Call to Worship Still Again, let us declare God’s steadfast Love, with songs, instruments and praise For God makes our hearts glad by your work, by the works of God’s very hand, we sing for joy! God’s works are great, and God’s thoughts are too deep to even know; destruction and nothingness have nothing to do with you God of the Covenant, we will rest with you Come, let us seek sanctuary and Sabbath with God Come, let us rest with Jesus
Prayer of Confession: (All) God we admit that we long for wholeness, and healing and peace and all of that, but confess that we feel like it is something that we need to achieve instead of seek. Help us to find Sabbath, to sit and be with the Lord of the Sabbath with Pray. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear the good news, Jesus is walking with us, teaching us and healing us, thus we know the good news: (All) In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen
Offering/Dedication Prayer: God, may we use these and all our gifts for rest, healing and wholeness as we go into the world we pray. Amen.
Children’s Sermon: Remember that God rested on the 7th Day, so it is not surprising that Jesus wanted to honor resting/healing with the disciples even before he chose them/got to work with them
Breathe I hear the Holy Spirit whisper as I try to figure out what it is I am feeling
Anxiety? Excitment? Grief? Fear?
I am trying to catalogue
Natural Disasters Wars
Politicians Name-Calling Which let’s be honest God, the last two are the same thing (usually)
Now this violence
Breathe, I hear God And I think about how my family, where allergies and asthma runs prevalent says joking but not
that breathing is highly
Underrated
Breathe, says Jesus laying down a pillow Inviting me in to take sanctuary to rest
But I don’t have an answer a solution I haven’t even figure out how to tell the story of what is going on
In the universe and how to relate to it all
God nods And I nod and sigh and my eyes begin to droop
And I realize that God knows all of these things are important
Breathe in: God will see to the humans Breathe out: It’s ok not to have the answers
Amen
Image of breaths in Blues and slight pinks and yellow “Breathe on me breath of God” “Vene Sancte Spiritus” “Bo Ruach Elohim” Entitled: The Promise of the Holy Spirit from https://boruachelohim.com/tag/breathe/
Woodspell.apothecary post Sensory rest is silent walks. Soothing scents. Loose clothing. Cosy socks. Deep pleasure. Spiritual rest is meditation. Prayer. Energy healing. Full moon rituals. Creative rest is drawing. Pompom making. Cake decorating. Reading fantasy novels. Trying new recipe. Playful rest is anything fun and unproductive. Watching a romcom. Playing a board game. Doing a puzzle. Building a fort.
Call to Worship (Breathe in) I am enough. (Breathe out) I am enough now
Prayer of the Day God We are Divine to Rest is to Be Human, Give us the chance to Unfurl, the stories that await and uncover if only we Rest Play and Dream ourselves Out of The Systems of Exhaustion We pray. Amen.
Call to Confession: God calls us to dream ourselves with God, so come, let us rest with the Divine.
Confession: God, we confess that we do not dream enough. We do not value our divine spark. We confess that we busy ourselves: with getting by, surviving, achieving, even outdoing one another. We confess to honor the Sabbath. Remind us that rest is holy and beautiful, and helps us reclaim our humanity we pray. Amen.
Suggested Rest Practices Worship Outside/Lay on the Grass Hand Out Journals for Folks to Write in: Ask them to Ponder and either, Remind them this their time, give a long space, 15 or 20 minutes tell them they Write Nothing OR Write Where they are the most exhausted: physically, emotionally, mentally, in their soul or perhaps Write Down what kinds of rest are rejuvenating (use the examples above to help), or they can simply draw or Doodle, play restful background music, offer that they can move, walk, stretch during this time Play-do/Clay to play with Celebrate Communion (see notes)
Suicide Prevention Chapter Indiana Shared, By Blessing Manifesting: Divine yourself what you need Today! What’s “one thing” on this list that would just make your “whole day” better! Make time for that thing today! (In a Rainbow Drink) In blue: A break. A nap. Sleep. Time to rest & Recharge. In Purple: Art. Reading. Writing. Time being Creative. In Pink: Quiet time. Meditation. Yoga. Getting Zen. In Orange: A book. A blanket. A cuddly Pet. In Yellow: Movement. Sweat. High Energy Music.
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f you use this series you must credit Tricia Hersey’s authorship and Book, as it is foundational for all of the work you see here. Please credit Tricia Hersey “Rest is Resistance” and Pastor Katy Stenta for liturgy.
Can you encourage your congregation to rest? What is the culmination of this season? Is it going to be less committees? A period of prayer only? A shift to retiring/merging congregations? A decision to take every 4th or 5th Worship off to just rest? How can you be more sanctuary?
In some ways this work is the sequel to the Sermon Series This Here Flesh, if This Here Flesh is about Emobodied Liturgy (liturgy meaning the work of the people) then this is about, what do we do with our bodies, after we learn that they are in fact liturgy. (I am sure it works vice versa as well)
How are you going to model this in your Worship? Will you encourage pillows and blankets? Put moments for stretches in worship? Hopefully at least time to close your eyes and do nothing, to listen to the birds, music, to do nothing.
Cultivate rest–do what you can to encourage sleep, encourage Sabbath, sanctuary.
Who would come to Church if it was a place of Rest?
Less is more
Not because we need to work more, but because being is more important than doing
These Questions might help your preaching* But may be “too much” for your congregation, that’s ok, meet them where they are at. The political issues are real, try to address them as much as you can. Tricia Hersey talks a lot of being in the world but not of the world, this language works well in the church.
Week 1 “What would it feel like to be consistently rested?”p. 56 Come & Rest with Me Genesis 1:27-2:3 So God created humankind* in his/their image, in the image of God he created them;* male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude.And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation. Psalm 46:10a Be still, and know that I am God Notes
Week 2“What does exhaustion look like for me?” p. 56 Broken Humanity: Scarcity & Hate Hosea 5:15-6:6 I will return again to my place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face. In their distress they will beg my favor: “Come, let us return to the Lord; for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord; his appearing is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth.”What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes away early.Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have killed them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Psalm 3:1-6 1 O LORD, I have so many enemies; so many are against me. 3 But you, O LORD, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high. 5 I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the LORD was watching over me. 6 I am not afraid of ten thousand enemies who surround me on every side. Notes
Week 3“What would it feel like to be consistently rested?” p. 56 Bounty Psalm 34:8-10 Taste and see how good YHWH is! Happiness comes to those who take refuge in YHWH. Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Ecclesiastes 4:6 Better is a handful with quiet than two handfuls with toil, and a chasing after wind. Notes
Week 4“Who was I before the terror of the toxic systems? p. 56 (W)holistic Self Psalm 127:7 In vain you get up early and stay up late, sweating to make a living, because God loves us and provides for us even while we sleep. Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Mark 4:36-41 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’ Notes
Week 5“What have you been told about your worth and existence?” p. 56 Worth and Blessedness Isaiah 14:3-4 When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased! How his insolence has ceased! Psalm 62:1 In God alone my soul finds rest, for my deliverance comes from God, who alone is my rock, my salvation, my fortress: I will never be shaken. Notes
Week 6 “How do you make space to transcend the confines of a system that prays to the call of ‘profit over people’?” p. 56 Grief & Healing 1 King 19:4-7 But [Elijah] himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” Romans 8:22:26 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; 23and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedeswith sighs too deep for words. 27And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Notes
Week 7 “Who do I want to be?” p. 56 Restoration & Liberation Psalm 23:2 or Psalm 23:6 Surely Goodness and Mercy Psalm 23 John 14:(1-7)27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. Notes
Parenting Decolonization: Normalize not giving fuck what white folks think about how we get into spaces. Regal Picture of Toni Morrison with her gray hair pulled back in a black shirt with a purple sweater overlaying it. “The function, the very serious function of racism, is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaingin, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language, so you spend twenty years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly, so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Someone says that you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of that is necessary There will always be one more thing.” Notice NO TIME AT ALL FOR REST in Racism, for ANYONE, Most of all the Black people and POC. (Toni Morrison was known for not giving her time to White Academia, because she was trying to save as much of it as possible, she got up super early before her family to write)
3 yo daughter, pointing to a broke toy: “We can fix it?” Me: Of Cours.” Her: “Why do we fix it?” Me: Umm..to make it work again?” Her: “No. Because we love it.” Me: *silently contemplates the theology my toddler just taught me* Posted by @Kylebeshears
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. I am more than halfway funded! Any amount $10-$200 helps. Receipts available!
A 1950s (?) Redhead luxuriating… reading a newspaper and drinking tea in bed. “They say follow your dreams..so I’m in bed. The signature looks like it is AHS
“You say confess your sins.. Okay, and fair enough—but maybe I’m saved a little every time a I rest my eyes.” p. 148
“To cultivate habits of rest, we must discern what noise has found a way to penetrate our soul.” p. 150
“In this way the silence of God, which is so often mistaken for abandonment, may be a gift to those of us who cannot steady our sons in the vibrations of test world’s clangor.” p. 150
“Rest is not the reward of our liberation, nor something we lay hold of once we are free. It is the path that delivers us there.” p. 151
“I have to believe that if we didn’t need to protect ourselves, we would be prone to avoiding rest.” p. 152
Labor is not a gift, its a means to an end, not an avenue for flourishing p. 152
“We sleep and regenerate. Our cells begin a sacred rhythm of repair and release. And when we wake we are more whole, less inflamed, more aware. And, of course, we sleep, that we might dream.” All things promise to us in scripture. p. 153
“If Christ walked away, so can I.” p. 153
“I see the longing and despair all noun die and I think of Christ, lying in a boat with his head on a pillow while the waves cross their craft around. Everyone is frantic, thinking death itself has come for them, and the creator of the universe is fast asleep. Glory.” p. 153-154
God was in the silence, Be still and Know that I am God
“Tricia Hersey says ‘to not rest is really being violent toward your body, to align yourself with a system that say your body doesn’t’ belong to you, keep working, you are simply a tool for our production.’” p. 155-156.
“What if God doesn’t always want to use you? What if sometimes God just wants to be with you?” p. 156
“People think the sabbath is antiquated; I think it will save us from ourselves.” p. 156
“we will not be owned…we will be free and we will be dreaming.” p. 157
We confess that sometimes we aren’t sure how to relax, that sometimes it feels like a burden, or this thing we have to figure out.
Or a reward that I can only receive after we have completed after we have done every single thing on the list.
I also confess that when we feel crummy, and are given crumbs of Sabbath—that doesn’t help.
That too often Sabbath looks like this piecemeal, cobbled together, misshapenned monstrosity that happened throughout the day, or week, and so we aren’t sure if its good enough or counts, as if someone is grading the Sabbath—
when I know, deep, in my bones,
that the abundance of Sabbath your promise is supposed to be a promise, not threat
and that you would never grade my rest-keeping
and that the point is to know my belovedness, and to relish myself, not to take a million bubble-baths or try to fix myself
You know, God, how I don’t give space for others to be free either–because I have all of this baggage, and its just, not good!
I confess I need all the help this Sabbath thing!
Forgive me God, For thinking that this Sabbath thing is all up to me.
Help us to find Sabbath
in better systems
in safer communities
and in ourselves we pray.
Amen.
Feel Free to Use/Adapt/Share with Credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
when David was king and pondered an enforced rest.
David, who had trauma in his family and then perpetuated trauma on his friend, and raped a woman.
David, who dealt with the physical pain of a sexually transmitted disease that roiled him for years.
God, how stretched was David, when he prayed for a rest that would not let him go.
When David harkened back to simpler times, and longed, not even to be a shepherd again, but to instead be the sheep.
David, reimagines rest as something to be protected, with a staff and a rod.
David sees true rest as being able to let go of his enemies, and eat and drink without having to worry about being attacked.
David, who was so privileged and powerful needed rest.
How much more do we need rest after the pandemic.
How much more do our Black and Brown siblings need the space to rest, and the time to reinvent what rest and rejuvenation looks like?
How much more do our queer siblings, need sabbath?
How much more do our beloved trans* individuals need sanctuary?
Hustling is not going to cut it anymore. You can’t out hustle a pandemic or trauma or racism or bigotry.
God, drive those who need to, down to the cool waters.
Chase them down with goodness and mercy.
And remind us, that Sabbath, like blessings, is not pie. There is enough to go around. We need to create space for rest with one another.
Help us to create a culture of Sabbath, I pray.
Amen.
Again I have to give theological credit to @TheNapMinistry and Nap Bishop Tricia Hersey for their continually revolutionary take on rest. https://linktr.ee/thenapministry
Please share/adapt/use with Theological Credit to “The Nap Ministry” writing credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
katyandtheword 