Clergy Notes — Seventh Sunday in Easter, May 29 2022
A friend of mine who immigrated to Canada a few years back once commented to me how they found it strange that, here in Vancouver, when you ask someone, “How are you?” the most common answer you will receive is, “Busy!”
It’s true, isn’t it? Being frenetically busy; juggling multiple aspects of our lives and surviving on caffeine and adrenaline appear to be the marks of a successful person. We are conditioned to squeeze as much productivity out of every waking moment as we possibly can, until we inevitably, finally, collapse in a heap of exhaustion, depression, burnout, illness, or all of the above.
But we are not machines; we are made in God’s image, and we need rest and contemplation, as modelled by our Creator; a fact I myself need to be reminded of constantly! After fashioning the world and all that is in it, on the seventh day God rested and contemplated the Divine works. We are thus commanded to observe a Sabbath day, that we may rest in the presence of our Creator.
If you’re anything like me, though, when faced with a “day off” you begin to conceive of all the things you may DO with that day. DOING activities, tasks, even hobbies, seems to be the only way we can feel as though our lives have meaning. Ironically, we may find it much easier to be active for 15 hours in a day than to be still and silent for 15 minutes, doing seemingly “nothing.”
It is in these “nothing” moments, however, that God refreshes our spirits. We are re-made, re-created . . . even though we may not sense anything at first beyond restlessness. Stay with it, however, and miracles happen. Spontaneous prayer and praise may come, or a sense of gratitude for the wonder of your existence . . . or laments may surface — ones that you have suppressed in the endless cacophony of life’s noise and hurry. You will discover that it is not all the things you DO which give you value. Your worth is in your being; it is in the fact that you are a beloved creation of God.
I invite you, then, this week, to join me in setting aside even a few minutes a day to spend in silence. No TV or email or phone, or chatter or noise, or DOING. Spend a few moments a day just BEING, and notice your existence as it is intertwined with all creation. Contemplate your existence in God, who is always contemplating you with love.
