This final week of our series on Sabbath examines how God wills a rhythm of rest for absolutely all of creation, even beyond human beings! This means that our stewardship of this earth connects to our sabbath practices. This is a full circle moment! God rested after “working” at creation, and now creation participates in all things being made new! Together, we will consider all that we have learned about rest and areas where God might be calling us next to share this sabbath blessing with the world.

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This week we consider what role rest plays in movements for justice, peace and social change. How does this God-given rhythm of rest and work empower us to make this world what it was meant to be? Where are areas of life where rest is considered a luxury? Who are the people who are bowed down in exhaustion? And what role should the church play in ensuring that sabbath is truly a gift for all people?

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This week we have communion (moved from last Sunday because Pastor Jessie was out with the flu!), and we will keep pondering what keeps us from true rest, and what we are missing when we do not carve out time and space for it. One of the primary things we are missing is space to dream. Not just the dreams we have when we are asleep, but also our dreams for our lives and this world. Perhaps one of the reasons that there are fewer people interested in religion than ever before is that religion has not modelled this true rest or a proper sabbath in its community life together. What are some of our dreams that we do not allow ourselves to sit with; to pay attention to; to fill our hearts and fuel our living?

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As we continue our time with this topic of sabbath and rest, this week we consider the connection of Sabbath to the story of the Exodus—how does rest connect to our faith in a God who freed God’s people from slavery? In our context today, we are not slaves and we consider ourselves to live in a free country. Yet what tolls has the “grind culture” (as Tricia Hersey calls it) taken on our bodies, minds and spirits? Are we truly free? How does rest connect to liberation, and what does truly liberating rest really look like?

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This week kicks off our last sermon series of the summer, and it is one that I think will nourish and challenge all of us!

SERMON SERIES (7/28-8/25): Rest is Resistance–The Power of Sabbath

The first action of God is to create. The second action of God is to rest. Rest and sabbath are fundamental commandments built within our Judeo-Christian faith. Yet for so many of us, these concepts get relegated to a distant realm of self-care and infrequent vacation time. In this busy, hurried, anxious world, how can we be Sabbath people as a regular rhythm of life? And what power does resting actually give our real work and mission? 

This series and its title is based upon a phenomenal book by the same name: Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey, founder of the Nap Ministry.

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