Loading more...
Stirring
Have you ever misplaced or lost something, and it stirs little worry? You just know that Read More
ELAINE EBERHART | Read Genesis 1:31 , Read Genesis 2:1-4
Genesis tells us that creating the world took work. Separat- ing light from darkness and water from dry land required divine effort. Through labor born of God’s creative imagination
and love, animals and humans come into being. So when God hallows and blesses the last day of Creation, God puts a holy imprimatur on time set aside for rest.
Though it seems paradoxical, today we must work to nd sabbath time. Distractions surround us, and turning off the channels in our minds, all playing at once and competing for attention, takes an act of will that many of us struggle to nd. We receive opportunities to purchase calm moments through phone apps on meditation or tropical vacations promising us the chance to correct our sleep deprivation. Trying to buy rest sometimes affords us only new worries, however, with none of the needed respite from our full lives.
We do not leave busyness at the doors of our churches, and our communities of faith may add new responsibilities that require our effort and focus. Cooking for the soup kitchen, serving as a teacher for the youth Sunday school, organizing the church’s recycling center are all vital tasks to which God may call us. But God also calls us to rest; sabbath is as important to our lives as service is.
As a Christian community, we are called to rest at least once each week when we gather for worship. God’s Spirit recreates our hearts and minds in the time when we sing, pray together, hear good news spoken to weary hearts, and gather around God’s welcoming table. Even if we cannot escape our worries for that time, we are invited to share ourselves and our concerns with our brothers and sisters who will bear our burdens with us and remind us of the promise of rest.
Where is God offering rest to me and to my community of faith?
Trinity Sunday is an appropriate time for the church to reflect on the dynamic tension between what we know of God and our attempts to formulate and articulate what we know. The Genesis text demonstrates that the God of Israel, the creator of heaven and earth, is unlike other gods and must be served and worshiped exclusively. The psalm asserts the same power of God but is more explicit about the implications for human life of God’s governance. The Gospel reading re ects on the gift of God’s presence in the church, a presence marked by moral expectation and demand, as well as assurance. The epistle reading voices the strange convergence of God’s authority and God’s remarkable grace known through the presence of Christ.
• Read Genesis 1:1–2:4a. God takes a break. When do you allow yourself to step away from the busyness of the world for some much-needed sabbath time?
• Read Psalm 8. This song of praise exalts the order and majesty of creation. We, like the psalmist, ask, “God, why do you care for humankind?” How do you respond?
• Read 2 Corinthians 13:11-13. What ways can you envision yourself acting to calm disagreements and tension within your church community?
• Read Matthew 28:16-20. Jesus gives his disciples clear instructions: Go, make disciples, baptize, teach. How is your discipleship evident in your “going”?
Respond by posting a prayer.
I join many of those who will pray for you as you seek to discern what you are called to be at this moment. May God grant you the courage to fulfill that calling. May we all open our eyes and see the misery, open our ears and hear the cries of God’s people, and, like God through the Lord Jesus Christ, be incarnate amongst them.”
View a growing list of resources for the spiritual work of overcoming racism.
