“THE SACRED REST THAT BUILDS THE SOUL”

A recent government study announced that Americans are working 8 hours more per week than they did 30 years ago.  Our society, it seems, has mastered the skill of work but lost the art of rest.  Work has become the “drug of choice” for many in our culture.  It’s a substitute for real relationships.  It endangers one’s health and actually inhibits productivity.  Maybe it’s time to rediscover God’s plan for rest – The Sabbath Day.

 

When I was growing up, Sunday was a day set apart.  For my family this meant that we attended church every Sunday, illness being the only acceptable excuse for missing.  We even sought out Lutheran Churches when we were away on vacations.

 

Sunday was the day my father grilled and the family played together in the backyard.  It was the one day my brothers and I were “allowed” a soft drink.   Looking back on those days really makes me smile.  They were fun.  They were refreshing.  They were restful.  They were filled with laughter and love.

 

How unfortunate that so many have lost that discipline and the grace of Sabbath rest.  How often I have heard someone explain to me that the reason they don’t make church very often is because “it’s the only day I have to rest” or “it’s the only day our whole family can be together.”  Typically, I am stunned by the sheer contradiction of those two statements.

 

The created order has within it a divinely composed rhythm that leads to healthy living.  Ignoring this divinely designed rhythm threatens our spiritual health and endangers the soul.  We have been created in the image of God, but we are also in the process of becoming more and more like him.  Our spirits are being formed and recreated and redeemed moment by moment.  To be renewed and reformed in the image of God requires the rhythm of work, play, and rest.

 

The Creator has offered us the freedom to rest.  We can willingly and joyfully allow God to calm our troubled souls and refresh our wearied spirits.  When the stress of life and the anxiety of  daily living drains our spirits, we can find our needed rest in the Sabbath of God’s renewing and refreshing grace in Jesus Christ who meets us in Word and Sacrament.

 

As we find ourselves approaching the months of summer, it might well be a good time to rediscover for yourself and for your family, the wonderful blessings of the Sabbath rest and worship life. 

 

 

~ Rev. Bill Qualman, Pastor