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| Micah and Katie at a rest stop just south of Portland, OR |
Grace to you and peace.
I want you to do something with me that we haven’t done for a
while. Inhale grace, exhale peace.
Sisters and brothers in Christ, last week we had a difficult
text where Jesus bids we come and die. I
started out the sermon by saying, “I don’t know that I’d be willing to die for
Christ,” and we pondered martyrdom as we remembered John the Baptist, who was
willing to die for Christ.
Discipleship is not easy, we were reminded last week. And it looks like this week is part 2, a fine
compliment to the cost of discipleship:
this week it’s the joy of discipleship.
Both are make up the Christian journey.
This week Jesus invites to come away and rest a while. A beautiful summertime text.
When we first looked at this Gospel text as a worship
planning team months ago, I started dreaming about bringing a massage therapist
in. Actually called Beth Buller, but I
didn’t follow up, and I’m glad I didn’t.
But think about that for a moment: Consider massages or pedicures or a
day at the ballgame or an afternoon in the garden (however you relax) as not
just as a treat to yourself, but as a very gift of God. This is part of our text today. God offers you hard-working people grace and
joy that looks like retreat: come away and rest a while. To get in a boat, literal or figurative, and
sail away for a while. Sabbath. Rest.
Worship. Joy. They’re all wrapped together.
I said I’m glad we didn’t follow through on the massage
thing, not because I don’t think it would be awesome and really drive that
message home (imagine someone massaging your shoulders)…but because it’s not
the whole message.
You look around our culture and you see plenty of people
going away and resting. Perhaps for more
than just a while. A recent study found
that Americans spend $11 billion every year on massages (wiki.answers.com). And here’s what the average household in 2009
spent on fees and admission to sporting events and other types of entertainment:
$628 (topstockanalysts.com). Average. Just getting a massage, just going to chill
out, is not the whole message.
It’s never an either/or for the followers of the Good
Shepherd. We are called to care for both
ourselves and the world around us. The
message today, as one of our worship planners pointed out to me, is much deeper
than a deep massage.
What Jesus is really saying is not just, “Go get a massage,
go rest a while,” but rather, “Rest in me.”
Rest in my arms, no matter what you do.
Be still, be calm, inhale grace, exhale peace, and trust in my love and
my promises…whether you’re working or playing.
Treat yourself…and then turn and treat the world, treat the stranger,
treat your enemy…and then treat yourself again.
And keep treating…a cycle of treatment.
That’s discipleship: getting caught up in this good cycle of treatment
and care.
What’s funny is when care for yourself and care for the
world gets intermixed. When service and
retreat are all part of the same thing.
I think we find that when we volunteer, whether it’s at a hospital or at
Third Avenue Charitable Organization downtown, or tutoring your neighbor. When we break from our regular routine and go
help someone else, it’s a blessing to all, including to ourselves…it’s even
care for ourselves.
Many of you know that my family and I went on vacation about
two weeks ago. Drove up the coast to be
with family and friends in Oregon. And one of the joys of travelling on the road (for the last
couple years) with 2 small children has been stopping at rest stops. I don’t really remember rest stops growing up,
and I never used them as an adult, before kids.
But I have discovered rest stops.
(Think about today’s text and rest stops.)
What occurs to me, about those really fun stops that we make
as a family, is that rest isn’t really part of what we do there. In fact it’s the opposite: when you’re cooped
up in the car with kids, we all want to run and play at the rest stops. And we do: whiffle ball, Frisbee golf, tag,
riding scooters, some even with playgrounds and small baseball diamonds. We love rest stops, and I think about all the
different ones we’ve been to…some with beautiful vistas, some with great open
spaces to play, and some with much needed shade. And it’s not like I’ve never stopped and put
my feet up at a rest stop either. It’s
all of the above!
Where am I going with this? When Jesus calls us, it’s all of the
above. It’s both massage and sweat. It’s both baseball game and work over a hot
stove. We rest in Christ’s arms, and so
there is peace, no matter what we are doing.
Peace for Margaret and Jane, for ultimately they rest in
Christ’s arms.
Peace for our 35,000 ELCA who have been in NOLA this week
for the National Youth Gathering…
Peace for our soldiers, both home and away, and for all who
find themselves in harms way, for ultimately they rest in Christ arms.
Peace for all affected by the terrible shooting this week in
Aurora, Colorado…even while it might not seem like it. For ultimately they rest in Christ’s arms.
Peace for all who labor away this summer, perhaps longing
for a literal rest stop. But ultimately they
rest in Christ’s arms.
Peace for all who travel and play, for no matter where they
are in the world, ultimately they rest in Christ’s arms.
Help me for a moment and preach the Gospel to your neighbor
and turn to them and tell them. “Peace
to you, for ultimately you rest in Christ’s arms.”
And there is peace for little Nicholas, as he is carried to
the waters of new life at the very beginning of his new life. And washed in the waters, marked with the
oil, with the cross of Christ, that peace goes with him for his entire life, no
matter where he goes or what he does.
Isn’t that amazing?!
This is not a text about resting and taking a break; it’s a
text about peace. The deep and lasting
peace of God which never leaves us, even if we try to leave it. “Oh give thanks unto the Lord for God is good,
and God’s grace and mercy endures forever.”
God’s peace is a lasting peace, and because of it, all are welcomed into
the fold, all are given a place at the table, all are freed to be the people
God has called them to be. It’s
impossible to fully comprehend God’s peace, resting in Christ’s arms, so we
just trust it. This is life in the
faith. Welcome to it, little Nicholas!
May this peace of God, which passes all human understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in faith
in that Christ Jesus, this day and forevermore.
AMEN.
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