Thursday 31 May 2007

Walter Brueggemann suggest sabbath rest for those who are weary.

So how do we move from weariness and being burdened to Jesus? Well, by sabbath! But not sabbath like one more day of golf, good as it might be. Rather, sabbath rest by taking a break from our contradicted lives of anxiety and our silenced life of coercion. Sabbath rest consists in bringing our daily existence into congruity with our true selves.

Rather than running around doing the work of Pharaoh - as he says in previous devotions - rest here means that we stop the running according to the rule of others. We step back...we stop...and we begin to experience the promise of life offered by Jesus. A rule that is not a burden and will not make us weary. When we are afraid and when we are living a life that must conform to the voice of the powers of our world, sabbath rest is the time we need to remember whose we are. It is within that kind of reflection and contemplation and rediscovery and re-focus that we regain our voice. It is from a sabbath rest - a visit to that "cathedral in time" - that we become aware of the fact that we are foreigners within the brick making world of Pharaoh. It is in this sabbath rest that we begin to find whose we are what life that brings to us no matter where we are or what others try to make us. Gaining that voice again and not being coerced into silence is refreshing and life giving.

Connection: I would think we must be willing to experience sabbath rest regularly. It may not be in the traditional format of what we see in scripture. It may be an intentional time we give to ourselves. A time to "come home" and visit the one who promises us life. That may differ from you to me...but we all must stay awhile in that place of sabbath rest. Is is possible to go there today?

Healer of all that is weary and broken, it is by your presence that we begin to envision life as you have handed it to us. At those times, we begin to hear ourselves and know who we are and what it might be like to give voice to the person you have created and now nurture by your Spirit so that we can indeed: Lift every voice and sing... Amen.