While not all the speakers shared the same definition of what Sabbath should be for Christians; we were given a variety of definitions and taught how to define it for ourselves. We heard about the beauty of the Jewish Sabbath and how Jews will avoid tearing things, to mimic how God did not change creation on the Sabbath; so, neither should we. We also learned that Sabbath is in invitation to rest with God in an intimate way, not a time to store energy so you can be productive later. Rather, we decided Sabbath should be intentional time to focus on your relationship with God, which can look slightly different for different people. We heard important lessons about how the church should be a place to improve yourself, not a place where you must prove yourself.

Not only did we have these wonderful learning opportunities but we also got to bond with the other Ukirk’s from South Carolina. We had several mutual connections that led to the blossoming of friendships across the conference that ended with a snowball fight on the last night! These few days truly were a time of rest and reflection, to restore our spiritual energy and renew our love and faith in God.

-Van is a Senior at Furman University. He is a religion and communications major. Van is from Mooresville, NC.