rest - Jeremiah's Vow

Lent 2022 | Day 31: Weary

²⁸Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30 KJV

We don’t use the word weary very much in our culture today. But it is slightly different than just being tired. Being tired is what we describe feeling after physical exertion. This is the result of a long day of work or chores. The primary focus of being tired is the physical. We end up with sore muscles, inflamed joints, or just a general sense of fatigue. But this is not what it means to be weary.

We talk about being weary when we are going to a much deeper place and how the activity that we are performing affects us. When we are weary the effect on our emotions and our sense of purpose is what is deeply affected.

The causes or reasons for weariness are as varied as the people we encounter on life’s road. Whether it be a marriage that is being stressed by the circumstances of life or the toll of looking after an elderly parent. Or just the ongoing drudgery of enduring a job that you no longer find fulfilling, all these can be sources of weariness.

In the midst of the daily rhythms and routines of life, we find God breaching the feeling that we have with his presence. We see this most intently in Jesus’s birth. God becomes a man and enters into the human experience. He lives among a broken people, worn and tattered by the ravages of sin, and doing all they can to make it through another day. While we have the advantages of technology and quick access to information this does not change that the human experience in striving to meet fundamental needs has remained essentially the same.

How do we know that this human experience is more regular than we may typically consider being true? I think it’s seen in the stories that are passed on from one generation to the next. We can see it in the parables, fables, in moral tales that can be found in every culture and civilization that is lived on the planet.

The fact that we can still learn the principles and concepts contained within the stories today is a testament to a general commonality experienced by all humanity. Even separated by time and cultural understandings we can learn from others through these principles.

This is why when we talk about weariness we can know that it is not a new phenomenon in the human condition. It is actually quite common. But that is not the way we experience it. That is not the way we describe it when and if we share it with someone else. When we are in the midst of a season of weariness it can be one of the most isolating times of our life. And again, this is quite normal.

So what do we do? How do we deal with these times of weariness?

The short answer is that we must not do it alone. The temptation and tendency to cordon off those who would have an interest in helping is one we have to fight against. The example of Christ contained in the verses at the beginning of this post is quite instructive. Jesus enters into the human experience and offers to journey with us through it all. This is the example we should model. This is the mindset that we should adopt.

We all at one point to another will find ourselves feeling weary, burdened down by the weight of life. But when that moment comes we do not have to go through it by ourselves. We must learn to practice asking for help. It is not always easy. But it will always be worth the effort when we can find someone who is willing to enter into our weariness and help us to get to the other side of it.

The Sirens Of Busyness

The Sirens of Busyness are singing.

Can you hear them?

I can. Very clearly.

[If you don’t remember much from Greek mythology, you likely remember the imagery of the Sirens.

Half-birds, half beautiful maidens, the Sirens were singing enchantresses capable of luring passing sailors to their islands, and, subsequently, to their doom. Daughters of the river god Achelous and a Muse, they were fated to die if anyone should survive their singing. When Odysseus passed them by unharmed, they hurled themselves into the sea and were drowned. You can read more about them here.]

In our culture, and in many other cultures, “busyness” is worn with like a badge. It’s celebrated as an achievement. It’s complained about as “the cross we must bear.” It’s worshipped like a god.

And this past year, first with the quarantine and then with the continued impact of the pandemic, we saw just how much of a god busyness has become.

People felt lost without their packed schedules.

Anxiety set in when there was so much time suddenly available. Many felt like they had to just do something. Anything.

And this quest to remain busy, merely revealed a god we had long been worshipping.

Even above The God.

Maybe you call this god by a different name than “Busy.”

Maybe you call it “Normal.”

Let me confess, that I worshipped at the altar of this god alongside most of you. That why I know it so well. Because this god had become my god too.

And I can hear the Sirens of this god calling back out to me again.

It’s like an enchanting echo. Calling out to me to come back.

And yet, I know what it leads to. The pandemic exposed it for me. Maybe it did for you too?

Anxiety.

Shallowness.

Vanity.

Stress.

Weariness.

Whether we want to admit it or not, the answers we seek for the deep longing in our soul will not be solved by going back to this god.

Going back to busyness.

Going back to “normal.”

How do I know? Because I did. For a couple weeks. About a month ago.

I had a 2 week stretch that “felt” like life before the pandemic.

Breakneck pace.

Laundry list of things to do.

Public attention for what was being done.

It was as if my soul was screaming the whole time: STOP. But I couldn’t. I had already been drawn into the rocks.

If this pandemic has taught me nothing else, it has taught me that our culturally accepted “pace of life” rarely ever matches up with Jesus’ pace of life for me.

It’s certainly not that all of life should be slow.

But I can also say it’s definitely not the opposite as well.

There’s a rhythm to how Jesus lived his life and desires for us to live ours. And for too long we’ve ignored it. We’ve simply opted for the culturally acceptable path of least resistance: busy.

But Jesus has a better plan than busy.

It’s called abundant.

This abundant life is a life of balance. Of boundaries. Of boldness.

And if we want to recover it, it will require a fight. It won’t merely come easily at first. It will require silencing the voices of the sirens.

It will require Sabbath.

Not a day of laziness.

Not a day of “church activity.”

Not a day of catching up on chores.

Not a day of hobbies.

Not a day of “prepping for the week.”

A day of rest. Truly finding rest for our souls. Resting in the presence of God.

A day of relationships. Truly relating on a soul level. Relationships with others who are also resting in the presence of God.

A day of re-creation. Truly re-setting ourselves to the rhythms of God’s creation. Re-centering our lives within the will of God.

A day of remembering. Truly reminding ourselves who God is, who we are in Him, who He desires us to be, and how we are fully satisfied only in Him. Retelling the stories God’s people and the stories of God’s work in our lives today.

I can hear the Sirens of busyness singing: Come back.
But I can feel the Spirit of the living God urging: Come home.
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I can hear the Sirens of busyness singing: Come back.

But I can feel the Spirit of the living God urging: Come home.

The god of busyness will not satisfy. Because like all false gods, it cannot deliver the abundant life it allures me to believe it can.

Only God can do that.

Only God will do that.

And I can only begin to experience it as I begin each week as God designed: with Sabbath.

Lent Day #10 | Sabbath

The topic for today is a word and a practice not understood anymore. Well, at least I don’t think so. The idea of Sabbath describes taking rest. However, this definition is too simplistic to really be beneficial. When God talks about sabbath he is not merely saying to us stop activities or chores. There is a deeper dimension that is being described. As followers of Christ and children of God we called to take sabbath rest so that we can focus wholeheartedly on God. God has established the sabbath for us.

Let’s think about this for a moment. I find it interesting that God’s care for us extends even to our tendency to find our purpose and fulfillment in what we do, rather than in our relationship with him. However, God has commanded that we keep the sabbath because in doing so we acknowledge we are mortal and fragile. We can not just go and go and not expect to break down at some point.

The reality of our life’s is this, we have to take a break. We have talked about that some already. God does not want is to miss out on one of the most basic wonders of life, the ability to stop and marvel at what we are experiencing.

Why did God stop on the seventh day? Because after he had finished on the sixth day he saw that “it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). If we follow God’s example we will see we need to take time and enjoy what we have been able to do through the week. But, more importantly, we need to take time to give thanks to God for what he has done throughout the week.

As we journey through Lent I pray that we will grow I our enjoyment of the beauty that surrounds us by taking time to enjoy it.

The Bishop and His Beautiful People | “Your Call Is Still Calling”

There is nothing more important to the work of the church than to be totally and unashamedly committed to Jesus. Any failure to love God and to love those whom God loves misses the message of Jesus.

The South Georgia Annual Conference met from June 3 – 5, in Macon, Georgia. This meeting takes place once a year and is the time for the conference to handle the business of the church. I was not able to attend, but did watch on the live stream online. One of the wonderful benefits of technology. As the conference drew to a close Bishop King shared some important thoughts with the clergy and lay members of the conference. I would like to share with you these thoughts and some of my own reflections.

Our bishop regularly greets the members of the conference by saying, “Hello beautiful people.” And he does so with such a warm smile it is hard not to smile back, knowing that this is a sincere greeting from him. I hope I never take it for granted. I am always left with the impression that the bishop really means it and he wants us to believe it for ourselves. We are a beautiful people. Not because of anything intrinsic within us, but because of who we have become and are becoming in Jesus.

Bishop King then said to those in attendance and those of us viewing online, “Your call is still calling.” Continue reading “The Bishop and His Beautiful People | “Your Call Is Still Calling””