Rest

As we have talked about the creative process, it is important to dream, to hover, to risk, to listen, and to re-integrate. It is also important to rest. Not like sleep or vacation, but stillness. Actually stopping. Which our society is not very good at, at least I know that I am not. What happens when we let go of the need to produce and control and let God be God. 

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Welcome to season four of Faith in the Cracks. I'm Pastor Karen Wright. Life has cracks, moments between activities, places where we feel fractured. This is the space where we listen for God in the ordinary moments of life, where we are reminded that just as cracks let things in, it's a space for light and love to shine through. So just like plants grow in the cracks of a sidewalk, let faith grow in the cracks of our lives, trusting that God is at work within us. Episode 30. Rest. There's a strange thing about rest. We know we need it. We want it, and yet sometimes we're really bad at it. We can be sitting perfectly still and still be working. Our bodies are on the couch, but our minds are making lists. What needs to happen tomorrow? What did I forget today? Who needs an email? What problem needs solving? Underneath all of it is an assumption. If I stop, everything might fall apart. And that's been part of this practice in drawn in that we've been doing is rest. And now this does not mean sleep or a vacation or just time to do something fun, which is all good, but the rest that says, I'm not responsible for holding everything together. The world will keep turning when I stop. And in Exodus 20, God gives Israel the command to keep the Sabbath, six days to labor, and the seventh day you shall rest, which is the creation narrative. And this command comes to a people who have just left slavery. Because enslaved people don't get to decide when they rest, their worth is measured by production. Value is connected to what they can accomplish. But God does something radical. God says, rest. In the wilderness, God has said, you're not slaves anymore. You don't have to prove your worth through production. You don't have to earn a place, you don't have to keep producing to belong. You can stop. It's a reminder that God is God and we are not. Which sounds obvious, but I need a reminder, because I can too easily slip into believing that everything depends on me. The church, my family, the people I care about. I need to fix things. And then I carry the entire weight of the world on my shoulders. But God says, put it down. They matter, but they were never ours to carry alone. So that's part of the beauty of the drawn-in practices with dreaming, hovering, risking, listening, reintegrating, and now rest. We have to stop and recognize that our best work cannot be sustained without rest. Ministry needs a Sabbath, creativity needs space, love needs breathing room, faith needs silence. And sometimes the most faithful thing to do is nothing. To be still, to listen, to dream of what is next. So if we believe that God is at work, if we believe that God's grace is bigger than my effort, that I'm loved for who I am and not what I can accomplish, then I can rest. I can let email wait, I can leave dishes, I can stop solving problems, I can take a walk without it being merely exercise. I can sit outside and just notice the world. I can be, and I can be still. And perhaps I can remember. I'm more than what I do. You see, that's that crack between human being and human doing. Because the world tells us, be more, do more, accomplish more, make yourself indispensable, and God says, be still and know that I am God. Come and rest. You are already beloved. You don't have to earn it, you don't have to prove it, you don't have to finish everything. Just receive it. So see if this week you can find a time to deliberately stop. Not catch up, not multitask, not to be productive. Just stop. And when the little voice in the back of your head says you really should be doing something, just remember God is God. I am not. I can rest. I can be still and know that God is God. So that's what Sabbath gives us is a weekly reminder that the world is held together by something stronger than us. It's a time to reset and rest our souls, to loosen our grip, and to trust that God's work does not depend entirely on us. And that when we find a time to quit trying to hold everything together, we discover God is holding us. Until next time. Thanks for listening. New podcasts are released every Monday. If you like the show, share it with a friend, or scroll to the bottom of the episode description and support the show for the cost of a cup of coffee once a month. You can also check out my webpage at faithinthecracks.com. As you go through your week, remember you are a child of God and you are loved. May God seep into the cracks and bring forth new life.