![[image: detail votives]](votives.jpg)
Dear Friends,
How often people today cry out in exasperation or despair, “I just don’t have enough time!” There is so much to do: earn a living, fulfill a vocation, nurture relationships, care for dependents, get some exercise, clean the house. Moreover, we hope to maintain sanity while doing all this, and to keep growing as faithful and loving people at the same time. We are finite, and the demands seem too great, the time too short.
The historic practice of setting aside one day a week for rest and worship promises peace to those who embrace it. Whether we know the term Sabbath or not, we the harried citizens of our age yearn for the reality. We need Sabbath, even though we doubt that we have time for it.
Unfortunately, we often have a false sense of busyness, a feeling that we have to do things all the time. Our standard of greeting one another is: "I am so busy!" We say this with pride as if our ability to withstand stress is the mark of real character. The busier we are—the more important we feel. And, to become busy has become the model of the successful life.
After six days of creating the world, God rested. After each act of creation, God stood back, rested and called it good. The Sabbath invites us to stand back, so that we can give thanks for the blessings of our life. The Sabbath invites us to see good and to see God. Also, the Sabbath invites us to rest.
God gives us a day of rest; God gives us a rhythm of rest. Rest is essential to our life, as necessary as air. Without rest, we cannot have the energy we need for life. When we rest, we show one another and the world that we rely on God’s promises and not just our own efforts, our own actions. When we rest, we open ourselves up to the unexpected grace of God. When we rest, we open ourselves up to experiencing joy, play, and the presence of God.
After our Sunday service, what many of us need most is time with loved ones—not useful time, for planning next week’s schedule, but time "wasted" on the pleasure of being together, perhaps while sharing a meal or our enjoyment of art, nature, or sports. For others, and for all of us at certain points in our lives, hours of solitude beckon, hours for sleep, reading, reflection, walking, prayer, and meditation.
This summer, take some time to rest and become aware of the beauty of God’s presence in our world.
Blessings,
Mark