I need a rest...

This is my contribution to Ballygrainey's newsletter for July/August 2018 and marks my (tentative) return to blogging. We'll see how it goes.

‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’ Matthew 11:28-30

Last month in this newsletter I reflected on how, over the summer, I want to learn from the models of prayer we find in the Bible. I said this; ‘It is my prayer that over the summer months, I might learn from these people how to pray more effectively, with deeper faith, greater regularity and more expectation of what God will do. This is what I want for myself because I know that my discipleship, my family life and my ministry depend on being able to spend time with God in prayer.’ But in order to do this, I need to learn something else first. I (and we) need to learn how to rest.

I wonder if, like me, when you look at Jesus’ familiar words from Matthew’s gospel above, you sometimes find yourself wondering what has gone wrong. Where is this rest that he promised? My life seems pressurised, rushed, busy, stressed. Even when it comes close to holiday time, I find myself rushing to make sure all the tasks that I think need to get done have been completed before I take time off.

Recently I read a book called The Art of Rest by Adam Mabry. (I picked it up on our church bookstall.) I was struck by this paragraph; ‘Can you imagine a church which said no to the stressed out stereotype of Western cultural life? With deep peace and triumphant tranquillity, what a blessing we could be. If we begin to embrace a renewed Sabbath – a time of rest, holy to the Lord – we might achieve both a level of personal holiness and missionary effectiveness not seen for ages past. If we repent of our human-centric, self-reliant belief that more programs, more volunteering and more activity is always the answer to the problems of ministry and the challenge of evangelism…if we change our view on the necessity of doing every conceivable activity for our children…if we resist the siren call of a better lifestyle at the cost of more of our actual lives…what good could we actually be.’

Jesus’ promise of rest is not about overworking yourself for most of the year in family life, the workplace and church activities, so that you can take time off in the summer. The promise is not ‘Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will make sure you get two weeks in the sun before you return to the pressure cooker of life.’

No, his promise is for rest as we take on his yoke and assume his burden. His promise is rest in the midst of labour. He promises, as Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message, to teach us ‘the unforced rhythms of grace’. If ‘more programs, more volunteering and more activity’ in church life means less prayer, less peace and less time for God and others, then we have to ask whether we are getting it right. We have to ask whether our lifestyles both as individuals and as a church are truly reflective of the unforced rhythms of grace.

When others look at us, do they see people who are at peace or do they see people just as stressed out as them? Do they see people who are unhurried or do they see people who are rushing home from work to catch a few moments with family before heading out to something else in the evening? Do they see people who prioritise time with God so that they can function for the rest of the day or do they see people who spend every last waking minute in activity of some kind or other?

We desperately need to relearn the gift and principle of Sabbath. We need to weave regular patterns of rest, refreshment and restoration into our lives if we are going to function. We need this physically, mentally, emotionally and, above all, spiritually. And we don’t just need it as individuals. We need it as church. We need it as a community of people who are learning to live as Jesus wants us to live. We need it as a family who need to learn how to relate to one another in love. We need it if we are going to truly hear the voice of God and learn his will for his church

So, will you help me to learn these principles in my life, as I help you to learn them in yours? Will you ask me how much time I’ve spent with God this week? (And will you promise not to be too disappointed to discover that your pastor is often as much a failure as anyone else in this area?) Will you commit to helping us to create the kind of community that is a genuine oasis of God’s peace and tranquillity in the midst of a stressed out, over worked, pressurised culture? I hope and pray that together we can learn the unforced rhythms of grace and be a truly different people in this stressed out world.

Yours in Christ,

Graeme

(P.S. I hope you get some time to rest over the summer!)