Dear friends in Christ,
As you receive this, I am beginning a brief vacation. Seeing the world is a great joy of mine, and I find time away from work to be refreshing and even essential.
We who follow Jesus would do well to notice how he rested in his earthly ministry. He kept the weekly sabbath, of course. He went away to pray. In an agrarian, subsistence economy, it’s unlikely he or many others took what we’d call a vacation, but it’s clear that rest and refreshment are important as disciplines.
Weekly sabbath and regular time away are counter-cultural. In this practice, we reject all the messaging which tells us that our productivity is what really matters.
How do you rest? How do you spend time remembering that you are enough just as you are, that you do not need to accomplish anything to be beloved?
Rest and refreshment take many forms. Some people find a “staycation” to be helpful, an opportunity to rest at home. Others may like to return to familiar places again and again. Maybe you’re like me, and you love seeing and experiencing new places. There’s no cookie-cutter right answer.
My point is that a vacation – in that we renew ourselves for our work as followers of Jesus – can be holy rest. Whatever you do, I hope you have some refreshment and rest on the horizon.
See you around, once I’m back to work.
Yours faithfully,
Scott Gunn
Executive Director
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