"The Sabbath was given as a gift to bless us and allow us to lift our eyes from the pressures of daily life to imagine the world as God would have it to be. We are fools to have been distracted into thinking about Sabbath as a set of rules for things you can't do. Each week the Sabbath would be like a celebration of the completion of creation. It may be that the primary task of any religion is to give its people space to imagine a better world. Such reflective space is certainly in short supply today as we work even harder in our restless pursuit of a wealth that is destroying the earth and our own souls. It's as if we have forgotten to rest in a restorative way. We can pursue our interests, drive our cars to shopping malls, or zone out in front of the TV, but are we actually finding the healing and hope we crave, Biblical faith encouraged people to rest and so made space for dreaming. And a dream arose."

Chris Sunderland, The Dream That Inspired The Bible, Bristol, EarthAbbey Publishing, 2009, p 25