Sabbath: Finding Rest Together Amid Life's Pressures

When you slow down, you will be more well, but other people around you might look at you and say, hey, why can't you do this, that, and the other that I am accustomed to you doing? That's okay. Because when we choose to be rested, it allows other people to do the same, and ultimately, we become more faithful to God in the long run. Thanks be to God. [00:48:58] (26 seconds)  #ChooseRest

But the reason Jesus is arguing with people is because the rules stopped being just about their relationship with God and with each other and the rules started to be about you just gotta follow the rules because that's what we do. And Jesus is saying, look, the rules aren't just there so we can be formed by the rules. They're there to help us with God and with each other. [00:38:43] (31 seconds)  #RulesForRelationship

And all of that should be in communication with each other. So as you're thinking about rest, you might think, oh, I'm coming up from all this pressure and it takes time and I need time before the time. Whatever rest might look like for you, just reach out to each other and say, hey, I just need a little bit of extra time here. Later on, you might need a little bit of extra time here. Let's just work together so we can negotiate our rest. [00:47:02] (27 seconds)  #NegotiateOurRest

Several years ago, I read a book by by a therapist named Resma Menachem called My Grandmother's Hands. And he talks about a field of it's called epigenetics. Talks about how our bodies get stressed from things happened that happened generations before us. So if certain stressors happened to our ancestors, it it can also live in our bodies. So these rules that are made for like, stop, Sabbath, rest, everybody go, the rules for rest are there for a reason. [00:33:16] (42 seconds)  #HealGenerationalStress

So in the the book of Exodus, if you're if you read from the beginning of it, you realize that there's a specific thing going on here. The the people of of Israel were enslaved and in bondage in Egypt for hundreds of years. There was a time when every living person in Egypt who was an Israelite, all they knew was being in bondage. And so, they get out of bondage, when God brings them to freedom, it's like you can take the person out of Egypt, but you can't take Egypt out of the nervous system. [00:32:29] (46 seconds)  #TraumaOutlastsFreedom

what I see is it's not about the rule itself, but it's about the intention and it's about how we live with each other. So my mind goes to, oh, it's not just about like, alright, everyone needs to take this same twenty four hour period where we're not working, but it's more about how are we trying to pause and rest and let our bodies calm down when the world is crazy and chaotic around us. [00:41:32] (30 seconds)  #IntentionalRest

But now, as a pastor, I'm like, this is really good. We get to background check people and say, we're gonna have a safe space for your children to watch your kids to help you rest. And when we help certain members of our community rest, later on they'll say, hey, now I'm gonna help some others to get rest and we work together so everybody's bodies can come to a place of being rested. [00:45:12] (28 seconds)  #CommunityCareRest

If we're at work and we're doing a project over here and someone says, hey, do this project over here. It takes a lot of energy for our brain to switch. Or even if we're at home and we're doing dishes and then the baby starts crying and it's like, okay, I have to switch from dishes mode to diaper changing mode. That takes a lot of energy for our brain. But what she says that the research points to [00:44:06] (24 seconds)  #TaskSwitchingEnergy