The following is one of some 17 additional articles (beyond the top three winners) accepted in our 1998 AnchorPoints Essay Contest for young writers. It’s the last one in the series—Editors.

or a long time Sabbath was just one of those things that my family did each week. It had little impact on my life. Then in the summer of 1995 God sent us on a long trip to Hawaii that drastically changed my view on quite a few matters—including the Sabbath.

The church we now attend is a tiny, aging cluster of buildings in the middle of town. A common saying among the church members is “The church stays up only because the termites are holding hands.” There’s a Japanese Hongwanji Mission on one side and a Burger King across the street.

One of the first lessons that I learned about the Sabbath was this: Sabbath is not controlled by where you have your church service.
A good example is my youth class. We meet under a tree next to the fellowship hall, with the kitchen windows right above us. Our class ends when the little kids start running around and the women start crashing pots and pans. When it rains we look around until we find an empty corner in which we can have our class. Sometimes we end up between the kindergarten and junior classes. Sometimes we find ourselves right in front of the main entrance to the sanctuary. But you see, that’s OK. Church is supposed to be a place for growing closer to God and our fellow Christians. Sitting in a huddle sharing your prayer requests and answers to prayer seems to be quite conducive to such growth.

The second lesson: “Church family”
can be more than just an old cliché.
You know that phrase “The family that prays together stays together”? It’s true of a church family, too. My church family prays together. We sing, talk, and work together, and we listen to each other. Right now I’m faced with the possibility of leaving the island of Kauai. I can take my biological family with me, but I will have to leave my church family behind. That’s a painful thought! My church family may not be perfect—but what family is? I have a place in this family. I’m part of the body.

Lesson three: Church is not a performance.
It’s easy to go to church and criticize the production. “What is taking the deacons so long? Did they lose the offering plates again?! That little kid is so distracting. Can you believe the children’s storyteller didn’t show up?” But wait, did the slow deacons really hamper my relationship with God? Did the squirming child interrupt my Christian walk? Can I sit comfortably in my pew each week and point fingers at the people who are striving to give me a pleasant worship experience?

Sometimes we have to really focus on getting a blessing from the church service.  It’s often difficult not to become distracted by lengthy announcements and mix-ups on the platform. God is more than willing to help us with this, enabling us to keep our eyes fixed on Him throughout our time in church.

One thing that has helped me gain a blessing from the church service is getting involved. Being involved means I’m contributing something to the service, not just trying to get something out of it. Usually the giving ends up benefiting me in the form of extra Sabbath blessings! Also, I’ve realized that the job of the person up front is to lead the family in praise.  They’re not just there to praise while the congregation merely watches.

Even when we’re not up front we can still be involved. Remember the time the Israelites were rebuilding Jerusalem and they asked Ezra to read the Book of the Law of Moses?  “So on the first day of the second month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon. . . . And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law” (Neh. 8:2, 3, NIV).

“Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, ‘Amen! Amen!’” (verses 5, 6, NIV). “Then all the people went away . . . to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them” (verse 12, NIV).

Isn’t that amazing! Those people weren’t sitting around trying to stay awake. They were praising right along with Ezra.  They weren’t just listening; they were worshiping.

Lesson four: Sabbath doesn’t end
when church is over.
Isaiah 58:13, 14 says, “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight . . . and if you honor it by not going your own way . . . or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord” (NIV).

Seventh-day Adventists Believe . . . The beneficent Creator, after the six days of Creation, rested on the seventh day and instituted the Sabbath for all people as a memorial of Creation. The fourth commandment of God’s unchangeable law requires the observance of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and ministry in harmony with the teaching and practice of Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of delightful communion with God and one another. It is a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our sanctification, a token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal future in God’s kingdom. The Sabbath is God’s perpetual sign of His eternal covenant between Him and His people. Joyful observance of this holy time from evening to evening, sunset to sunset, is a celebration of God’s creative and redemptive acts—-Fundamental Belief No. 19. Here’s a complete listing of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s 27 Fundamental Beliefs.

Isaiah isn’t talking about keeping the church service holy; he’s talking about the whole day. His advice is tough to follow and can be especially challenging for people my age. Lately, however, my friends and I have been trying to truly honor the Sabbath. We use our after-church time to praise God with music, make cards for sick people, or have an informal Bible study. Often several families from our church go to sing at the hospital or care home, or walk along a beach. I’ve discovered that the effort to keep the Sabbath really pays off. When I spend Sabbath afternoon either helping others or building up my relationship with Christ, I end the day feeling that it was worthwhile and that I really did something.

One final lesson—and one I’m still learning:  There is only one right way to keep the Sabbath, and that’s from the heart.
I don’t think keeping the Sabbath is an issue of what activities we can or cannot do. The religious leaders in Jesus’ time kept all kinds of rules and avoided any activity that even came close to being “un-Sabbatical.”  However, keeping the rules doesn’t necessarily mean you’re keeping the Sabbath. Either you’re sincerely honoring the Sabbath by doing things to grow closer to God and to bless the people around you, or you’re not keeping the Sabbath at all.

Don’t forget the rest of Isaiah 58:14: “Then the Lord will be your delight, and I will see to it that you ride high, and get your full share of the blessings I promised to Jacob, your father. The Lord has spoken” (TLB).

These are the lessons from the Sabbath I’ve learned and am learning.  Have they made a difference in my life, in my relation to the Sabbath? You bet! Now I have a church family—and I belong.  I realize now that God has a place and a job for me and that He’s going to work with me to fulfill the requirements.  I’m beginning to understand the impact that Sabbath can have on my own life, and I look forward to its amazing blessings each week.

Think about it. I’m just an average teenager, but I’ve had some totally awesome experiences with the Sabbath! The Sabbath is such a cool gift from God.  It’s a day for really living!

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When she wrote this article, Lainey Cronk was a 16-year-old home-school student who had just moved from the island of Kauai, Hawaii, to Angwin, California.