Unforced rhythms of grace
The title of this blog is a line from Matthew 11:28-30 which reads
“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.”
I love that line. Life is all about rhythms. My Monday through Friday I get up at 5:15. I get to work by 7. I take lunch at 11:30. I leave at 4:30. I go to bed at 10. That’s a rhythm. All of life is a rhythm; 24 hours in a day. 7 days a week. It never changes.
Last week I was on vacation and when I came back everyone asked the same question- “Did you get any rest?”
Rest is a word I’ve been thinking about alot. All of us sleep but few of us rest. Few of us get the refreshing rest the refreshes our souls. We’re busy. We’re all busy, rushing from one task to another, hardly pausing and so we rely on that one vacation a year to try and recharge. Many of us feel as though we’re are trapped on a never-ending treadmill. The problem is that’s not the way God designed it.
When God gave the 10 commandments to the Jews he set the rhythm when he said; You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God. God designed it so that we would work and strive for 6 days but 1 day we would spend in reconnection to Him and each other.
Somewhere along the way something has gone wrong. Instead of walking with God, Christians have gotten stuck on the treadmill of event based Christianity. We go from one spiritual event to another. Sunday has become the main event, but if you read the book of Acts, Sunday was just the gathering of small groups who lived and loved others all week long. A time of sharing the great works of God that they had witnessed that week. a time of praise. It was not a culmination, it was a pep rally to encourage the saints and testify about God. It was a time of collective joy.
At Hope Community we are trying to regain that command of rest. We are embarking on a series of teachings on the Sabbath, so that we might bring a balance in our lives between work and rest so that our relationships with God and our fellow humans might improve. We invite you to join us.
