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Our Holy Home: The Bedroom

  • Our need for rest is one of the topics we talk a lot about, but don’t really talk about.
  • As a society, we tend to be one of the most overworked of developed societies, but over time get less and less sleep. (40% of us don’t get enough)[fitbit slides]
  • But it’s not just work, it’s all the other things that demand our time. So how do we truly rest?
    • Sometimes it’s just ignoring it and soldering on - I’ll sleep when I’m dead
    • Sometimes the option is self-care. [slide]
    • Our texts help us think about good rest.
  • SCRIPTURE
    • We are made for it.
      • Genesis reminds us first that we are made to rest. If we are in the image of God, and God rests, then we should probably rest, too.
      • How even more so as finite bodies that we are made for a time of resting?
    • There is a sense of completeness of the task.
      • God witnessed all that was created, and said “this is real good!"
        • The word is interesting because it takes all sorts of different shapes in Hebrew - good, merry, pleasant, desirable, in order, usable, efficient, friendly, kind, morally good
        • God had done work, witnessed how it was good, desirable, in order, morally good, and enjoyed rest.
      • Jesus as well has a sense of completeness. He heals, it’s done, he’s celebrated, and he retreats.
    • The rest directs itself outwards.
      • Jesus doesn’t necessarily have a spa day.
      • He goes to stripped away places - the desolate places that often are referenced in the NT to describe where John comes from, where the Israelite’s wandered - it’s a place of miracle.
      • It’s place where life is more thin (less chaotic, less driven by what’s going on around us - away from the crowds)
      • And he meets with God. And after his time, he goes back to healing.
  • What does this mean for us?
    • We can’t avoid rest. Or, it will come for us in ways we won’t want. The kids when they’re tired, and it just continues.
    • Nor can it just be a self-indulgence, as our society wants to bend towards, because our empty selves are too shallow of a well to draw from.
    • Instead, what might it be like to find something that invites the completeness of tasks already completed, and moving outwards.
      • Yes, sometimes it can be the wilderness to withdraw.
      • But what if there’s something else? Something that celebrates the good and very good, and is outward focused?
  • ACTIVITY
    • On the back of the bulletin there’s some blank space.
    • Write the response to this question: What’s the one thing you enjoy so much that if you had the chance you would teach it?
    • I love watching eyes light up when we do this activity, because it speaks to something different about Sabbath rest - that it can be something restorative - it is the heart of who we are.
    • What if we were the type of church that offered the opportunity to teach these things? Where are people who want a chance to just learn?
    • Are you interested in really teaching this? Write your name and put it in a basket or the offering plate.