From the Chaplains
Rest as Resistance
Hebrews 11: 9-11
9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest….
Do you ever get agitated or even feel guilty when you have free space in your day? When there is nothing left on your to-do list?
It’s very hard to get space in our day, isn’t it? There is very little margin in our schedules to be present and enjoy the now moment – why? Because we want to be all that we can be, we want to be our best selves and others around us want us to produce. Even when we do get small margins of time… we feel guilty because we aren’t producing anything.
One of highlights of my week is to bring my kids to Boarders’ dinner on Thursday evening. We go – not because of a roster or obligation – but simply to hang out. There are a million other things I could be doing and need to do. But we simply love doing… not much… on a Thursday night with the Boarders. After the meal the footy is often kicked around. Though the girls are competitive, the point of the game is not to win, but simply enjoy the “space” in their day, to be a teenager and enjoy life. To be alive.
The practice of rest, some cultures call this ‘Sabbath’, is about intentionally including space in your day or week to enjoy and celebrate being alive. Author Water Bruggemman discusses the counter-cultural nature of prioritising rest. “Practicing rest is an act of both resistance and alternative. It is resistance because it is a visible insistence that our lives are not defined by the production and consumption of commodity goods. The core of our life is not what I do, but who I am.”
We are built from the inside out.
This week I encouraged our students to enjoy their two weeks off school. To be mindful of replacing their busy school schedule with other forms of busyness. I’m not suggesting they should book a holiday to Bali or a health retreat- as great as those options are, or throw out study. Sabbath can take place anywhere but will require you to say “no” to the seduction of busyness. Allow yourself margin, slow the pace down, give space to listen to what’s going on in your heart, in your body- that might look like letting the first thing you look at in the morning be the sunrise out the window, rather than your mobile phone- being present to the day- maybe take a walk, sit with a friend in the park, lay down and listen to music, something that makes you feel fully human, fully alive.
Join me in praying for our community:
Holy God – in this precious time, we pause to draw our awareness to your presence.
We thank you for the term that has been, for sustaining us and nurturing our growth.
As we approach our holidays,
Help us to break from our busyness, to resist the
ever present burden to produce and “do”.
Give us courage to say “no” to distractions from our rest
that we may focus to listen,
that we may hear, that we may change.
For we insist that our lives are more than production and consumption. \Help us understand what it means to be alive.
Help us to see the sacred in the everday, and embrace the beauty of stillness, silence, of margins in our day and the renewal that rest grants us.
In Jesus name.
Blessings and peace.
Cass Blake
College Chaplain