The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

– Mark 6:31

Beloved of God,

We all know what if feels like to be harried; to see the accumulation of half-completed chores and unfinished projects pile up at home or at work while we try to get a handle on another day’s demands:  work, childcare, laundry, meal planning, sports, lessons, volunteer activities, exercise, emails, lawn care, and on and on.  If you’re like me you are perpetually longing for that “light at the end of the tunnel” when the desk will be cleared, the chores will be done, the “honey-do” list will be completed, and there will be space for one huge SIGH, a day to kick-back and to savor life.

In The Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye the milkman sings about how he would use that “down” time—a time he imagines would surely be his, if only he “were a rich man.” The sweetest thing of all, he croons, would be studying “the holy books with the learned men seven hours every day.” We all have dreams about how we would use our time if we only had the time.  The point, of course, is what we choose to do now with the time that we have; how we pattern our lives now, not in some imagined world that, in reality, we will never realize.

When the apostles returned from the missionary journey on which Jesus had sent them, they were full of stories and experiences they wanted to share about what they had seen and done and taught.  Mark tells us that their ministries met with some success. [6:13] Jesus was well aware of the demands of ministry, and how their enthusiasm and growth had to be matched with time away, time to unwind, to reflect, and to receive.  The journey onto which he had invited them, after all, was not a sprint but a marathon.  So, after he listened to all they had to share, he invited them to “come away and rest a while.” It is a pattern into which he invites us as well.

One of the great gifts from the tradition of our Jewish forbearers is the Sabbath.  A day each week of community supported down time, a pattern whose origin the tradition traces back to the very beginning of creation and God’s own actions. [Genesis 1].  Sabbath is a time for resting, a time for rekindling our spiritual life, reconnecting with family, giving rest to beasts of burden, being restored through a rhythm that will enable life to carry on for the long haul.  In our chronically overworked society, Sabbath time must seem to most of us like a distant dream, yet the fact is for century upon century real people in real life have practiced that tradition.  Maybe it’s time to take it back.

My own pattern has been to carve out concentrated “sabbath” time during the summer.  This year, I’m mingling my time away from the parish with opportunities to share in the ministries and unique settings provided by Camp Lutherwood and Holden Village.

Whatever your plans are these two months, I hope that you, too, will take time to heed Jesus’ call to “come away and rest for a while.”  I’ve found that it’s often during the time away that the things that have been hazy in my life, the question marks, the puzzles, become clarified.  I pray the same for you.  May God grant you refreshment this summer ~ whether you are home or away, whether we meet here at the Lord’s Table, at a mountain trailhead, or on a ferry bound for places beyond.  May God’s deep peace inhabit your soul.

With you on the Way,

Pastor Erik