Learning the Unforced Rhythms of Grace
Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Bob Henry
May 22, 2022
Matthew 11:28-30 (Msg)
28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
It is clear from our scriptures this morning that God is concerned about rest. Actually, Jim Smith author of The Good and Beautiful God says, “The number one enemy to our spiritual formation is exhaustion.”
As a long-time student of spiritual formation, that bold proclamation grabbed my attention. Exhaustion is an enemy to our soul. Just sit with that thought for a moment. Anyone feeling exhausted, worn out, burn out, and needing a rest?
Today, marks our entry into the summer months hear at First Friends. The choir takes a break, Sunday School takes and break and during the summer months we give space for some needed rest for our souls.
I like to think of this time as a sabbath for our corporate soul and for our individual souls.
Honestly, in my years as a pastor I have often heard people exclaim, “I am exhausted by my church.” This is usually due to over-programming, a lack of volunteers, or not having a clear vision for the future.
Burnout has become one of the key reasons people simply up and leave the church, today, often after being extremely involved.
Sadly, I continue to watch many churches run people into the ground by ignoring the importance of rest. And therefore, I do not want that for us at First Friends.
As well, many currently in the helping professions (educators, medical professionals, social workers, etc.), suffer from exhaustion and lack of rest – especially as we continue to try and come out of this ongoing and evolving pandemic.
Then there is our obsession with technology and social media which has added to this exhaustion 3-fold.
It has become so bad, that we now must set limits for screen times and set reminders to exercise. We even must be reminded by our technologies to have interactions with real human beings to avoid isolation. The latest commercials of apps are helping you schedule mindfulness experiences or naps into our workday.
Naps are not something new for many cultures outside of the US.
People head home from work in Spain for a siesta. And in Italy they take a riposo. And in China workers break after lunch and put their heads on their desks for an hour-long nap (it is a protected right by their constitution). This is something we in our driven American culture could learn from.
Some major corporations in America have realized this and just before the pandemic had added Nap Rooms to their office spaces and tech companies.
The pandemic offered this opportunity in new ways as people were forced to work from home. Statistics showed that one of the major factors for quality production levels rising during the pandemic was directly due to people getting needed rest.
Matthew Walker, who has studied our need for sleep says, “…sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day.”
Sadly, I don’t think the struggle for rest is something new in our world, and it is evident from a simple glance at our bibles. Even people 2000+ years ago dealt with the lack of rest. You might be surprised at how many times the bible talks about people needing rest. Just Google it sometime – you might be surprised at how much the Bible has to say.
Even when drafting the original 10 Commandments – rest was a key component.
“Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work.” (Exodus 20:9-10).
When I was in my doctoral studies, I was challenged to find what our Jewish friends consider sabbath rest.
Sabbath comes from the word shavat which means to “cease” or “desist.” The main observance of shavat was from sunset on Friday to nightfall of the following day.
Now, Quakers consider all days equal which can confuse this needed opportunity for rest. It also may at times create a lack of trust with rest or resting, making people feel as though they must be literally worn out for God’s purposes.
Thus, I think it is important that we consider rest not so much about day but instead about a discipline.
Richella Parham, in an article posted by Renovaré titled, “The Spiritual Discipline of Rest” points out,
“…the way the human body functions has not changed much in the years since God commanded his people to observe a day of rest. The amount of time generally set aside for sleep has shrunk, but the need for it has not. In these days filled with artificial light and late-night opportunities for work and play, we must now be very purposeful in the pursuit of physical rest.
I think we often fail to consider that we must choose to rest or else we’re likely to have rest forced upon us when we are exhausted to the point of physical, mental, or emotional distress.”
Ask yourself this morning, Have I ever found myslef forced to my bed after pushing myself too hard?
I know I have been in this place on many occasions. Ministry while trying to raise a family can be life-draining and exhausting at times. Statistics show that most pastors struggle with burnout on a regular occasion in ministry and the pandemic took those statistics to a point that found pastors fleeing from ministry, retiring at record rates, and finding new careers.
I know I must protect my time of sabbath rest. So, don’t think I am rude if I do not answer a call or respond to an email on Friday, this is part of my discipline and hopefully makes me a better pastor. I know that when I do not protect it, I start to feel sick, or on edge, and quickly find myself forced to rest.
And folks, I’m also not just talking about students cramming for finals who need more rest, rather I am talking about retired folks who have schedules fuller now than before they retired – you know who you are out there.
We have busy lives – all of us – and we need to pay attention.
I had a friend once who would say, “My getting sick is God’s way of slowing me down.”
Please understand, I don’t think we should buy into blaming this on God, but rather we need to become more aware of our own lives, our own body’s needs, and about how much we are able or trying to do. That is what Parker Palmer was talking about last week in the pieces of the commencement speech I shared.
This is where, I believe, Jesus is very helpful. I consider him a great example of one who understood the need for rest. There are plenty of places in scripture that show us his discipline of rest.
Often, we get so caught up with other aspects of the stories that we quickly read over or completely miss the more human aspects to which we can relate that often speak directly to his need for down time. For example:
Mark 1:35 But after this one day, “very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place and there he prayed.”
In this moment Jesus secluded himself so much that his disciples could not find him, and they had formed a search party.
Or after John the Baptist’s death, Jesus said to the disciples,
“’Come away by yourselves to a quiet place and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.”
This reminds me when our boys were young, and they would play all day and come to the dinner table and suddenly, the head-bobbing would begin. Sometimes even with a spoonful of food in their hand. On occasion one of them would just fall head-first into their plate completely exhausted.
In Matthew 11:28-30 it clearly shows that Jesus understood the importance of rest. He incorporated rest into his life and his teaching. I love how Eugene Peterson translated it in our scriptures for today,
“Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
I think that may be one of my favorite phrases in scripture: to “learn the unforced rhythms of grace.” I need to make a sign with this phrase for my house – because it is so important.
But probably the story I love the most is found in Mark 4. Most of us are probably familiar with this story. Jesus and his closest followers set out across the Sea of Galilee by boat. Exhausted and spent from his day of ministry and teaching, Jesus falls fast asleep on a cushion in the stern of the boat. While Jesus is “sawing logs,” major storms blow in and fear sets in on everyone else aboard the boat.
In Mark 4:38 we find everyone a bit upset at Jesus and they shake him awake saying angerly, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
Now, you must remember that many of Jesus’ disciples were fisherman and knew just how dangerous the Sea of Galilee could get when a storm would arise. So, if they were frantic during a squall or storm of this nature – that was a big problem.
Yet Jesus shows us that even in the literal storms of life, rest is vital to building our trust, confidence, and definitely our peace.
The reason I love this story so much is because it is just how it seems to be. You finally decide to nap, rest, take a day off, or make some time in your schedule and then someone comes and says, “What are you doing? You don’t have time to rest.”
Folks, there will always be another emergency, more work to do, someone to help, something to fix, but sometimes to help us be better people in our world, more understanding, clearer about our decisions, we are going to need to say, “I am taking a rest, because that is more important at this time.”
And when you and I are in the thick of the storms of life, do we take Jesus’ advice or simply push on?
Do we find a quiet place to rest?
Do we intentionally find time to recover and renew our life?
Do we, while everyone else is frantic around us, have the personal awareness and fortitude it takes to find a place stop the madness around us and really rest?
Ask yourself, am I in need of rest, today?
Would my week start better if I rested today?
If I allowed myself to slow down and pause for a while, might I be able to center down and worship in a more meaningful way?
As we enter the summer months, I want to challenge you to consider your own discipline of rest and what you need to do in the coming weeks and months to help you truly rest.
Many consider Waiting Worship a time to “rest in the presence of God.” I pray as we enter this time, you may center down and begin a time of needed rest for your soul today.
When I am in the thick of the storms of life, do I take Jesus’ advice or simply push on?
Do I find a quiet place to rest?
Do I intentionally find time to recover and renew my life?
Do I, while everyone else is frantic around me, have the personal awareness and fortitude it takes to find a place stop the madness around me and really rest?