By Rachel Loe, December 4, 2023

What comes to mind when you think of December? Twinkling lights shining in your children’s eyes and the delicious aroma of gingerbread men? Steaming hot chocolate with a cozy blanket and nostalgia-filled Christmas films? Or maybe the thing that comes to mind is the stress-filled mayhem as the stores seem to sell out of the exact gift that someone has been begging for the last 6 months. Last-minute deadlines and demands at work to get everything done when it seems no one is in. End-of-year fatigue as the looming thought of missing out on family time because of the pressure to “finish strong” is in full force. Happy Holidays, this will be the annual cliché “reason for the season” blog. Things become “cliché” because there is truth that bears repeating. But I want to reflect on how we look at the holiday season as it relates to work (after all, this is a jobs blog). First, take a look at some original holidays.

Holidays, or holy days (roots in an Old English word that was first recorded in 950 AD, as hāligdæg (hālig for “holy” and dæg for “day”) are originally meant as a time to rest and remember what the Lord has done. There are eight feasts (the biblical term for holiday) in the Old Testament that were instituted directly by God. Each one is tied to remembering the Lord’s goodness, deliverance, and provision.

Sabbath – Shabbat: a day of the week set forth by God as a time to rest and gather to return thanks to Him. (Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:11)

Feast of Trumpets – Rosh Hashanah: The beginning of the ten days of repentance leading up to the Day of Atonement in which the people gather and rest (Leviticus 23:22-25)

Day of Atonement – Yom Kippur: The people gather, rest, and fast as the High Priest enters the Holy of Holies to make atonement for sin before the Lord (Leviticus 23:26-32, Hebrews 9:11-15)

Feast of Tabernacles – Succoth: The people build temporary booths (tents) and live in them for seven days as they gather and rest to remember how the Israelites lived as nomads after the Lord delivered them from Egypt (Leviticus 23:33-44)

Passover: The people sacrifice a lamb and share a meal with their family as they remember how the Lord delivered them from the final plague of the death of the firstborn in Egypt and how this led to their deliverance from Pharaoh (Leviticus 23:4-5)

Unleavened Bread – Chag HaMatzot: For seven days, the children of Israel eat no leavened bread.  On the first and last days, the people gather and do no “regular work” to remember how quickly they left Egypt (Leviticus 23:6-8)

Feast of First Fruits: On the first day after Passover, the children of Israel brought the first fruits of the spring harvest to the Lord as an offering to remind them who provided the harvest and who determines the outcomes (Leviticus 23:9-14)

Pentecost – Shavuot – Feast of Weeks: as the children of Israel brought the first fruits of the spring harvest, they also set aside a day to lay the first fruits of the summer harvest at the alter and then rest (Leviticus 23:15-22)

In these feasts or holidays, the Lord instructs His people to gather and do “no regular work” (Leviticus 23:7 ESV). From the beginning, God built a cadence of rest into His economy to remind us that we need to rest in Him. We are so quick to forget that we do not rely on our own strength, but our every breath is from the Lord. Western culture has been built on ingenuity, self-determination, grit, and hard work. These things are good and wonderful characteristics in moderation, but when they become the idols we bow to, our lives reflect the imbalance. So, as we enter this holiday season, remember why we take time from our work. Remember why we gather with those we love. Remember that this season, we celebrate the greatest gift and provision the Lord could have given us! His Son, becoming as us, that He might reconcile us to the Father by living the perfect life we could not and giving Himself as a blood atonement for our iniquities. And finally on the third day, defeating death and the grave as He rose and is alive even still at the Father’s right hand in constant intercession for us!

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about Him, and cried out, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (John 1:14-16 ESV)

So, this Advent season and Christmas, give thanks for all He has done, and don’t forget to rest!