"Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity" Discussion: Chapter 5
Posted by tom | Jul 31, 2011“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.” (Matt. 11:28 MSG)
Today, the Disciples Fellowship Group at Elizabethtown Brethren in Christ will discuss Chapter 5, Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity (Keri Wyatt Kent. Zondervan. 2009).* Building upon
- "Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity" Discussion: Intro/Chapter 1
- "Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity" Discussion: Chapter 2
- "Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity" Discussion: Chapter 3, Part 1
- "Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity" Discussion: Chapter 3, Part 2
- "Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity" Discussion: Chapter 4, Part 1
- "Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity" Discussion: Chapter 4, Part 2
Theresa prepared the below material to facilitate the conversation (Note: study posted in PDF here). You'll note how our fellowship group's consideration of Rest has themes similar to what is found in Theresa's God at Work Testimony (6/19/2011). Feel free to share your thoughts with us by comments, email, personal conversation ...
Rest
By Keri Wyatt Kent
Disciples Fellowship Group Summer 2011
Chapter 5: Pausing: A Retreat from Our 24/7 World
Describe a typical day. Do you have time to pause in the midst of it?
“Our lives are meant to be lived in a rhythm of work and rest. . . . If we don’t see the things we do each day as important work, we’re less likely to think we might need to take a day off. . . . Ironically, because we don’t think of what we do as work, we never stop working. (p. 130) We must make a decision to step off the treadmill even as it continues to move.
Rhythm is not just random pounding and shaking. It is not silence either — it is the combination of engaging and pausing. “We must learn the rhythm that God has wired into us, and to begin, we must pause. . . . But pausing does not mean never going again. We need to stop but then move again. Pausing is a practice that will bring sense to our lives if we practice it more than once a week.” (p. 133)
Does a typical day for you have a rhythm to it?
Pausing is not the same as collapsing. It is intentional. Fully engage, fully disengage. Multitasking erodes our efficiency while increasing stress. Suggestion: rather than doing many things at once, break your day into chunks. Focus on just one thing, even if it’s only for 20 minutes. (p. 135-136)
Take a lesson from your body: a normal breath consists of 3 actions: inhalation, exhalation, and pause. The pause is about as long as the inhalation and exhalation combined. Even your heart rests. The key to endurance and strength is resting on a regular basis. (p. 138-139)
Allow enough margin in your life to be interruptible.
“Ceasing is different from resting. Ceasing is pausing, choosing not to do what could be done. . . . Sabbath calls us to cease from not only work, productivity and accomplishment but also anxiety and worry.” (p. 143)
“Sabbath-keeping is deeply connected to our homes. . . . In the Jewish tradition, Queen Sabbath is welcomed not in the temple but in the home, not by a priest but by the woman of the house. (Sabbath) is a spiritual home of sorts.” When the Jews did not have a sacred space to call their own, they found refuge in a sacred time. (p. 144)
How is your home connected to your sense of Sabbath?
“The seasons of life in which Sabbath-keeping seems impossible are the seasons you need it the most.” (p. 147)
In practicing Sabbath we also have the opportunity to experience God’s unconditional love. “We can say, ‘God loves me no matter what,’ all we want, but if we are always working, striving, running, we don’t experience that truth, live in it.” Work does not earn God’s favor. He loves us unconditionally. (p. 149)
The Sacramental Ordinary: moments between the extraordinary. In the liturgical calendar, the sacramental ordinary are the times between the Christmas and Easter seasons. “Sacramental-ordinary moments are usually unplanned, serendipitous. We’re more likely to have them (or notice them) if we create the right conditions for them, if we open ourselves to the possibility for them. We need to create some space for God to show up in our day.” (p. 152)
“Take time is an interesting phrase. Rather than having it taken from me or feel as if it is slipping through my fingers, I take time, like the gift that it is. . . . I take hold of time, embrace it, play with it. In so doing, I recover the joy that I thought I’d lost.” (p. 154-155)
