| Brueggeman comments about when the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was finished and everything God commanded Moses was done. It is finished! it is constituted! Holy zone where God dwells! Holy time where nephesh sets down! Holy space and holy time, holy life devoted to the presence of God and healing, and a vision of God's glory come among us - full of grace and truth - God's glory which we are to practice and enjoy. This space is unlike any other space. This time is unlike any other time. This life is unlike any other life. It is this space and this time and this life that stand as the wellness center of creation. There is no substitute, no reasonable facsimile, no adequate tradeoff or compensation. An act of restful restoration engages the character of the Creator, even as it is engraved in the life of the creation; imagine, moreover, that we are made in that image to turn from busyness to restfulness and so back to full joyous creatureliness, the kind intended by the Creator, the kind intended by good parents by whom we were first fondled. It is the truth of our life that we are meant for restful restoration. Written into the very center of the community is the reality of being finished - set - refreshed. This is not a time that will renew us so that we might never really be set in our ways - but available for the life that will come after we rest from what has been the labor of our lives. I always appreciate when writers remind us of our creatureliness. When we do not find that we can rest in God, it is so very easy to try and overstep our creatureliness and attempt to be something more. But we are not something more. We are what God created - and that is Good - very Good. To be able to step back and let the promises of God hold us and support us and offer us rest is to be a part of the whole picture of life that comes into being by our 'Creator God.' To be human is to be as much as that means - and no more. When we trust God's commentary on our life, there comes a time in which we can breathe and sigh and rest so that we will each remember our place - our calling - our status for life. Connection: Will there be a time in this day to be a part of "restful restoration"? If not, when? Encourage us to abide in you alone, O God. Too often we are afraid of what will come of us if we do not try to control the world in which we live. You alone can free us from that burden. We must remember this power you hold for life. Amen. |
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