Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024

sabbath: renewing our rhythm

The Rev. Rob Stevens

We are renewing the rhythm of our Daily Reflections. Since March of 2020 we have sent an email out to the St. John’s community every day….6 Daily Reflections and our Sunday announcements and links to our services. This ministry and communication has transformed us as a community. We have connected in ways we could have never imagined before….AND we need to renew this rhythm. We need Sabbath.

I confess that Sabbath is not an easy practice for me. I like to work. I gives me purpose and focus. Yet, I also know in my bones that I I need to rest. The metaphor of a well works for me. We need to take time to fill the well or the water we share with others might get murky or even worse completely dry up! With this deep truth in mind we are renewing our rhythm of Daily Reflections. We will still send them Monday-Friday and our Sunday announcements and links to services will, of course, continue, and we will let Saturday be our Sabbath. I share the prayer below with the hopes that we may embrace this new rhythm and practice of sabbath. Maybe print it out and put it on your bathroom mirror?

God of rest,
Today I make the active choice
To enter into your rest,
And to join with you
In delighting in this good world you have made,
And dreaming of the perfect world you will remake.

I choose to tune out,
Of demands and deadlines,
Of performance pressures,
Of flickering screens,
Of that which robs my soul of joy,
And the ways in which the world
Seeks to define and shape my identity.

I choose to tune in,
To your affirmation and love,
To the celebration of freedom,
To worship and your word,
To the enjoyment of that which fills my soul with joy,
And reminds me of my identity in Christ,
As a deeply loved child of God.

Amen