The Gift of a Sacred Summer… OPEN THE GIFT OF REST
Luke 10:38-41
38 Jesus and his disciples went on their way. Jesus came to a village where a woman named Martha lived. She welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary. Mary sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was busy with all the things that had to be done. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, my sister has left me to do the work by myself. Don’t you care? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered. “You are worried and upset about many things. 42 But few things are needed. Really, only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better. And it will not be taken away from her.”
Are you feeling more like Mary or Martha these days?
What would it be like to intentionally play, to rest at the feet of Jesus?
What would that look like in your life?
Could you actually choose to rest with Jesus this summer?
Why is it so hard for us to rest?
Why do we feel guilty when we are not being productive?
What makes us think that rest isn’t valuable? Or necessary?
The God of the entire universe created REST! And God actually RESTED! God also put REST in the middle of the ten commandments. God believed that we needed rest in order to love our neighbors.
We cannot really love or serve or protect others or ourselves when we are burned out and exhausted!
I have said this a lot in recent days. I’m exhausted! I think we all are exhausted! I’m not even sure we understand what this past year has done to us. It’s been a very tiring 15 months… and for many, the exhaustion is continuing as the pandemic is still with us and people are still getting sick and dying. We need time to pause and process these past months. We need time to refill our cups even as we are excited about getting back to more normal activities.
How can you choose to open the gift of REST this summer? How can you choose to PRACTICE REST?
We have to practice a spiritual practice like REST, just like we practice the piano or guitar.
What things block you from practicing rest?
How would a practice of REST restore you? What things bring you joy? What things fill up your cup?All these can be included in your rest practice, not just taking a good rest on the couch or long nap.
REST is HOLY
Here are some other ideas to help you practice REST this summer:
FIND A REST SPOT: Choose or create a spot to practice rest this summer. A place where you can be with God and be intentionally present with Jesus. A place that can be your spot to be still, to pray, to create, read, and rest. Maybe you already have a designated spot where you meet with Jesus each day. But if you don’t, consider choosing a special place for yourself. It might mean moving a chair to a different spot with a view out the window. It might be a rocking chair on your porch or balcony. It might mean creating a rest space on the floor with pillows and blankets. Or, if you have room, putting up a tent or a hammock in the yard and using the outdoors as your Sacred Space for the summer. If you have young kids you might want to create this space together. Tricia Hersey, @thenapministry on Instagram, talks about creating a “rest island” out of your bed so kids can be on Rest Island with mom or dad and their object is to rest, breathe, ans be still. It’s great to teach kids early the value of rest.
MAKE A SABBATH BOX: Use a large basket with a lid, or a cardboard box with a lid, or any box/container you choose to be your Sabbath Box. Decide to put away your phone, your laptop, the remote, or game controllers for a set length of time in order to rest and be present to God. In Jewish homes, the Sabbath Box is used for the 24 hours of Shabbat putting in it anything that distracts from time with God. I suggest keeping a pad of paper or post it notes and a pen next to your sabbath box. Then anything that feels distracting, thoughts, worries, fears, or To-Do’s that will keep you from resting and being present to Jesus can be written down and put in the box and given to Jesus/God to hold for you while your rest!
CREATE A PLAYLIST: Create a summer playlist that will help you truly rest. What songs would help you rest, relax, and breathe?
PLAN A SABBATH DAY or afternoon: What would your perfect sabbath day look like? What would you do or not do? What would restore your soul? Talk to Jesus about this. Talk to your friends or family about how you could have an actual sabbath rest day.
CREATE A REST COLLAGE, PRAYER, POEM or ART RESPONSE: Consider what rest and sabbath mean to you and create something in response to this. Ask Jesus for inspiration.
“It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There’s almost no such thing as ready. There’s only now. And you may as well do it now. I mean, I say that confidently as if I’m about to go bungee jumping or something – I’m not. I’m not a crazed risk taker. But I do think that, generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.”
HUGH LAURIE
“Each of us needs an opportunity to be alone, and silent. To find space in the day or in the week, just to reflect
and to listen to the voice of God that speaks deep with us. Our search for God is only our response to his search for us. He knocks on the door,
but for many people their lives are too preoccupied for
them to be able to hear.” Cardinal Basil Hume (Benedictine monk, England 1923-1999)
REMEMBER THIS FROM JESUS: “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. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Matthew 11:28-30 THE MESSAGE
LET’S PRAY TOGETHER:(actually breathe in these things)
Jesus, I Breathe deeply in the gift of rest. I Breathe out fear.
I Breathe deeply in the gift of rest. I Breathe out busyness.
I Breathe in the gift of rest. I Breathe out stress.
I Breathe in permission to rest.
I Breathe out weariness.
I receive the invitation, Jesus, Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest.
Thank you for the gift of rest. AMEN
These are some of the ideas found in the GIFT OF REST week in The Gift of A Sacred Summer Kit. Check out more Gifts to open this Summer at Freerengeworship.com! The Gifts of a Sacred Summer Kit!
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
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photo and post by Barbie Perks,
Matthew 5:1-2 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them… The spot overlooking the Sea of Galilee is one of the sacred spaces in Israel and many tour groups spend a morning there. I like to think of it as one of the very first camp/conference experiences in church history! With Jesus as the main speaker – how awesome, and how blessed were those who attended.
As a teenager/young adult, one of my favourite places to go on a youth camp was a site called Cyara. It was an idyllic site, set in the foot of rolling hillside, looking out on the Magaliesberg range, and the secondary site was across the main road, with a little river running through it. A truly magical place to be for a child brought up in the city, with little access to open countryside. The name Cyara was an acronym for Come Ye Apart, Rest Awhile (based on Mark 6:31).
As an older adult, a different campsite was part of our lives and ministry. This one was called Sumcay, which was just an acronym made up of the letters of the organisations that were responsible for the building and running of it – Scripture Union and YMCA. It was located at the end of a sand quarry, a spar of “useless” land next to a tidal river (See photo above). But what a blessing that place turned out to be for many thousands of young children, teenagers, and adults. Various ministries, schools, church groups – the site was booked out year upon year.
The camping ministry is a strong tool to get people out of town and into nature, to rest from the frenetic pace of life, and to reconnect with God and with nature. In South Africa, in the late 80’s and ‘90’s, camping also became a vehicle to facilitate reconciliation and education between the people groups. Some truly life changing, eye-opening moments were experienced around a campfire, in a group dormitory, on a tough mountain hike, or lazing on a sunny beach. Moments when God reached down and touched lives, calling young people into a relationship with Himself, and changing the direction of often hopeless futures.
These are strong sacred spaces in my experience. Land that is found, bought, developed and dedicated as places that God can use. Vision that is planted in one or more people, a search that begins, a listening to the Spirit’s leading. Much, much prayer that bathes and saturates the process. Whole lifetimes have been dedicated to bringing people to a place where they can encounter and experience God for the first time, or a place where they can be discipled, taught and grown into leaders God can use in various spheres of life.
- Did you ever go to a camp as a child or teenager? What is your most lingering memory of that experience? How did you encounter God?
- Did you ever serve as a camp leader? What training did you receive and how has that benefited you in adult life?
- Have you ever been part of that sacred moment when someone responded to God’s calling, whether for the first time, or as an act of recommitment?
- Do you have any photographs of these sacred spaces? Dig them out and spend some time with God today, remembering and giving thanks.
- Is there a person you could prayerfully sponsor to a camping experience in your community? You never know what a difference that could make in their lives.
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by Carol Dixon,
St Columba’s Day – which is celebrated on 9 June – is significant this year as it is the 1500th anniversary of his birth in 521 AD. Although his Saint’s Day is actually the anniversary of his death, (he was born on 7 December) this week and the weeks following are a good opportunity to commemorate his life and influence through the ages.
Looking at his life Columba doesn’t seem to be ideal material for sainthood. An Irish nobleman, he is believed to be the great grandson of the famous 5th century Irish High King, Niall of the Nine Hostages and following his education, Columba became a deacon in the church. Columba was volatile and warlike and was eventually banished from Ireland for going against the King’s wishes and starting a feud (over a holy book!) that eventually ended in a battle in which many on both sides were killed so as a penance Columba was sent away from his beloved homeland.
Yet, it was through this enforced exile that Columba and his few Companions came to land on Iona where they started a small religious community and the influence from this inauspicious beginning spread the Christian faith far and wide in Scotland and beyond. The effect of what became known as Celtic Christianity is still felt today and various hymns we still sing have been attributed to him including the prayerful ‘O God thou art the Father of all who have believed’:
I first learned about the story of Columba through taking part in my church in a musical ‘Dove of Iona’ based on his life written by a friend of mine, Rose Reeve who died a few years ago after a long battle with cancer. The musical had a great impact on all who heard it and was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe (and other places such as Durham and the Isle of Iona) before Rose became seriously ill and her beautiful song ‘Peace’ was sung at the thanksgiving service for her life. [The music below is from a live performance with actors & singers, used with permission.]
The story of Columba gives me great hope. It teaches me that however flawed I am and no matter how many mistakes I make, when I turn to God and follow the way of Jesus, great things can happen to bring about the spread of God’s kingdom. I am fortunate to live near the Holy Island of Lindisfarne which under the influence of St Aidan from Iona became the cradle of the Christian faith in England. I have only visited Iona once but in many ways it was like visiting a homeland only heard of from distant relations yet the spirit that pervades both islands is the same Holy Spirit, the gift of Jesus that pervades our lives when we tune into the promptings of God.
Like many of the Celtic Christians who followed him, Columba enjoyed the wonders of God’s Creation. Following my visit to Iona I wrote a hymn celebrating finding God in the beauty of the natural world and set it to the well-known tune St Columba.
Pilgrimage (tune: St Columba)
1 We draw apart from busy life
to set aside some space
and see afresh with open eyes
the beauty of this place.
2 We glimpse each separate grain of sand,
gold glistening on the shore,
and hear the haunting seagulls’ cry
above the breakers’ roar.
3 Each quivering blade of grass reveals
the glory of God’s earth;
in laughter’s lilt, compassion’s tear
the Spirit brings new birth.
4 We join with all creation’s choir
and sing of God’s domain,
the love of Christ in empty hearts
now raised to life again.
5 Refreshed in body, mind and soul
we return to daily round,
our eyes and ears attuned to God,
to serve with love new found.
© Carol Dixon
by Lynda B on unsplash.com
St Columba’s blessing:
Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me,
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me,
Today, tonight & forever.
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This post was originally shared a few years ago, but wanted to repost it for World Oceans Day today. The practice of cleaning up our oceans, beaches, and other bodies of water can be a sacred spiritual practice for this summer or winter.
One way of thinking about sustainability can be found in the Biblical book of John Chapter 10, verse 10. Jesus proclaims that He came to give abundant life. Often when we reflect on sustainability we emphasize restraint, reducing and perhaps a sense of loss. Genesis 1 gives us a picture of the ocean as a place of teeming, abundance, diversity and fruitfulness. Pictures of God’s goodness throughout Scripture focus on His lavishness which we sing of in that simple chorus “How wide and deep and long and high is the love of God.” God’s vision for the sustainable life then is not so much John the Baptist in the desert, but the heavenly banquet prepared for us.
We are subverting that vision of the abundant life through our own creation – plastic. That natural fruitfulness and ecological cycles are interrupted by plastic which does not break down or get naturally recycled as does the rest of God’s creation. We think we need more time so we buy “disposable” plastic plates, which in fact never go away! We think we can save money and buy something plastic which we can then throw away rather than something that will last.
Clean Up Day 2017
All of this “saving” of time and money ultimately costs us – often time and money, but also our health, mental and physical, and the health of our planet. For plastic does not go away. The deepest ocean depths are littered with our plastic. Clean up the big bits of plastic and there will still be loads of microplastics. Plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics, pieces of plastic less than 5 mm (3/16 inch) in size. A Rocha has developed a toolbox to help you learn about microplastics and take action. I encourage you to check it out, particularly our Bible study. What does the Bible say about plastic? You might be surprised at what you discover in this inductive study.
The science of microplastics is still in its infancy. However, it is becoming clear that these small pieces of plastic are getting into food webs. Krill in Antarctica, which are a small crustacean which whales thrive on eating, are digesting microplastics. The problem is that they are only becoming nanoplastics! Birds appear to have a particularly affinity for the small of plastic that has been in the ocean and many individuals have been found their stomach full only of plastic. We don’t know yet what this means for human health and well-being. These small plastics appear to be like sponges for toxins. Are these toxins bio-accumulating up the food chain, similarly to toxins such as mercury? Scientists are working on this question, but if ever there was a need for prudence it is likely here in our appetite for plastic products.
So do read through blogs and check websites on how to reduce your plastic use – some good ones include the one you are reading and also those by Ruth Valerio. There is a Plastic-Less Living FB site and many websites to help you live more sustainably in regards to plastic pollution, for example the Beat the Microbead site. In A Rocha’s Microplastics Toolbox there is a Media section which will direct you to some of the better ones.
Filtering for plastic
A Rocha International, the Anglican Communion Environment Network and other partners are beginning to mobilise the global church to take part in next year’s coastal cleanup on Sept 15, 2018. A beach cleanup guide is available to help those who want to organise their own events (also in Spanish). We also encourage churches to find a beach cleanup near them using the International Coastal Cleanup website and join their neighbours in this God-honouring and community-serving activity. If you are not near the coast – a lake or river will do just as well! It is a practical way to not just reduce your plastic use, but contribute to the beautifying of God’s world. It is also a lot of fun! Consider adding it to your church’s mission trips as this church did on its trip to the Bahamas. Make sure you let us know so we can track and report on the global Church’s involvement in this important and missional activity.
Most importantly, though, determine in your heart that God’s plan for the planet and for you is goodness and abundant life through Christ. Reflect on how you are subverting that plan through how you use plastic. Sustainability will lead to an abundant life for all – people, places and all the life they hold.
Bio for Dr. Robert Sluka
Dr Robert D Sluka leads A Rocha’s Marine and Coastal Conservation Programme (www.arocha.org/marine). He is a curious explorer, applying hopeful, optimistic and holistic solutions to all that is ailing our oceans and the communities that rely on them. Dabbling in theology, he writes on the interface between Christian faith and marine conservation. He has worked cross-culturally, living for extended periods in Australia, India, Great Britain and his native USA where he currently resides. Robert’s research focuses on marine biodiversity conservation, plastic pollution, and fisheries, particularly marine protected areas. The ultimate goal is to glorify God through oceans and communities being transformed using holistic marine conservation. @BobSluka on Twitter or email him.
by Christine Sine,
I am getting ready for summer. Our retreat on Saturday was an important step in that direction but I have also created a new garden that I will help focus my reflections during the season. I even took the plunge and bought a small fountain for my desk.
When I started thinking about dismantling my Easter/Pentecost garden, I was thinking my new design would revolve around special symbols of summer for me but God had other ideas.
You may remember that a few weeks ago my Meditation Monday was inspired by Psalm 32:8-9 especially the line God’s eyes are my guide. As I thought about the coming season those were the words that came to me again. Then on our recent retreat to the Washington coast, I found this beautiful piece of driftwood on the beach, that looked as though it had eyes in it. 
I also found a piece of dried kelp that looked like a pair of spectacles – perfect objects for my new garden! I embellished it with a stream of pebbles and a few plants then had fun painting a couple of rocks while reflecting on my theme. Because the garden didn’t look quite finished, I casually threw in the latest addition to my heart shaped rock collection. I also purchased a small table top fountain so that I could more fully visualize the pebbles in my garden as the stream of my life through which God is guiding me.
Would you believe it – it was those heart shaped rocks so casually thrown into the garden that have become my focus of attention this week. And I am sure this is only the start of the lessons God intends to reveal to me as I reflect on my new creation. That is part of why I am drawn to create gardens like this. The revelation of God they provide comes both in the creating anding and the later times of reflecting. They are such a special form of spiritual practice for me.
Over the weekend I was reading a passage from Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love. She wrote this book in response to 15 visions she experienced following a severe illness and then spent the rest of her life seeking the meaning of them. Revelations of Divine Love, is a tender meditation on God’s eternal and all embracing love.
And from the time that the vision was shown, I desired often to know what our Lord’s meaning as. And fifteen years and more afterwards I was answered in my spiritual understanding, thus: ‘Would you know your Lord’s meaning in this thing? Know it well that love was his meaning. Who showed it to you? Love. What did he show you? Love. Why did he show you? For love. Keep yourself therein and you shall know and understand more in the same. But you shall never know nor understand any other thing forever.’
Thus I was taught that love was our Lord’s meaning. And I saw quite clearly in this and in all, that before God made us, he loved us, which love was never slaked nor ever shall be. And in this love he has done all his work, and in this love he has made all things profitable to us. And in this love our life is everlasting. In our creation we have a beginning. But the love wherein he made us was in him with no beginning. And all this shall be seen in God without end.”
Wow. Love is our Lord’s meaning in all things. God’s love is never slaked. It is from everlasting to everlasting. This morning I turned on my fountain, picked up my heart shaped rock and held it tightly in my hand. I felt as though I was transported into a cool tree covered glade in a forest, sitting beside a stream with the love of God gently enfolding me. God’s eyes guide me and God is my tower of strength because of God’s great love for me and because of God’s desire that divine love might be expressed through my thoughts and actions and it looks as though I need lots of reminders to make that happen.”
So as I look around me this week I wonder: What makes me aware of God’s love, just as this garden and its heart shaped rock have? And in what ways do I express that love? I hope you will join me in not only reflecting on these questions but also considering how you could put them into action.
A contemplative service with music in the style-of-Taize from St Andrews Episcopal Church in Seattle WA. The stained glass window is in the rear of the church at St Andrews.
Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers. Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756
by Lisa DeRosa
My husband and I are taking a road trip to Glacier National Park in Montana this summer. It will be our first visit to this breathtaking land. We plan to hike and I cannot wait to discover the birds and other creatures that we will encounter on the trail. Of course, knowing that I will get to experience the breeze, the scents, the birdsongs, and the feeling of the earth under my boots is intoxicating, but I am truly looking forward to being away from the noise. The city, planes, traffic, construction… just man-made noise. Looking back at my journals from the last year, I noticed how much I was impacted by the noise.
Now, please let me preface with this comment that absolutely horrific things happened during last year as we all struggled with the pandemic, racial injustices, political strife, rampant wildfires, and so much more. I am not discounting any of those things in what I am about to say. But I miss the stillness that lockdown brought to our city. Maybe I had not noticed before, but the birds seemed to sing louder and I don’t think it was just because the planes were not constantly flying overhead. They gladly filled in the gaps where our noise used to drown them out. I took time to pause during the day, opened the windows, and went outside just to listen to them. Not that they have left since the planes and traffic have returned, but they are muffled more so than they were during this time.
Because I am learning to be okay with silence, I know that the birds in the background are a good way for me to ease into this practice. Becoming familiar with the intention of calming my racing mind and slowing down my anxious thoughts, the birds are helping me to settle into that place. A fountain or other sounds of nature help too. But focusing on the birds brings me to remember this verse:
Look at the birds in the sky. They do not store food for winter. They don’t plant gardens. They do not sow or reap—and yet, they are always fed because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are even more precious to Him than a beautiful bird. If He looks after them, of course He will look after you.
My heavenly Father is with me, providing, and caring for me even more than the birds that he also provides for. God cares for humans as his image bearers and other aspects of his creation, too. Not one or the other. Both. I also desire to care about and use my gifts, talents, and treasures to show my love for both.
Today, we celebrate World Environment Day, the 49th celebration and we look forward to the 50th next year in 2022. Like other posts I wrote about Earth Day, World Water Day, etc., I encourage you to check out what this movement of motivated image-bearers are doing for creation care. Their call to action is enticing to me:
REIMAGINE. RECREATE. RESTORE.This is our moment.
We cannot turn back time. But we can grow trees, green our cities, rewild our gardens, change our diets and clean up rivers and coasts. We are the generation that can make peace with nature.
Let’s get active, not anxious. Let’s be bold, not timid.
Like I wrote in past posts, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the devastation and state that our planet is in. But we cannot let that stop us! We can all start somewhere!
Starting Somewhere
Because I am a detail-oriented person, I am thinking ahead about what to bring on this trip, mainly, the essentials for any hike: snacks, water, sunscreen, bug spray, proper hiking boots and clothes, etc. How can I keep creation care in mind as I prepare for this trip? I think through the environmental impact of each item and how I can choose to lessen my ecological footprint.
- Sun Bum Sunscreen lotion or spray – I love Sun Bum because it is eco-friendly but is also great at protecting against UV rays. I use this everyday while I sit outside to work and it keeps me from burning.
- Deet-free Bug Spray – This is on my list to purchase! Glad to see that it has good reviews too!
- Boxed water – I have not tried this because we use reusable water bottles, but this would be a great alternative to single use plastic water bottles.
- I pack snacks in Tupperware or other reusable containers rather than buying individually wrapped snacks. We usually reuse cleaned yogurt or sour cream containers because they are lightweight for hiking.
- We buy our hiking clothes and sometimes boots from second hand stores or thrift stores which help to extend the life of the clothes before they end up in the landfill. I have a sewing machine and love hemming clothes (I am 5’4″ so I have some experience in this area) which makes it easy to get name-brand clothes for cheap with a little fixing.
You might be thinking, well, that’s great, Lisa, but I don’t hike, so this is not helpful for me! I am glad you said something! While I used hiking as an example, this process of thinking through your ecological footprint can be used with other activities as well. The above items are the basics for many activities but here are a few more ideas:
Beach Time
Heading to the beach this summer? Going with kiddos? Or, do you just really like making sand castles? There is such a thing as eco-friendly sand castle toys!!! Check these out: 26 Piece Beach toys made of wheat straw materials!
Berry Picking
Support a local berry patch or farm and pick your own berries. Bring a basket or other non-plastic container to carry the berries in. If you can, choose organic! This is better for your body, the health of the farmers, and for the soil which is full of microorganisms that are negatively impacted by pesticides.
What activities do you like to do during the summer and how can you keep creation care in mind? Please share with us!
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