welcome and rest

One thing I reflected on as I prepared the recent service about welcome was the importance of rest - which can be something integral to welcome (depending on the person's need).  If I am exhausted or stressed, the best welcome is one that indicates freedom to rest - to be at peace, to have nothing extra required of me.  Hospitality in this form creates a space where the daily concerns and demands of life can recede for a while, as the person's needs are cared for and provided for.

Do we sometimes make our 'welcome' too demanding?  Sometimes simply allowing someone space to breathe and be peaceful in a safe place is all the welcome they need.  This may entail protection of a sort - assuring them that you will be their watchman at the door, for want of a better way of putting it.  Sometimes I find one of the most valuable and appreciated welcomes of all are those where I'm told to come in, relax, don't feel the need to do anything or say anything.  I'll do it, for a while, so that you can have some rest.  I'll guard you from the demands, the questions, the things you cannot manage.  You are safe.  You are welcome here.

the right to rest

On the shelf in the room next door is a caterpillar.  Not a real caterpillar, I hasten to add.  A wind-up caterpillar, a segmented little creature that once wound up, will squirm its way across the surface.  It will keep on squirming until the mechanism unwinds entirely.  Then it staggers to a halt.  If something gets in its way, it won't stop moving until it has wound down.  It will simply squirm on the spot, headbutting at the obstacle until somebody moves it out of the way.

Sometimes I think we live in a wind-up world.  In this Western culture of ours, at least, we tend to keep going until we cannot keep going, keep trying until there is nothing left to try.  Rest becomes just another thing on the To Do List - a necessity we need to do at some point, but only when we really have to.  It's not that we don't want to do it.  It just becomes harder and harder to justify as the tasks line up in our minds.

What fascinates me about the institution of Sabbath under the Old Covenant is that part of the reason for it is compassionate.  It's not about a list of things that you should do on the Sabbath.  It's about resting yourself and your household and (touchingly) your animals. Those who have no choice when they work are given the guarantee of a day off.  Those who have had no rights are given this right.  The right to rest.

I do not keep Sabbath, not in the Old Covenant sense.  And the idea of Sunday becoming a Sabbath equivalent is not particularly feasible in our household - Sunday is a busy day, Sunday is a working day.  Sunday is a day for worshipping God, for teaching about God, for focusing on God. Sunday is good.  But Sunday is not like Sabbath.  Not for us, and not in fact for many Christians. I cannot shove Sunday into a Sabbath mould.  Sunday is Resurrection Day, the day when the early church chose to remember the great Third Day Spectacular that was Jesus Christ rising from the dead.  I like that.  Sunday is Resurrection Day.

So, instead of keeping the Old Covenant Sabbath day, we follow the principle of Sabbath.  Which is great.  Except sometimes we get so cluttered up in life that our principles get a bit muddled and lost and, rather too often, postponed.

One problem I find is that it's not just about physical rest but turning off our minds.  This will apply more to some people than others!  Some of us have naturally busy minds - be it because we are feeding off the other busy-ness of our lives, because we're worriers, or simply because we're creative and thoughts form entire paragraphs in minutes. And we can't switch off.  Our minds become like that caterpillar, squirming and head butting at what ever obstacle stands in its way.

Because I suffer from Chronic Fatigue (M.E) I have a routine of scheduled rests which I do my best to follow - three half hour stopping points throughout the day, where I lie down, do nothing and allow my body to recharge.  I'm quite good at following this rule on a physical level, but my mind is another story.  I whir away, my thoughts tumbling, until at some point I remember - I'm not supposed to be doing this.  I'm supposed to be giving myself the right to rest - mentally as well as physically.

There are of course various exercises you can do to relax yourself, but I find these lack permanence for me and my chaotic mind.  In the end, there's only one possible thing I can do - and it's so often the last thing.  So often the last thing.  I go to the Lord of the Sabbath himself. How we squirm away sometimes! No. No. Must. Keep. Going. Forgetting that the burdens we place on ourselves are unnecessary.  We refuse to believe this. We assume we must do all that we do. But what if we couldn't? We need to continually look at our lives and ask ourselves: is this really helpful/necessary/important?

Amid the clutter of my thoughts, I go to the Lord of the Sabbath himself.  For I admit, sometimes I lose control of my own mind.  I've wound it up, and now it won't wind down.  There's no switch-off.  It's out of my capability.  I know, amid my struggles and my thoughts - yes even the good  ones- amid my tasks and my ideas - yes even the good  ones - I have been given a certain amount of energy in the day.  I need to look away from the To Do List in my head, even just for a few minutes.  (If you don't have five minutes, you need to look seriously at what you are doing with your day.)  

Because the principle of Sabbath rest holds firm.  We need rest - for body, soul and mind.  We have been created to need rest.  Rest is created for us.  We have been given the right to rest. And to get good at rest, we need to practise it.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Matthew 11:28-29 

rest

The current Salt challenge is rest - here is the scrapbook page I made for this theme.



I think on the nature of rest quite a lot these days, since I have these scheduled rests as part of my Occupational Therapy programme for CFS/ME. It makes me think about how we rest - what we consider rest to be - what is restful, and what is not. My routine stipulates that these times should be deeper rest than I might otherwise choose to have - calling things like reading, drinking a cup of tea, watching the TV, low-level activity. Actually, I find it hard work to rest in this way, which is actually rather ironic.

We find it hard to stop and be still. We find it hard not to have something to look at, engage with, think about. Well, I do, anyway. What about you?
We also get caught up with today's idea that success is all about what we achieve - and we easily think of rest as necessary - but not particularly constructive. Well I do, anyway. What about you?

We forget that the reason for the Sabbath day in the Old Testament was rest - pure and simple. It was a time when people stopped. Just stopped. And it also made allowances for those who did not have the same control over their lives - servants - even animals. They all got to rest. Jesus himself said that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. It was beneficial for the creatures God had made.

We may not keep the Sabbath in the same way as under the old covenant, but I think we need to retain the principle. People need rest. All people. We all need time to recharge. We need to learn to see that rest is a constructive thing - not a thing to get through so we can get on with the rest of the 'to-do' list. Not a thing we should feel guilty about. We get frazzled, particularly in a climate like ours, where expectations are high and achievements praised, where we are constantly looking for the next entertainment, the next distraction.

We have forgotten how to quieten our hearts. So perhaps this verse is in fact very apt for us. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Lord, teach me how to sit at your feet again.
Teach me how to listen.
Teach me how to simply be in your presence.
Teach me how to let go of my burdens and carry a different, lighter load.
Teach me how to rest.
Teach me to stop following the expectations of the world and society and culture and other people and myself - but instead to follow yours.
Finding that they, after all, are the lightest, kindest of them all - for you understand my needs as a whole being - body, mind, soul all wrapped together - and give me that shalom - that wholeness that leads to a healthy approach to life in this world.

easy...

Easy to think: life is measured by achievement, or at least busy-ness. If I do not do this, then I am not...

Easy to forget: in quietness and trust is my strength; in repentance and rest is my salvation.

When the whirlwind threatens: lean back, pause, re-orientate.

Remember the reason.

"In repentance and rest is your salvation,

in quietness and trust is your strength,

but you would have none of it."

Isaiah 30:15