A Time to Rest

Dear Friends in Christ,

Welcome to 2024: The Year of Rest. Our focus in 2024, is to receive and to practice God’s sacred gift of rest.

In Hebrews 4, we read about the promise of God’s rest: “So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). Most Bible scholars agree that Hebrews was written for Jewish folks who are now living as followers of Jesus, the Messiah. These early Christians are being pressured by the Jewish community to return to the old ways. The author of Hebrews relooks at Jewish tradition, values, and Scripture through the lens of Jesus. Hebrews begins, “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son…” (Hebrews 1:1-2a).

The genius of this approach is that Jewish tradition, values, and Scripture are not cast aside, but reinterpreted through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah. There remains a place for Torah. There remains a place for sacrifice. And there remains a place for rest. “So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God”.

For followers of Jesus there still remains a time to rest. A time to cease. A time to release. Though no longer a “you shall do” under the Law, sabbath rest is a sacred gift of God that we are blessed to receive and to practice.

What follows is a seven-session Bible resource focusing on seven types of active rest: physical, mental, sensory, creative, emotional, social, and spiritual. Open (or turn on) your Bible, gather with a group of friends, get outside the four walls of the congregation, and together, learn and practice God’s beautiful gift of rest.

Let us pray, “You have made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee”. (Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, 1,1.5)

Blessings,
Bishop Daniel G. Beaudoin
Epiphany 2024