Rest is Resistance Week 1

Illustration of Pooh sitting among the Trees @A_AMilne “What I like doing best is Nothing,” said Christopher Robin. “How do you do Nothing?” asked Pooh, after he had wondered for a long tim. “IT means just going along, listening o all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.” “Poh!” said Pooh. -A.A. Milne.

Week 1 “What would it feel like to be consistently rested?”  p. 56
Genesis 1:27-2:3
Psalm 46:10a
Come & Rest with Me
(I am using these Biblical passages to name that God commands us to Keep the Sabbath and the first thing God does when God creates us, is to just hang out with God, to rest and be with God. However, we demand work, creation and productivity out of each other, instead of breathing, care, community and doing nothing)

Call to Worship will be practiced with Breath Prayers: the hope will be that they can be a little deeper and longer as the sermon series goes on. Here is information about breath prayers that you can educate your congregation on through word or reading material https://www.asacredjourney.net/how-to-practice-breath-prayer/

Call to Worship (Breath Prayer)
(Breathe in) Be Still
(Breathe Out) and Know that I am God

Prayer of the Day
God invites us to rest
to spend time
to sit
to be still
the first invitation
before we move, spoke, thought
God said
Let us do nothing
together.
God Let us remember that,
as we practice Sabbath.

Call to Confession: Let us rest our burdens with God.

Confession: God, we confess that we are not good at resting. We do not even know how to do nothing. And, we confess, if it is difficult to do nothing by ourselves, it is even harder to do it together. Yet your invitation–to be still, in community, is beautiful and daring. Help us to hear it, hold it, and savor it; not with guilt but with sacredness we pray. Amen

Assurance of Pardon: Hear the Good News: God is always awaiting to restore us, so we can proclaim the Good News: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

Suggested Rest Practices for worship
Color Together: Benefits of Coloring, Spiritual Coloring Thoughts
Close Your Eyes and Do Nothing together for 30 seconds
Do another Breath Prayer (like the one above)
P. 34 Body Scan breathing exercise (might be better week 2)
Taize: Taize Community, Meditative Taize Singing
Stair Step Breathing: https://www.pesi.com/blog/details/1885/coping-ahead-of-anxiety-with-stair-step-breathing
Yoga

Notes

If you appreciate my work, please support my D. Min in Creative Writing. I am in my final year and raising money here: https://gofund.me/391febb1

@iconawrites “Are you ‘burned out” or are you having a reasonable reaction to a never-ending barrage of bad news which you can do very little about.
(Tricia Hersey recommends Social Media breaks, and taking care of your full self and remaining rooted int community over trying to save the world)