Rest in this season...
Travis Akins
Walter Brueggemann once wrote, “Sabbath is not simply the pause that refreshes. It is the pause that transforms.” That idea has been sitting with me.
Sabbath is the practice of pausing. Resting. Reflecting. Interrupting what we are currently doing with something else. It is the regular practice of not working, setting aside what normally fills our time and attention, usually for a day.
God practiced rest. And because of that, rest is not optional for us, personally and communally. When we choose to rest, we are not being unfaithful to the work. We are being faithful to the God who reminds us that the work was never meant to own us.
That is part of why, in this season, we take a pause from our regular Bible classes.
This pause is not about disengaging. It is about remembering. It creates space for our church family to breathe in a busy season. It offers margin for families, volunteers and teachers. It gives our souls room to catch up with our lives.
Sabbath does more than refresh our energy. It reorients our hearts. You do the work, carry the responsibilities, tend to the busy things of life, and then you come into a moment that stops all of that. For a day, you set the work down. And in doing so, you remember something essential. You are not in bondage. You have been delivered.
That truth sits at the heart of Christmas. God enters our mess not to demand more effort, but to bring rest. To remind us that grace comes before productivity and presence before performance.
My encouragement is simple. Receive this pause as a gift. Let it slow you. Let it ground you. Let it remind you who you are and whose you are as we prepare our hearts to celebrate the coming of Christ.
-Travis
Sabbath is the practice of pausing. Resting. Reflecting. Interrupting what we are currently doing with something else. It is the regular practice of not working, setting aside what normally fills our time and attention, usually for a day.
God practiced rest. And because of that, rest is not optional for us, personally and communally. When we choose to rest, we are not being unfaithful to the work. We are being faithful to the God who reminds us that the work was never meant to own us.
That is part of why, in this season, we take a pause from our regular Bible classes.
This pause is not about disengaging. It is about remembering. It creates space for our church family to breathe in a busy season. It offers margin for families, volunteers and teachers. It gives our souls room to catch up with our lives.
Sabbath does more than refresh our energy. It reorients our hearts. You do the work, carry the responsibilities, tend to the busy things of life, and then you come into a moment that stops all of that. For a day, you set the work down. And in doing so, you remember something essential. You are not in bondage. You have been delivered.
That truth sits at the heart of Christmas. God enters our mess not to demand more effort, but to bring rest. To remind us that grace comes before productivity and presence before performance.
My encouragement is simple. Receive this pause as a gift. Let it slow you. Let it ground you. Let it remind you who you are and whose you are as we prepare our hearts to celebrate the coming of Christ.
-Travis