Most of you know that I'm an active leisure kind of person, and just lately, walking to Birkenhead Wharf and then back to the running club has been my activity on club night. You see more when walking (rather than running), you notice more, you can talk or simply observe interesting or lovely things about the environment we live in (see above). On the Shore, it is relatively easy to appreciate the places where nature meets the city, and give thanks to God.
It's a form of rest for the soul, even though the body is active. Sometimes the body does need a proper rest aside from this. In Mark 6: 30-31, Jesus recognises the need his followers have for a bit of a break; "The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves." The crowds found them soon enough, but the thought was there.
My observation is that we are mostly all busy people, and if we fail to build in this concept of rest or sabbath into our lives, we do so at our peril. Our mental health suffers alongside our physical well-being. My observation is that the work of the church continues due to the commitment of a faithful few. Some people have a large capacity for meaningful activity. Even they need to take a break regularly. As those who serve in a faith community in changing times, let us examine our motives, and our embrace of regular unplugging to experience rest in our lives.
The 14th century English mystic, mother Julian of Norwich wrote; "When the soul gives up all for love, so that it can have him who is all, then it finds true rest." May you know His rest.
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