"Today, if you hear God's voice..."

Hi, Sabbath team and friends thereof,

Wow, Karen! That passage from Hebrews is dense! Or at least I find it so. I pondered your question about the connection between the passage and the National goal (see Sept 21 posting). But I couldn't stop going back to phrases in the passage that spoke to me rather than the goal.

There is a lot of Good News in the reading and there is a call to account. The writer invites me to notice if I have hardened my heart to God's rest. Even the phrase "Today, if you hear God's voice..." strikes me with its "if". IF!? It is so true that there are days when I search for God's voice and I hear nothing. Not that God's voice isn't there but rather I feel unable to hear it.

God's rest "remains open for some to enter it". Will I be part of the "some"? How can I prepare to be part of the "some"?

As I reflect back on what has been our Year of Sabbath I feel that my Sabbath practice and ponderings has helped me to prepare to be open to some wonderful things. In the last few months I began to feel a deep centeredness, a focus on my own creativity, a clarity about what really matters in my ministry and my personal life and a slowly developing ability to be truly present in many moments. (I wish I could say every moment but I can't.)

When I began to realize that I was generally feeling energized and Spirit-led for an extended period I began to wonder why. I believe the Year of Sabbath has been a huge part of this present space.

Sabbath has not been easy. I didn't anticipate that I might reap the benefits of the practice in the ways that I am. But that might be the point: don't anticipate what the Spirit might be moved to do when I create the space for God to move at all.

What I know quite clearly is that the most powerful Sabbath relationship for me has been my monthly "session" with my mentor. As I write the word "mentor" it feels funny. It has been a long time since Keith and I have used the language of mentoring. Instead we are definitely sharing and accompanying.

I expected that my relationships and sharings with the Sabbath team would be most powerful but honestly it has not been but for the obvious fact that we cannot gather face to face with some frequency. The blog and emails help but that has not felt like authentic community to me. I sincerely cherish the two times we have been together and have gleaned MUCH insight into Sabbath from those times (and I am grateful for the grounds on which friendship and collegial networking have been laid).

The last line of the Hebrews passage challenges and inspires me:
"Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Living faithfully takes BIG boldness! I will continue to be open to the Year of Sabbath and what might unfold from it for me, for my congregation and for my church as a whole. (A good place to start is finding out when I am supposed to choose a focus scripture and blog and DO IT! I took a Sabbath from Sabbath in the summer.)

One powerful lesson I have learned is that God is at work (and rest) whether I am open to God or not.

I leave you with one of my new favourite pieces of literature. A poem by Rene Rilke.
Be well.

Rick Gunn

Because once someone dared
to want you,
I know that we, too, may want you.

When gold is in the mountain
and we've ravaged the depths
till we've given up digging,

it will be brought forth into day
by the river that mines
the silences of stone.

Even when we don't desire it,
God is ripening.