March 6, 2005

Rest Along the Way

by Julianne Stokstad

There are times in our lives when it all is too much. We get tired, really tired, yet most of us keep going, putting one foot in front of the other, plodding on, even though we feel overwhelmed and exhausted. In times like this, what we need most is rest. So today we are going to take a break and rest.

As I reviewed the recent weeks on our Lenten journey, the lessons have been challenging. First, the temptations----the temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness pointing to the temptations we face, which are legion. Then Faune focused our attention on what in our lives separates us from God and from manifesting Christ's love to others. Specifically she spoke about our attachment to things and the challenge of living simply in our materialistic culture. Last week, we looked at our judgments. The woman at the well was not a Jew or even an accepted member of her society, yet Jesus showed her God's love and acceptance of her. Becoming aware of our judgments and prejudices and seeing their consequences is exhausting. But changing our lives is even harder work.

It is time for a rest stop. Time to get some refreshment and put our burdens down. Time to soak in God's presence right here in the midst of our lives. That is just what the 23rd Psalm calls us to do. It is one of the all time favorite Bible passages and perhaps the most memorized piece of scripture. So many people find strength and comfort and peace in its words.

When I think about the 23rd Psalm I remember vividly one particular Sunday afternoon up the Weaverville in the Trinity Alps of the northern part of our state. Once a month, the ministers of the town all took turns doing the Sunday service at the nursing home facility at the hospital and it was my turn. I also had the youth group meeting that same afternoon. So I decided to put the two together. We planned a little service and headed off to the hospital. We were all a bit nervous, especially the youth who became alarmed at the hospital smell when we walked in. As the residents were wheeled in, one after the other, we looked around and saw them in various stages of attentiveness, some snoozing, others nodding, and a few looking fairly alert. We sang hymns, read scripture and I said a prayer, but it was the ending I will never forget. We said the 23rd Psalm: the residents perked up as the youth went around and spontaneously knelt on the floor, each one holding the hand of a resident and looking into their eyes, together we all said the 23rd Psalm. Afterwards, processing the experience, I asked the youth what they liked and unanimously was the 23rd Psalm. Why, I asked, not expecting young people to be attracted to it. Their answers were comfort, peace, the restful images, and protection. We're all wanting the same things.

The 23rd Psalm is one of the psalms of trust expressing confidence in God's protection. Its focus on trustworthiness of God and God's promises to us brings comfort. God as our shepherd is an image that Christians used to describe Jesus as the good shepherd. With God as our shepherd we will be taken care of and not want. The first and foremost way is to be led to a place of peace and restoration of our body and soul. The psalm promises us this. Take a deep breath and picture in your mind such a place of peace and rest.

Protecting and caring for the sheep is humble and dirty work. The psalm also promises us not only that God is with us in our hard times but that God moves closer to us in those times. How so? Think about this. God is referred to as He, third person, in the first three verses, then in the fourth, the reference to God changes to You, a more familiar second person. And so in times of the dark valleys of our lives we are promised here that God moves closer to us. In these times, our relationship can be strengthened as we move closer to God. This is a big promise considering our experience in these times can be quite the opposite. But think about how we move toward those we love when they are in crisis, why wouldn't God who loves us more than we can imagine, move closer to us?

In our hard times it isn't always easy to trust God and God's abiding presence. Trust. Trust lives in an uneasy tension with my rational mind, my ego and my faith. To trust is a choice, a conscious choice we must make. Choice can be based on many things: our experiences, our habits, what we were taught as children. For some of us those closest to us, parents, siblings, partners or even clergy have not always been trustworthy or there for us in our times of need. And so it can be hard to trust God, whom we cannot see, when hurtful experiences in our lives have left us cautious, dry, brittle or fearful. Trust is connected to hope and faith. And I believe hope is a dimension of Spirit of God within us.

Does a fish trust the water? Does a bird in the air not trust it will be supported by the invisible air? Maybe our need for trust is because of the big complicated brains we have with our selective memories and ability to think about the future.

So how do we recognize the fulfillment of this promise of God's abiding presence in our lives? There are as many ways as there are people. I invite you to tell me your ways.

Some ways that come to my mind: in the sacrament of communion; in all kinds of prayer, especially anointing prayer; in nature; in reading the Bible or other inspirational literature; in music; in creative expression; in silence or in each other's eyes.

In times of rest and when we become quiet, we become calm enough to be aware of God's presence. What is harder for us to realize and accept is our absolute need for God. To put our trust in God completely means that we accept our human helplessness and vulnerability on one hand and God's abiding presence and love and forgiveness on the other hand. Julian of Norwich said "All will be well." Indeed, it will because God is the ground of our being, in all and all, loving, supporting, healing us. Amen