The Gift: What the Sabbath means to me - BELIEFS - BIBLICAL TOPICS - BOOKS - Adventist Book Centre Australia [with ABC Christian Books, Better Books and Food and Christian Life Resources]

The Gift: What the Sabbath means to me

When God gave the Sabbath to humanity, He was modeling the best possible way of benefiting His creation.

The gift of the Sabbath addresses our deepest and most basic needs: rest, fellowship, belonging, spiritual nourishment, and direction. The editors and writers of this collection of personal stories and reflections are telling us, “Come and see.”

Authors: Nikolaus Satelmajer, Sheryl Beck, Steve D. Cassimy, Abraham J. Jules, Ainsworth Keith Morris, Ruth I. (Nutter) Satelmajer

Reviews and Endorsements


[ Bookshelf Review ]

In his introduction to The Gift, Nikolaus Satelmajer—retired editor of Ministry magazine and one of the book’s six editors—describes his most treasured possession—a plain old aluminium suitcase. It doesn’t look like anything special, he says, and it is probably less functional than many suitcases on the market these days. But it’s priceless to him because his dad made it from aeroplane scrap after World War II, when Nikolaus and his parents were in a Communist concentration camp. His dad made many such suitcases to give to the guards, hoping to receive better treatment for his family. But his father gave this one to him. The simple old suitcase reminds Satelmajer how much his parents loved him. “Likewise,” he writes, “the Sabbath is a gift from God who loves us.” The 168 short stories about the Sabbath in this book are in many ways as unassuming as that old suitcase. Written by people from across the world, ranging in age from children to the elderly, the stories reflect a variety of experiences—some remarkable, some challenging, some joyful, some simple and humble. But that is what makes them special. They are experiences. This is not a book of doctrinal exegesis, but a book about the many ways that Sabbath is special to us as Adventists. The stories are broken up into six sections that focus on different aspects of the Sabbath: rest; worship; community; witness; joy and jubilation; and benefits. I enjoyed reading through a selection of them on a rainy Friday afternoon, with the Sabbath approaching. You might enjoy using them to open or close Sabbath, for family worship or devotional reading, to complement personal or group study about the Sabbath—or sharing the book as a gift. For readers who wish to delve deeper into the biblical teaching of the Sabbath, The Gift concludes with a useful list of books and other resources for further study. For others, perhaps it will be refreshing just to read the stories and see the Sabbath—which we might sometimes undervalue, like an old suitcase—take on gentle beauty as we remember the love with which it was given. —Lauren Webb, assistant book editor, Signs Publishing