Rest

Have no fear for the unsettlement or the disturbance of the Kingdom of heaven. It began in eternity, it will go on through everlasting; there is no panic in the divine personality. God is peace, God gives peace, God gives rest.

Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.

Methinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.

Our Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry and crowds. If he can keep us engaged in 'muchness' and 'manyness,' he will be satisfied.

Whatever the pace, run softly, run tall.

When I'm out on a long run, the only thing that matters is finishing the run. For once my brain isn't going blehblehbleh all the time. Everything quiets down, and the only thing going on is pure flow. It's just me and the movement and the motion.

A Romantic, says Nietzsche, is someone who always wants to be elsewhere. If that’s so, then the children of the Internet are Romantics, for they perpetually wish to be someplace else, and the laptop reliably helps take them there — if only in imagination. The e-mailer, the instant messenger, the Web browser are all dispersing their energies and interests outward, away from the present, the here and now. The Internet user is constantly connecting with people and institutions far away, creating surrogate communities that displace the potential community at hand … dissolve(ing) the present away.

Poetry, music, forests, oceans, solitude--they were what developed enormous spiritual strength. I came to realize that spirit, as much or more than physical conditioning, had to be stored up before the race.

On comfort God is the only comfort. He is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from. He is our only possible ally, and we have made ourselves His enemies. Some people talk as if meeting the gaze of absolute goodness would be fun. They need to think again. They are still only playing with religion. Goodness is either the great safety or the great danger—according to the way you react to it. And we have reacted the wrong way. . . Of course, I quite agree that the Christian religion is, in the long run, a thing of unspeakable comfort. But it does not begin in comfort; it begins in the dismay I have been describing, and it is no use at all trying to go on to that comfort without first going through that dismay. In religion, as in war and everything else, comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth—only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair.

On silence [The demon Screwtape writes:] Music and silence—how I detest them both! How thankful we should be that ever since our Father entered Hell—though longer ago than humans, reckoning in light years, could express—no square inch of infernal space and no moment of infernal time has been surrendered to either of those abominable forces, but all has been occupied by Noise— Noise, the grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile—Noise which alone defends us from silly qualms, despairing scruples, and impossible desires. We will make the whole universe a noise in the end. We have already made great strides in this direction as regards the Earth. The melodies and silences of Heaven will be shouted down in the end. But I admit we are not yet loud enough, or anything like it.

Series on formation Practicing our faith (almost liturgy) • Devotion • Community • Hospitality • Sabbath practice to develop muscle memory for the critical moments Exodus 20:1-2, Deuteronomy 5:12-15 1/ PRACTICING DELIGHT “REMEMBER THE SABBATH” Why does god rest after creation? He is satisfied He is delighting in the work He has done “Remember” the sabbath... remember God’s rest after Creation- his delight Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy 2/ PRACTICING RESISTANCE- “OBSERVE THE SABBATH” Deuteronomy Version: proclaim and protest that we are free people “Sabbath (in the life of Israel) emerges as a primal act of faith in exile. I understand the sabbath to be a quiet but uncompromising refusal to be defined by the production system of Babylon, so that life is regularly asnd with disciple enacted as a trusted gift and not a frantic achievement”. — Walter BRUEGGEMANN, cadence of home • Not meant just for yourself but for others as well. • Also an act of social justice • do not reduce the value of those around you to what they can produce for you • the value of all of us is in who God made us- not what we can produce or achieve PRACTICAL TIPS • Calendar it • Be realistic: goal is 24 hours but start with something • Shut down technology • Practice delight of God • Keep a Sabbath to the Lord- orient your rest and delight toward God, as an act of worship and gratitude 3 / PRACTICE TRUST • What are you afraid of? • What will likely happen? NOTHING • God is in his throne working, even when you’re not • The works will turn, the sun will rise and fall • And you will show your trust in His provision and Love for you “Hey son, you’ve been really helpful, thank you... but maybe you should take a break so that I (God) can finish this up)” But the problem with Sabbath is not practical, it’s spiritual.... We are trying to justify ourselves... meet our deep desires and needs BUT There is no amount of work and there is no amount of sabbath that will ultimately satisfy us. Sabbath must point us to foot of the cross, where we are justified in Christ’s death, where we we can sit satisfied, loved and in full recognition of our helplessness to add to our own worth and value. Only in His work, can we find all the we work for.

Harmony, balance, and rhythm. They’re the three things that stay with you your whole life. Without them civilization is out of whack. And that’s why an oarsman, when he goes out in life, he can fight it, he can handle life. That’s what he gets from rowing.

THE TEARS ... streamed down, and I let them flow as freely as they would, making of them a pillow for my heart. On them it rested.

Our Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry and crowds. he can keep us engaged in 'muchness' and 'manyness,' he will satisfied.

The Road goes ever on and on Out from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, Let others follow it who can! Let them a journey new begin, But I at last with weary feet Will turn towards the lighted inn, My evening-rest and sleep to meet.’

…with mouths apt to laughter, and to eating and drinking. And laugh they did, and eat, and drink, often and heartily, being fond of simple jests at all times, and of six meals a day (when they could get them). They were hospitable and delighted in parties, and in presents, which they gave away freely and eagerly accepted. Nonetheless, ease and peace had left this people still curiously tough. They were, if it came to it, difficult to daunt or to kill; and they were, perhaps, so unwearyingly fond of good things not least because they could, when put to it, do without them, and could survive rough handling by grief, foe, or weather in a way that astonished those who did not know them well…

The LORD is my shepherd; I lack nothing.

The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms…