Pastor Ruth Foss
Suncook United Methodist Church
December 13, 2009
Exodus 23:10-12 (New Century Bible)
Philippians 4: 4-7 (The Message Bible)
“And I Will Give You Rest”
The Lord be with you
And also with you
Let us pray…
Loving and Gracious God, we come today to gather in your name. We thank you for this day that you have given us. We thank you for this Advent Season that we celebrate the birth of you Son and our Savior, Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to be ever mindful of the reason for the season, the season of waiting with expectation. We ask that you would be with us, that we would hear the word that you have for us this day. Speak Lord…your children are listening…
Boy…I don’t know about you but I am so tired these days. With getting ready for Christmas and school and getting the house ready not to mention school and such) I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Is there no rest for the weary? I mean tis the season to be busy but I really need a break. We are told that if we are not busy we are lazy by the society we live in but I just can’t keep up. Is this all there is in life…busyness and being tired all the time?
In the scripture from Exodus this morning, it tells us that we are to take a day of rest…that we need this day to be refreshed and renewed. I don’t know about you…but I have a hard time doing that. With all the things that need to be done in life it is hard to have that day of rest. I even feel guilty sometimes if I am not doing something. What was God thinking when He said this? If I am not busy with family and friends I am busy with ministry. So how can this be? Besides, what am I supposed to be doing on those “days off” anyway?
We have been preaching a sermon series these past few weeks about the Advent Conspiracy…about how what society says about the Advent Season is not exactly what God would be thinking. Society is so busy during this Christmas time with all its sales and bargains that some have forgotten the real reason for the season. But one of the real reasons for the season is found in Philippians Chapter 4 verses 4-7. It is a piece of scripture that I pray that I can really take to heart…a piece of scripture that I think can help us all as we go through this season of Advent and not just this season but life in general. It reads (and I’m reading from the Message Bible):
Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute! Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
It is wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life! There are other versions of the bible that state it in a way that I find most comforting. They read, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”, that peace…that feeling of contentment…I think that is something that we all need and look for in life.
But not only do we need rest…but we should be giving our land and others rest. Remember in the Exodus passage it talks about rest? Well…it also tells us to give our land and foreigners among us rest as well. But unfortunately...not only do we not give ourselves rest…we also don’t give that what is around us rest. It’s a no wonder that we are experiencing climate change…the world around us is crying out for rest. We sometimes forget that we are all related in some way. God created all that we see as well as humankind. We are all created by the same Creator and that Artisan that created everything meant for all to have rest not just the creation that He put here to tend and care for it. What we do really does affect all that is around us.
The General Conference of the United Methodist Church in 2004, called for the Council of Bishops to publish some new documents about the destruction of creation. In a Pastoral letter from November 3, 2009…they address this very issue. They state that God’s creation is in crisis…they see God’s people and planet suffering and they couldn’t just remain quiet about it. In the letter they talk about how peoples neglect, selfishness and pride have caused:
1. Pandemic poverty and disease
2. Environmental degradation
And
3. The proliferation of weapons and violence
It is all connected…that cause and effect thing going on here. But even though these things are happening God’s creative work still continues, God still invites each of us to participate in the work of renewal. God still cares and wants us to get back to one of the basic reasons while we are here…to tend the garden.
One of the statements in this letter that really made me stop and think about my own life is “We cannot help the world until we change our own way of being in it.” We need a renewing of our mind about the world around us and our consecutiveness within it…we need to begin to see our own part in the destruction of the Garden in which we live. One way to begin is to take that day of rest…to spend time as “creation with Creator”…to be celebrating God and God’s gift to us not just on that day of communing with the Creator but every day that has been gifted to us…by helping others to see the natural order that God has put forth…to spend time in prayer for all that we survey.
We have a choice here…we can either remain silent or we can get back to the basics of why we are here and to help others to see that which God has created is good and needs to be cherished above all else that is here on this planet which we call earth. We can teach the world to sing a new song instead of singing the broken record in which it seems to be stuck on. A song of love…a song of rest…a song of peace and hope. I don’t know about you but I would “Like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony.”
AMEN
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
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Suncook United Methodist Church
Suncook, NH
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