Summer Rhythms
As we enter the summer season, I bet most of you are looking forward to a change of pace, as am I. May is full of graduations, completions, and celebrations. It’s typically a joyful but busy time. Though, sometimes there are unexpected difficulties to navigate in the midst of it all.
As a church body, we intend to be proactive about a change of pace. We not only want to take advantage of any respite the world’s calendar may offer, but we also want to pursue the gift of rest God has promised us. While that sounds lovely to most people, it is not easy to do. It often feels like an uphill battle of saying “no” to invitations or undue expectations, setting uncommon boundaries, resisting the urge to keep filling our storehouses, and choosing meditation over media.
At Grace, we are committed to resisting the culture of overwork and striving, choosing instead to trust in God’s provision. Rest is a holy practice—an act of faith that reminds us that we are not defined by our productivity.
We like to hold on to three key ideas about rest and the practice of sabbath as we take up this commitment:
Sabbath is a gift to be lived out.
Rest is not just about taking a break but about intentionally creating space to enjoy God and one another. This is not the same as a vacation, though that kind of recreational joy is beautiful and often intersects with sabbath. The gift of sabbath is more about stopping, looking around, and appreciating what is already there, including your community, your plenteous resources, and God’s own presence.
We trust God’s provision over our own efforts.
True rest comes when we acknowledge that we are not in control and that God is sufficient to meet our needs. Stopping and observing a sabbath rest is often harder than it seems. Especially in the modern Western world, self-reliance and productivity are so deeply ingrained in our daily habits that it feels strange to let go of our sense of control and trust God with the most important parts of our lives. To stop making and doing–to lie fallow–may look like nothing is happening. But beneath the surface, a fallow field is doing holy work: restoring nutrients, rebuilding soil, preparing for the next harvest.
We slow down to hear God’s voice.
Creating margin allows us to listen, reflect, and be fully present in His presence. As you have heard, we are wanting to learn how to do this well with the help of Practicing the Way. They have excellent teaching and guidance for how to practice this as a community and individually. You can join a group diving into that this summer, too.
How this is present in our church programming
In the month of June, we are living out this commitment and desire in a few ways.
In the area of children and families this year, we are not doing a large-scale VBS program. Instead of working hard to create a beautiful, exciting event like we had last summer, Shanti is helping us slow down, look around, appreciate what and who we have around us already–a beautiful community, beautiful families, and a beautiful garden.
Likewise, the Student Ministry is not spending its energy on a trip away, as awesome as those are, but rather will be exploring opportunities to serve in joyful fellowship with our existing outreach ministries.
In the area of corporate worship, we are taking the opportunity to go back to a single worship service. While we are able to do so logistically, we look forward to getting everyone in the room at the same time, to reducing volunteer roles and increasing community fellowship, and making space for the Sabbath Practice course and the Confirmation Class, before and after corporate worship, respectively.
In the month of July, we will again take up what we pioneered last year: Fallow July. During the month, we will minimize volunteer roles and activities at church. Our hope is that the whole community will take advantage of that rest to rejoice in the simplicity, say “no” to producing extra for a season, and seek God’s voice in the quiet and calm.
Finally, on August 2, we will make use of our final single-gathering Sunday to again set aside time to call on God’s healing power in our community through the gift of prayer. We look forward to seeing how God will speak and work after this season of rest, and fill us up with his own power and presence, preparing us to move into the school-year season with joy and resilience.
We look forward to growing in our reliance on our abundantly generous God, who himself rested on the seventh day, looking at all his creation and declaring it good.
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
In his rest,
Joel
