Hello friends,
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in dogs.
Welcome to our next reflection as we contemplate what Sabbath might mean.
And learn how to rest deeply within it.
As we get a little bit closer to the end of the series today,
I want to shift slightly because up till now.
.
.
We've explored Sabbath through the Hebrew scriptures.
And in particular through five beautiful Hebrew words,
Selah,
Shabbath,
Manucha,
Rafa,
And Nuach.
But now I want us to consider something deeper still.
What if Sabbath wasn't just a practice?
But rather was ultimately a person.
Bear with me.
In the Gospel of Matthew,
Jesus says these words,
And I'll give you rest.
And then he says something surprising.
Take my yoke.
Upon you.
I yelt.
An instrument of work and yet Jesus says this yoke somehow becomes rest because he goes on to say my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Now this is one of the great paradoxes of the spiritual life.
Because Jesus here isn't inviting people to be passive.
But he's also not telling them to strive after this rest.
What he's doing is he's inviting people,
Us,
Into restful participation,
A way of living.
Where the soul no longer carries life alone.
A way of living rooted in abiding,
Trust,
Dependence.
Presence because ultimately.
.
.
Jesus doesn't merely give Sabbath.
Jesus embodies Sabbath,
Becoming the place where the weary soul finds rest.
Rest from shame.
Rest from self-condemnation.
Rest from exhausting pressure to prove our worth.
Rest from all the false identities we create.
Rest from striving endlessly to become enough.
In Christ were invited to rest in divine sufficiency to discover that well before we've achieved anything,
Proved anything,
Succeeded or failed at anything,
We have already been loved,
Held and welcomed.
And are right now loved,
Held and welcomed and will always be loved.
Held.
And welcomed.
And I hope as you contemplate this that you can see how this completely changes the shape of the spiritual life.
Many people just see the spiritual journey as some sort of endless effort,
Trying harder,
Performing better,
Becoming more worthy.
But in John 15,
Jesus talks about abiding,
Abide in me,
He says,
Remain.
That's all.
Just remain.
Just be.
Stay connected.
Rest within the vine and then fruit.
Comes naturally from that union.
It doesn't have to be forced or manufactured or produced.
Life just flows from abiding and this is the rhythm of Sabbath in Christ.
It's not that you're inactive.
But what you're doing is joining yourself into a restful participation in the life of God.
God works.
We cooperate.
Guard moves.
We respond.
God sustains.
And we learn to trust.
And I think this is why the story of the manor in the wilderness matters so deeply.
Remember this back in Exodus?
Israel was given enough bread that God had sent to the sky.
They came out and found it on the ground in the morning.
And there was enough for them to gather,
Enough manna they called it,
For that day.
There was never enough for them to hoard.
Or to control for the future?
Or to eliminate uncertainty forever.
They couldn't just stockpile it all and say,
Hey,
This is going to last us till who knows when.
In fact,
If they did that.
.
.
It went off.
But there was always enough.
For today,
It was only when they tried to cling to it anxiously that it spoiled.
Now this is a profound spiritual image that's worth deep contemplation because so much of our anxiety comes from trying to secure ourselves completely,
Trying to control tomorrow,
Guarantee safety,
Store up enough worth,
Success,
Certainty,
Validation.
But Sabbath teaches daily trust.
Enough for today.
Grace for today.
Presence for today.
Bread for today.
And look,
Maybe this is why Jesus later teaches his disciples to pray,
Give us this day our daily bread.
Not bread for the next 10 years,
But daily bread,
Daily dependence,
Daily trust,
Daily rest.
So for a few moments now,
I just want to invite you simply into this experience of resting in Christ.
Take a nice slow deep breath.
And imagine yourself setting down every burden you've been carrying,
The pressure,
The expectations.
The fear of not being enough,
The exhaustion of striving,
Just set them down for a moment.
And as you do,
Gently hear the words of Jesus,
Come to me all you who are weary.
Notice there's no demands in that statement.
Just come to me.
All you who were weary and imagine yourself resting in the presence of Christ.
Trust.
Being,
Just remaining.
Just abiding.
What if in this moment you didn't need to become anything more?
What if you were allowed to rest simply in being loved?
What if God's grace was already enough for today?
Feel that invitation to unclench,
To strop,
Striving for worth.
To trust that you're already held within divine love.
This is the heart.
Of Sabbath fulfilled in Christ.
A new way of living in our daily lives.
A life rooted in presence rather than pressure,
Trust.
Rather than fear,
To abide.
Rather than to strive,
And maybe this changes how we move through the world.
We still work,
We still create,
We still serve,
We still participate in healing and justice and compassion,
But we do so from rest,
Not from desperation.
We do it from love,
Not from fear.
We do it from union with God,
Not from the anxious need to prove ourselves.
And that's the invitation today really,
To receive enoughness,
Enough grace for today,
Enough strength for today,
Enough presence for today,
Enough bread for today,
And to rest.
So let us pray.
Christ of rest,
You welcome the weary,
You invite burdened souls into peace.
Teach us how to abide in you.
Free us from the endless striving to prove our worth.
Release us from fear,
From self-condemnation,
From the exhausting need to hold everything together ourselves.
Help us trust your grace for today.
Teach us the rhythm of daily dependence,
Daily bread,
Daily presence,
Daily rest.
When anxiety pulls us into the future,
Return us gently to this moment.
When shame tells us we're not enough,
Remind us that we're already loved.
And as we live and work within this world,
May we do so from a place of deep inner Sabbath,
A restful participation in your life,
In your love and your presence.
And may grace,
Peace and love abide with us and be with us today and always.
Amen.
Until our last session tomorrow,
My friends,
Grace and peace be with you.
