Finding Rest & Healing

As we prepare ourselves for the season of Lent, a season of reflection and deep spiritual connection, I invite you to find rest and healing over these coming 6 weeks. It has been hard living in our world these past few years. We have seen so much violence, hate, and injustice. Our faith has been hi-jacked by pundits and politicians. We are watching our neighbors become afraid to leave their homes or go to work. We are in a constant barrage of breaking news and unprecedented events that raise our anxiety and blood pressure. And many of us have been in a constant battle seeking justice and finding ways to support our neighbors in need. It is exhausting!

In response, our community Lenten practices will revolve around rest, healing, and practicing Sabbath. This doesn't mean that we stop doing justice and helping our neighbor. Sabbath is not a ceasing of all things, nor is it a constant state. Sabbath is all about hitting reset and taking a break so that we can seek justice and help our neighbors in even larger ways. Sabbath is a moment to align ourselves with the way of Christ and to reject our way or the worlds way of being and doing. Rest is essential to the work the church does. Without it we burn ourselves out and we begin to respond in ways that are not Christ-like. We begin to attempt to take control instead of leaning on God and allowing God to work through us. Sabbath is a practice of trust and faith that God does, in fact, have all of this! After all, even God rested on the 7th day and practiced Sabbath!

My invitation to you this Lent is to make worship a priority. Each week there will be two opportunities to worship, find rest and healing, and practice Sabbath. Our usual Sunday mornings at 10 AM (Dinner church on the 2nd Sunday of the month at 6 PM) and mid-week Lenten worship at 7 PM with dinner at 6:30 PM. These times of worship will provide space for you to rest and realign with the way of Christ. The sermon series will focus on the importance of rest and healing and the ways Jesus practiced Sabbath. We will confess and pledge our allegiance to the way of the kingdom of God through the words of the Litany of Resistance. We will pray. We will hear the word. We will celebrate around the Lord's table and be renewed through the body and blood of Christ. These moments will hopefully be points of peace and healing in your week that will send you out filled with the Spirit to continue the important work of seeking justice and being light in this dark world.

In addition, each Sunday in March, following worship, you will have an opportunity to explore different spiritual practices and try some of them out to discover ways of rest and healing for yourself. Our own Roger Kiver (a primarily online worshiper) has put together a 4-week curriculum that will highlight many different practices in the first week with experiencing those practices the following 3 weeks. It should be an enlightening time that will provide you with tools to continue finding rest and healing beyond the season of Lent.

One of the hardest things for compassionate and justice-seeking people is to take a rest. But we desperately need that time to heal ourselves so that we not only have the strength and energy to continue that work, but to ensure our actions are in alignment with the way of Christ. Rest assured, we will continue our justice work. Wednesday lunches for the unhoused are launching on Ash Wednesday and will continue through Lent. Monday Bible Study and Theology Pub will continue. Sandwich making for the shelter will continue. We will continue to lift up calls-to-action for political change and support of our neighbors. The CTS Market will continue to be open. BUT I wonder how all those things change as we spend intentional time finding rest and healing, even if just for an hour on Sunday and 30 minutes on Wednesday! There is a reason way God has made it a commandment to practice Sabbath. Will you join me in this Lenten practice?