Young at Heart Message

I’d like to start today’s message with an opportunity for storytelling.

The last time I had us take time to share stories and talk with one another, you all seemed to find that helpful and enjoyable so I thought we would try it again today.
​
I would like us to take 10 minutes to get together in groups of 4-5 people and be in conversation with each other.
 
The topic I would like you to discuss is this:
 
Name a person or people at Good Shepherd Church who made you feel welcome, cared for, or seen, and share what they did or said to make you feel that way.
 
If you are new here or visiting, or do not wish to share, it is OK to just listen to the other stories.
 
Make sure to give everyone who wishes to share a chance to do so.
 
By a show of hands, how many of you shared a story about another member of the church?
 
How many shared a story about a pastor of the church?
 
I would be shocked if the majority of you had shared a story about a pastor being that person who made you feel welcome, cared for, or seen.
 
The reason isn’t because pastors are inherently unfriendly or unwelcoming, of course.
 
The reason is because pastors come and go throughout the life of a church, but the church members are the ones who do so much of the work to care for one another over the course of years.
 
It is a stark reminder for all of us that what makes this church special, and what welcomes people here is all of you.
 
It is, in my opinion, the beauty of the church as a whole and the value of being part of a church community.
 
There is joy in being seen not just by church leadership, but by those familiar faces of “the crowd.”
 
Which is exactly what Jesus does for the bleeding woman who touches his clothes.
 
The Message

In today’s passage from the Gospel of Mark, we heard two stories: a story of healing, and a story of resurrection.

I want to talk about the story of the healing of the bleeding woman.

More specifically, I want to talk about the significance for this woman not just of being healed, but of being seen.
 
The passage tells us that this unnamed woman has been bleeding and in pain for 12 years.
 
It doesn’t tell us the cause of the bleeding, but it is a fair assumption that it likely has to do with a menstrual disorder or a pregnancy-related injury.
 
If this is indeed her injury, it likely makes her infertile.
 
Therefore, based on the ancient understandings of anatomy, menstruation, and ritual purity, her womb is no longer a source of life.
 
This is likely a cause for shame in her culture, and therefore, this woman has likely been cast aside by society.
 
Alternatively, she may have placed herself on the sidelines, out of sight and out of mind, if she held onto feelings of shame around her condition.
 
So, when she approaches Jesus to try to receive healing, she does so while trying not to be seen or noticed. She hopes to simply touch Jesus, receive healing, and fade back into the crowd.
 
But, what actually happens is that she is immediately cured, and Jesus notices her.
 
More accurately, he feels the energy she takes from him for her healing, and he turns to find out who touched his clothes.
 
Trembling with fear, she kneels before him to admit that it was her who touched him.
 
Jesus does not punish her as she fears he would. Instead, he tells her that she has been healed.
 
He publicly commends her faith and even goes so far as to call her “daughter.”
 
She enters the scene alone, in fear and in secrecy.
 
She departs the scene having been dignified and praised by Jesus, all while her neighbours witness.
 
This woman, who has most likely been cast aside for 12 years due to her ailment, now experiences the joy of being seen.
 
This passage is a good example of the need that humans have to be loved, cared for, and acknowledged.
 
And our storytelling earlier is a good example of the ways that churches and communities can provide that care and love and acknowledgement.
 
Many people walk into churches feeling like the bleeding woman.
 
Perhaps they are not literally bleeding, but many people enter churches with a feeling of brokenness – seeking something beyond themselves.
 
Many people desire to be seen – not necessarily in the limelight, but on a human level.
 
People want to be cared for, loved, noticed, and welcomed.
 
Through their uncertainty, their pain, and their brokenness, people simply want to be seen for who they truly are.
 
Jesus gives this woman so much more than physical healing – he gives her emotional and spiritual healing as well.
 
He creates an opportunity to demonstrate for the crowd “holistic healing” – he shows them what it looks like not just to heal her ailment, but to fulfill a basic human need that everyone has - to be seen and cared for beyond our physical bodies.
 
Jesus extends his love beyond what this woman ever expected.
 
And, many of the stories you all shared earlier have done something similar.
 
You have given each other that deep sense of holistic healing in the form of welcome, noticing, and acknowledgement.
 
You have loved and accepted one another, despite uncertainty, fear, pain, brokenness, or any other insecurities you may have had walking into a new church.
 
So, as we remember the story of the bleeding woman, may we also remember that while Jesus provides healing in many ways, we can provide similar healing to others, as well.
 
By seeing one another for who we are and loving each other, remembering the final words of the Moravian Motto - “In all things, love,” we can do for others what Jesus did for this woman.
 
The Good News of today’s message is this: You are loved. You are cared for. You are seen.
 
And, together, we are love. Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
Creator God, we are so grateful that you sent your son Jesus Christ to show us how to love and care for others around us. We pray that you would continue to help us live our lives by the mantra “In all things, Love.” We are grateful for this church community that has been so welcoming and loving, allowing us to be seen for who we truly are, living into our true selves as you created us to be. In your holy name we pray. Amen.

Young at Heart Message

Today, we’re talking about the story of Job.

In the spirit of this story, I thought it might be helpful to illustrate the story using a parallel story.
​
So, I’d like to share a story written from the point of view of none other than Kanyon the Bernese Mountain Dog.
​
Here is a picture of him to put us into his story, and then I’ll let him take it from there:

I have an AMAZING life!
 
I am such a good boy, and I know this because my mom tells me every day.
 
I get two delicious meals a day, I have access to bones to chew on all the time, I get to walk around the neighbourhood and meet up with my friends almost every day, and I get to run off leash all the time.
 
I think I am a pretty wealthy dog, in terms of dog wealth anyway.
 
No amount is too much to pay for my dog food. At least, that’s what mom tells me.
 
I get to go to daycare sometimes, and honestly, someone always picks up after me when I use the “bathroom.” I mean come on – how many of you can say that?! You can’t get any richer than that!
 
I am so wealthy and my life is so good because I’m such a good boy – I listen to my mom (most of the time), and I never do anything bad (most of the time).
 
So, imagine my surprise when one day, mom picked up all the bones, and said I couldn’t have any food, and I couldn’t go play with my friends, and it rained on my head.
 
And then, to make matters worse, my mom took me to this place where they shaved the hair on my belly, put me to sleep, and when I woke up, I was sore and in pain and wearing this horrible plastic thing around my neck.
 
What on EARTH could I have done to deserve this?
 
I don’t think I did anything wrong, ever.
 
Mom always said I was a good boy. Did she lie?
 
Things didn’t get better when I got home. She still wouldn’t let me eat, or play with my friends, or chew my bone, or run around at all.
 
I couldn’t get comfortable because of the silly plastic thing around my neck.
 
On top of ALL of that, my nemesis came out of the closet, made loud noises, and sucked up all my hair that I worked so hard to dispense on the floor.
 
I asked my sister Lacey why I was getting treated so horribly, and why she was still allowed to eat, and chew, and go for walks.
 
She told me that I must have done something wrong for mom to treat me so poorly.
 
She guessed that I probably wasn’t as good of a boy as I thought I was.
 
WHAT?! I am such a good boy! I’ve always been a good boy. This just isn’t a reasonable answer.
 
Mom is just being mean to me for the sake of being mean. I know it.
 
In fact, I want to give mom a piece of my mind. I want to get her to answer for these crimes against me!
 
This isn’t right!
 
Lacey says I must have been a bad dog, but I don’t know how or when. I just don’t think it’s possible.
 
I cursed my mom over and over, howling about how awful she was being and how I didn’t deserve such treatment.
 
I’ve always been a good dog. I’ve never done anything wrong. Ever.
 
I don’t deserve this. Why doesn’t she just end this. My life is horrible and I don’t see a point in it.
 
I had a great life, and now I don’t. It’s awful. I can’t stand it anymore.
 
And then finally, mom answered my howls.
 
She told me that sometimes, life is bigger than what I know or could understand.
 
I wasn’t being punished for being a bad dog originally, but I was kind of being a bad dog now. I mean, I admittedly was blaming her for things that she says were out of her control.
 
It doesn’t seem that way to me though. It seems like she’s doing this to me intentionally.
 
But she says the world is bigger than me.
 
It’s not my fault, but it’s not her fault either, and there are things about the world that I just can’t understand.
 
So, I guess I should let her off the hook.
 
Maybe she doesn’t think I’m a bad dog. Maybe I just don’t understand why this had to happen to me.
 
Maybe, tomorrow will be a little better than today.
 
And maybe the next day, even a bit better.
 
And maybe mom does still love me, and wasn’t trying to be mean just for the sake of being mean.
 
I guess only time will tell.
 
The Message

If you couldn’t tell, Kanyon’s tale of misery and despair, from his perspective, was supposed to parallel to some extent the story of Job.

In preparation for today’s sermon, I actually read the entire book of Job.
​
The passage that we heard today was God’s response to Job, which comes only after 37 other chapters of lament, complaining, and arguments with Job’s friends.
 
In a long nutshell, here’s what happens in the book of Job:
 
Job's life starts out very well - he's wealthy, he’s honest inside and out, he’s a man of his word, totally devoted to God, and he hated evil with a passion.
 
He had 7 sons and 3 daughters, 7000 head of sheep, 3000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, 500 donkeys, and a huge staff of servants. He was the most influential man of the East!
 
After we learn this about Job, we see an interesting exchange happen between God and Satan.
 
God sings Job’s praises to Satan, and Satan responds by saying “well sure, but you pamper him like a pet, and you bless everything he does! He can’t lose!”
 
Satan bets that if God took everything away from Job, Job would end up cursing God. Essentially, Satan claims that Job is only good because he’s blessed.
 
So God tells Satan fine, take away everything Job has and see what happens.
 
Job responds to having all of his possessions and riches taken away by not sinning or blaming God.
 
So God tells Satan “see! He’s still good and still doesn’t sin or curse me!”
 
And Satan says yeah well, I bet if you took away his health too, he would curse you.
 
So God gives Satan permission to take away his health, but not kill him.
 
Now, I find this part of the story troubling, because it implies an indifferent God – a God who messes with people’s lives or tests them for his own amusement.
 
This doesn’t seem like something a loving God would do.
 
But, we have to keep in mind that the theological perspective at this time was that God micromanaged people’s lives.
 
So, in the prevailing worldview, this isn’t odd.
 
So, Satan strikes Job with horrible itchy sores that were oozing and uncomfortable.
 
And Job’s wife asks him why he doesn’t just curse God and be done with it.
 
I imagine that Job’s wife is suffering terribly at this point as well, considering the losses they have both experienced.
 
Job responds to her initially by saying “we take the good days from God, why not also the bad days.”
 
This seems like an odd response – it makes Job appear incredibly devoted to God initially, despite the terrible things that have happened to him.
 
But, he also hasn’t been dealing with the ailments for all that long yet.
 
At this point in the story, Job’s three friends come to join him, and they sit with him for 7 days and 7 nights in silence, until finally Job speaks.
 
And when Job speaks, he cries out, wondering what the point of life even is at this point.
 
The bulk of the rest of the Book of Job is Job arguing with his friends as they try to argue in various ways that he must have done something to deserve this treatment.
 
And Job keeps stubbornly responding to their arguments saying how awful they are treating him.
 
He also continually complains that he should be able to put God on trial to answer for these things that have happened to him.
 
Finally, we come to chapter 38. We read verses 1-11 today – the first time God directly responds to Job’s accusations.
 
And what we hear from God isn’t exactly a satisfying response if you put yourself in Job’s shoes.
 
The theology of the day is such that God directly intervenes in people’s lives.
 
So when God replies with more of a cosmological answer, we as readers feel perhaps a bit frustrated.
 
God essentially tells Job that he’s talking a lot about things he knows nothing about.
 
Then, God goes on to list a whole bunch of questions for Job, which begins to put things into perspective.
 
He asks first “where were you when I created the earth? Tell me, since you know so much!”
 
God asks a lot of questions like:
 
"Who do you suppose carves canyons for the downpours of rain," "Do you know the first thing about the sky's constellations and how they affect things on Earth?", "Can you teach the lioness to stalk her prey and satisfy the appetite of her cubs?”
 
Job responds and says he's ready to shut up and listen. God continues with more questions: "Do you presume to tell me what I'm doing wrong? Are you calling me a sinner so you can be a saint? I'll gladly step aside and hand things over to you - you can surely save yourself with no help from me!"
 
Job finally says "I'm convinced: You can do anything and everything. Nothing and no one can upset your plans.”
 
The story ends by God blessing Job once again and “restoring him.”
 
Whew! What a story!
 
As I briefly mentioned, this story evidenced the theology of the time - that God has total control over our lives and can bless us and take away our blessings on a whim.
 
Ultimately though, what this story is conveying is that God is so much vaster and more mysterious than we could ever understand.
 
Our human nature is rather selfish - we can only understand God in terms of how our own lives are affected.
 
This theological assumption that God blesses those who are good and righteous, and God punishes those who are sinful is problematic and closed-minded.
 
For example, Pat Robertson publicly announced that the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 was caused by the people of Haiti's "pact with the devil." 
 
This theology assigns moral blame for natural disasters.
 
It allows those who were not affected to believe that God somehow spared them because of their moral superiority, while the people of Haiti were being punished because of their sinfulness.
 
The story of Job in a lot of ways highlights this type of theology, so I can see where someone like Pat Robertson, who claims to read the Bible literally, might read this story and say "see, God punishes those who are sinful and blesses those who are righteous.”
 
But, we have to remember that this story was written and shared in a time and place when humanity's understanding of the world and of God was very different.
 
This story happened well before Jesus was sent to humanity. Jesus teaches a theology that is very different than this - he offers grace and takes away this mentality that God is to blame for all things that happen to us - good or bad.

It is hard for me to believe, and therefore would be almost impossible to preach, that God works the way the people in Job's time thought God worked.
 
How could a loving God play with people's lives in the way described in Job?
 
God's response reflects the theology of the time, but the greater point God makes in the reply to Job is that we cannot possibly understand how God works in our world.
 
The story of Job is an attempt to understand something that is not understandable.
 
God created a world of intricacies in which our individual lives are part of a much larger, far more vast system - a small part of the grand cosmos of God's design.
 
It is not that our lives are insignificant, it is that our lives are part of something so much greater than ourselves.
 
Blaming God when bad things happen, or blaming our own sins, diminishes God to a being that micromanages everything, and reduces the impact of free will on our lives.
 
It's not that God doesn't care about us. God joins us in both our pain and our joy, and walks with us, and occasionally even carries us through the hard times.
 
God doesn't punish us in the way Job and others in this time period thought.
 
When we consider all of God's creation, and not just our own lives, we can see hope and joy in the way that all of creation is connected, and in the fact that we are connected to everyone and everything else in ways we could never fully comprehend.
 
And, no matter what we think, no matter what anyone says, God loves us and offers us grace through all of it. Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
God of all Creation, sometimes the storms frighten us and we cry to you. Sometimes our challenges are great and we tremble. Sometimes the storms are around us, and sometimes they are within. Speak your word of peace to us, so that we may endure our storms and face our difficulties with peace and faith. We open our hearts to your grace.  Amen.
 
Prayer from Unfolding Light, https://unfoldinglight.net/2009/12/01/ot-12-pe-4/

Young at Heart Message

At the Winter Craft Sale this past year, I bought a cute little pinstriped glass skull with a cutting of a plant in it that had just started to grow roots.
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I no longer have the glass skull, but the cutting looked a lot like this:

​In fact, I clipped this cutting on Friday in order to illustrate my sermon today, so this is a fresh cutting taken just a couple days ago.
 
Plants are quite incredible when you really think about it.
 
I know those of you who are gardeners may not be as impressed as I am, but let this black-thumbed person tell you about my journey with this little cutting from last year’s Winter Craft Sale.
 
I was pretty proud of myself that I kept the cutting alive, to be honest with you.
 
I did very little. More accurately, I did nothing except add water to the glass skull when it was getting low.
 
This little cutting kept growing roots despite what came close to plant neglect.
 
After several months – all winter and most of the spring – I started to notice that the little plant’s few leaves were falling off.
 
The roots had gotten to the point where they pretty much filled the little glass skull, but it had lost all but the top two leaves.
 
I also noticed, however, that it was sprouting tiny baby leaves just at the point where the stem stuck out of the water.
 
Now, knowing almost nothing about plants, I thought that maybe it was time I actually planted the little cutting in soil.
 
It seemed to me that the worst that could happen is… well, that it didn’t survive the move to soil.
 
So, I went and bought soil I thought might work. I figured I couldn’t go wrong with standard house plant soil.
 
On one of the first nice-ish spring days that we had – sometime in March or April – I decided to transfer the little cutting with all of its roots and its two little leaves to soil.
 
And I’m happy to report that today, just a few short months later, this is what my plant looks like:

When I read today’s scripture describing a person who simply scattered seeds on the ground and then did nothing else to cultivate them, I knew I had to share the story of my little plant.
 
This little plant survived my neglect and kept growing more and more roots despite me not paying any real attention to it.
 
But it thrived once I started taking a more active role in its care.
 
In our scripture reading today from the Gospel of Mark, we heard about someone who simply scattered seeds, but did not actively care for or cultivate those seeds.
 
And despite the neglect of the person who scattered the seeds, those seeds sprouted and grew.
 
But, I wonder what would have happened if the person who scattered the seeds would have helped them thrive?
 
The Message

Today’s parables from Jesus are notoriously difficult to preach, believe it or not.

It certainly seems like there should be some good metaphors to lean on from the passage.

And yet, it presents difficulty because the parables aren’t as clear as Jesus usually is.
​
He is talking about the Kingdom of God, a mystery in itself, using parables that don’t really seem to provide any more clarity to the concept.
 
And yet, we can still gain some insights from these stories.
 
What if the Kingdom of God was not some mysterious, far-off land of opportunity, but instead the world in which we live right here and now?
 
Would knowing this cause us to live our lives differently than we currently do?
 
It might be hard to believe that a world filled with broken people, sadness, despair, loneliness, and so many other difficult and challenging things could possibly be the Kingdom of God.
 
But, if God resides here with us, in the here and now, and sits with us through our painful times and our times of joy, then are we not in God’s Kingdom?
 
If God calls us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves, and to serve others in all that we do, then are we not doing our best to live out that call in God’s Kingdom?
 
If God is the creator of the world we see, touch, taste, smell, and hear, then would we not call this God’s Kingdom?
 
God’s presence and God’s rule happen here and now.
 
Jesus’ life and love came among us, not in some far-off, intangible, unattainable way, but in the grit and ground of this place on earth.
 
There are times in our lives when I think we are more like the cutting of this plant – with roots growing underneath, but little showing outwardly to the world.
 
And then there are times when we are more like the cared for plant, roots growing deep into fertile soil and leaves blossoming for all the world to see.
 
But in both of these times, God is right there with us, loving us when we only can muster two small leaves, and loving us when we are in full bloom.
 
There are times when we set aside the notion of God’s Kingdom in order to serve our own needs or to go our own way.
 
And, there are times when we are more aware of God’s presence and leadership in our lives.
 
And all of this reminds us to live our lives in expectation of God near us – God with us, among us, and within us.
 
This notion that we will only see and be in God’s Kingdom “someday” holds God at arm’s length.
 
It makes God feel distant – like a relative who lives halfway across the world.
 
But if we live as though we are already in God’s Kingdom – as though God is always with us in the here and now – then we never know when we might go from a small cutting that’s growing roots in preparation for being planted someday to a thriving, blooming plant that God has been cultivating and preparing to be fruitful.
 
This also allows us to live with hope for our place on earth.
 
Nowhere and no one on earth is beyond God’s unique and branching love.
 
No one is excluded from the Kingdom of God if we envision being in the Kingdom of God everyday, everywhere we go.
 
God created everything, and all of us, and God doesn’t give up on any little square of this earth.
 
And perhaps God is waiting for us to notice when a plant cutting, growing roots but not yet thriving, is ready to be transferred to fertile soil.
 
Perhaps God is waiting for us to take notice of God’s Kingdom in this time and this place.
 
Perhaps Jesus is telling us that whether we know it or not, whether we take active part or not, God’s Kingdom will continue to grow and expand not in some far-off, unattainable or unknowable place, but right here before our eyes, if we are willing to take notice.
 
If we are willing to put the effort in to cultivating the seeds that have been planted, perhaps God’s Kingdom will become knowable right where we are.
 
May we experience the joy and the hope of knowing that we are already in God’s Kingdom, and may we do our part to cultivate that Kingdom among the people we know and the parts of God’s creation that we individually care for.
 
May we hear this Good News and experience the Kingdom of God, the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and the expansive presence and love of the Holy Spirit in all that we do. Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
Creator God, we have been planted and we have taken root, and we look to you to help us thrive. Thank you for being present with us through every moment - whether joyful or challenging. Help us to see and know that we are in Your Kingdom in this time and place, and remind us daily that You are right here with us. Remind us as we watch the sunset, or as we smell the lilacs in full bloom, or as we hug a loved one, or taste honey made by honey bees, or as we hear the birds singing in the crisp morning air. Remind us always of your vast love for us. Amen.

Young at Heart Message

Before we really dive into the message today, I want to take time to rest our bodies and spirits, and to rest in God’s loving embrace.

To do that, I want to try a short “embodiment practice” – a form of sacred movement that helps to unite mind, heart, and body to create a more balanced self.

This particular practice is very simple, and you can do it sitting down. Those of you attending Synod with me next weekend will get to do it again there.
 
We will begin by placing our hands over our hearts, or somewhere that is comfortable for each of us.
 
Then, we will do a silent breathing exercise together.
 
We will take a few deep breaths together.
 
When you breath in, say to yourself “God, Spirit, Jesus, Divine, Holy One… fill me with _____.”
 
Choose a positive energy word, or a virtue that you feel you could use more of. For example, courage, love, hope, joy, strength…
 
On your “out” breath, say to yourself “May I be open to letting go of _____.”
 
Choose something you feel like you might be holding on to that you would like to release. For example, anger, frustration, fear, uncertainty…
 
Let’s repeat this mantra to ourselves 3 times as we fall into a few moments of silence together. The phrases are on the screens as a reminder. Let’s begin.
 
In breath: “God, Spirit, Jesus, Divine, Holy One… fill me with _____.”
 
Out breath: “May I be open to letting go of _____.”
 
This is a practice I have encouraged people to use any time they need to because it is so simple and helps us to connect the mind, the body, and the spirit.
 
It is also a helpful reminder to be aware of our emotions and recognize when there might be some negative energy we could release, and when there might be some positive energy we would like to receive.
 
I invite you to remember the exercise and use it as often as you would like.
 
The Message

Today, we are talking about celebrating rest.

I had my monthly meeting with my Spiritual Director last week, and during that meeting, we were talking about self care and the ways I have been trying to create a better balance between my work life and my personal life.
​
My Spiritual Director and I have been working together for a couple years, so she knew me before I moved to Canada.
 
She is well aware of the lack of balance I had before I moved.
 
As we talked, I made a comment that went something like this:
 
I need to stay on top of making sure I have a good balance in my life so that I can avoid burning out as a pastor. If I burn out, I can no longer serve my congregation and I cannot bring my best self to my work. Too many pastors experience this, and I don’t want to be one of them.
 
To this, my Spiritual Director said, “I wonder what would happen if you reframed it a bit so that, instead of creating a healthy balance to avoid burnout, you are creating a healthy balance in order to thrive both in your work and your personal life?”
 
She just about blew my mind with that comment.
 
Every other pastor I know – in fact, nearly every other working person I know, especially those in “helping” fields, try to prioritize avoiding burnout.
 
It never occurred to me that merely avoiding burnout doesn’t necessarily mean I am caring for myself in ways that allow me to bring my best self to my work, and my best self to my personal life.
 
It doesn’t necessarily mean I am caring for myself in ways that allow me to consistently thrive.
 
It simply means I am avoiding that ledge that so many people fall off of into an abyss of misery as they head toward burning out in the work they do.
 
This conversation, and today’s scripture about Sabbath, seemed to collide for me as I prepared for today’s service.
 
The conversation with my Spiritual Director reminded me just how important rest is, and how much our bodies and brains need opportunities to recharge and refresh.
 
And today’s scripture is a reminder for all of us that holding to our convictions around rest and sabbath so tightly that we overlook the needs of others completely isn’t necessarily the right thing, either.
 
In today’s scripture, the Pharisees were giving Jesus a hard time because his disciples were picking grain on the Sabbath, and then Jesus healed a person on the Sabbath.
 
According to custom and what the Pharisees knew, working on the Sabbath was against the accepted rules and norms.
 
Jesus had to remind them that when there is someone in need in front of us, we are called to help them, even if it is supposed to be a rest day.
 
But, I also don’t think Jesus intends to imply that people should always work through their rest days, either.
 
Again, this is another example of balance.
 
If someone comes to him on the Sabbath and needs healing, he’s certainly not going to deny that person because it is the Sabbath.
 
But, Jesus does take time for himself, to be in prayer and to connect with God, and to rest.
 
So it begs the question for us then: how are we caring for ourselves and making sure we are getting the rest we need?
 
Rest might not always be physical rest.
 
For example, I know I am not the only one in this room right now who likes to stay busy.
 
Sometimes, resting the mind can mean doing something physical – gardening, hiking, or walking, for example.
 
Sometimes, rest can be a short and simple act of mindfulness amidst a busy day. The breathing exercise we did earlier is a great opportunity for a moment of rest during a time of busy-ness.
 
Rest allows us time to renew and refresh ourselves in whatever ways we might need in the moment.
 
There are perhaps times in our lives when something like attending church on Sunday doesn’t feel like rest or Sabbath.
 
Sometimes it feels like work!
 
So many people put a lot of work into making Sunday worship and fellowship time a success every week.
 
And yet, many of us consider Sunday a Sabbath day.
 
How do we reconcile this “work” we do to participate in Sunday worship with this notion of “rest” or “Sabbath?”
 
Perhaps looking at it the way Jesus does – as taking joy in serving others, even though it does involve a bit of work on our part is a good way to look at it.
 
What if we recognize it as a moment of spiritual rest, rather than work we are required to do earlier than we’d like on a Sunday morning?
 
Once again, when the opportunity to be with one another in worship and fellowship is reframed not as work, but as spiritual rest and renewal for our souls, it no longer feels like work.
 
I find this to be a helpful way of looking at Sunday mornings because, obviously, as a pastor I am working on Sundays.
 
And yet, Sunday mornings rarely feel like work for me, believe it or not.
 
Most of the hard work gets done earlier in the week, so all I have to do is bring my best self, and trust that God has helped me prepare the best I could.
 
I sincerely hope that those of you who also have work to do for Sunday mornings – setting up fellowship time, getting hymnals out for people, preparing and running the AV system, preparing and playing music for the day, counting offerings, cleaning up after fellowship time, and any other work that goes into Sunday mornings – are able to find spiritual rest in that “busy-ness” of the work that goes into Sunday morning services.
 
I hope that, like Jesus, there is a joy in doing the work to serve others.
 
As you leave here today, I encourage you to hold onto this notion of celebrating rest, and of maintaining a healthy balance of work and rest as a way to thrive and bring your best self both to your work and your personal life.
 
If we all are able to bring our best, well-rested selves to everything we do, suddenly we are able to help one another thrive in a world where many people feel they are merely surviving.
 
May we celebrate rest for our bodies, minds, and spirits in ways that help us thrive, both on our own and in community with one another.
 
Resting well allows us to serve well, to grow well, to learn well, to love well, and to be well.
 
May we be well in our souls. Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
God of rest, thank you for helping us recognize when our bodies, minds, or spirits need renewal. We pray that you would guide us toward taking the time to rest in ways that will refresh us when we need to do that for ourselves. When we are overwhelmed by life, or anxious about something, or when we are simply overdoing it, help us remember to take the time we need for Sabbath. Help us to rest so that we can thrive, rather than merely survive. We pray all of this in your Holy name. Amen.