Run and not go weary . . .together

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Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

St. James’s, West Hartford, CT

5th Sunday after Epiphany, February 4, 2024

Isaiah 40:21-31; Mark 1:29-39; Psalm 147:1-12, 21c

May God’s Word be spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point us to the living Word who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Our reading from Isaiah ends with the lines: “but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

They shall run and not be weary? Really? I want to say, Isaiah, are you paying attention? Have you read the news headlines? Have you seen our calendars? Do you know that we still have not figured out what it means to have lived through a pandemic? Can’t you see that we are exhausted? From work, from school, from the stress and strain of all that we are supposed to be doing. Also, it’s February. It’s cold outside and the days are still short. It’s hard to be energetic when we can’t get enough sunshine.

And then I pause. I take a deep breath. I think about what I know of the world in Isaiah’s time. The plagues. The persecutions. The stress and strain of everyday life where you had to walk to get your water and there was no such thing as food security for anyone. Oh. Maybe instead of arguing with Isaiah, I should listen more deeply, because if he can talk about running and not being weary then maybe he really does know something. 

So, how could we keep going and not burn out? What is it that allows us to be capable of more than we think we are? Well, our faith, for sure. And there’s more to it than that. 

A story my brother told me kept coming back to me this week. In high school, he did a number of NOLS wilderness trips in the summers. One of his leaders told a story of leading a group in the tundra of Alaska. The leader was out ahead of the group. He came up over the crest of a hill to discover that he was only yards away from a mother grizzly bear and her cubs. He froze. He stood absolutely stock still. The mother bear rose up on her hind legs and stared. He thought: Well, this is it. Not sure how I can get out of this one. Then she returned to all fours and quietly walked away with her cubs. The leader was stunned. How could that possibly be? And then he turned around and realized that the entire group of 20 people had come up behind him. With their arrival instead of being a lone person far smaller than the bear, he had become something enormous that frightened the bear. 

I have held onto the image of that story for years and years now. Whenever I have had to go into a difficult situation, I have thought about who I am bringing with me. My family, my friends, my mentors, those people in my life who incarnate God’s love for me, whose wisdom has always helped me be grounded - sure of who God is and who I am. 

And if we turn to the Gospel for today, we see that Jesus is not doing his ministry alone either. He is with his disciples. He does his healing ministry with others. He sends them out two by two to minister on his behalf. Jesus takes time for himself, of course, but he does not stay on his own. He knows that success only comes with shared power and authority - with shared ministry. 

Oh. That. Not doing it all alone. Not thinking we are on our own to face this challenge or that crisis. Hmm. Maybe that is what Isaiah meant? We won’t grow weary as long as we stay connected to God and to each other. 

So, my friends, just in case you have been or are ever tempted to go ahead on your own like that NOLS leader, may I remind you that there truly is safety in numbers.  You might think you are just fine out on your own. I might think that too. I often have - usually with poor results. So may I recommend that whatever challenges lie ahead, you do not face them alone. Look around. See? You are surrounded by people who care about you and would drop everything to help. That’s what it means to be community. That’s what it means to be Church. We hold the faith for each other. We incarnate God’s love for you. This community is here. Day after day. Week after week to remind us that we are never alone. And we are beloved of God. Amen. 

Holding the Hope for each other

From Jimmy Fund Walk in Boston

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

DFMS Noonday Prayer via Zoom

February 16, 2021

Psalm 85:7-13; Jonah 4:1-11;Luke 10:1-12

May God’s Word be spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point us to the living Word who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

I don’t know about you all, but I needed some Jonah this week. I love Jonah. I love Jonah because he is so human. I love Jonah because he gives us permission to be frustrated and angry. He gives us permission to get it wrong. To have our moments where our perspective and priorities can get mixed up. And ultimately, I love Jonah because his story reminds us of God’s abiding grace and faithfulness. It reminds us that the whole thing is bigger than we are, and oh right, it is not all about us. 

I especially love our passage for today, where Jonah gets all worked up about the bush. He tethers his emotions and his well-being to the state of the bush. When it is great, he is happy. When it withers, he is angry. That clicked for me this week. I realized I have found myself tethering my emotions to external forces. What are the graphs for CT and NY doing? How’s the vaccine supply? Who has predictions about when we might be able to do this, that, or the other thing in person? What is our government doing to combat injustice? Are the myriad of challenges we face as a nation and a world actually being addressed right now? It is a roller coaster. I am exhausted, and it is not helping my well-being. 

Just like Jonah, I needed a reminder that this whole thing is bigger than me. I needed the reminder that I am not actually in charge. If I tether my well-being to external outcomes, I am going to be stuck on a roller coaster. I don’t want to be stuck on a roller coaster. That sent me looking for a different way of being, and helped me remember the distinction Archbishop Desmond Tutu makes between hope and optimism. It is worth quoting him at length. The Archbishop says:

“Hope is quite different from optimism, which is more superficial and liable to become pessimism when the circumstances change. Hope is something much deeper . . . I say to people that I’m not an optimist, because that, in a sense that depends on feelings more than actual reality. We feel optimistic, or we feel pessimistic. Now hope is different in that it is based not on the ephemerality of feelings but on the firm ground of conviction. I believe with a steadfast faith that there can never be a situation that is utterly, totally hopeless. Hope is deeper and very, very close to unshakeable. It’s in the pit of your tummy. It’s not in your head . . . Resignation and cynicism are easier, more self-soothing postures that do not require the raw vulnerability and tragic risk of hope. To choose hope is to step firmly forward into the howling wind, baring one’s chest to the elements, knowing that, in time the storm will pass.” (Book of Joy, p. 121-2.)

I find that to be a powerful image and distinction. An important reminder to keep ourselves grounded in that which is deeper than circumstances or outcomes. I am also glad that the Archbishop does not end his description there, seeming to imply that to be a person of hope is to be standing alone against the storm.

He goes on to say that “Hope is the antidote to despair . . . Hope is also nurtured by relationship, by community, whether that community is a literal one or one fashioned from the long memory of human striving, whose membership includes Ghandi, King, Mandela, and countless others. Despair turns us inward. Hope sends us into the arms of others.” (Book of Joy, p. 123.)

So if you have had any roller coaster moments this week, or if you feel like Jonah in the coming days, remember the wisdom of the Archbishop, ground yourselves in hope. And on the days where you feel grounded, keep yourself firmly planted so that you may be the arms to receive others. 

There is a very, very long list of why I am grateful for this gathered community and the ways it has sustained me over the course of this year. Perhaps one of the most beautiful gifts you all have given, that we all give each other, is to nurture hope for each other. That is Church at its best, when we can hold the faith for each other, when we can provide sustenance in the midst of spiritual deserts, when we can support and uphold each other. When simply our gathered presence proclaims the beauty of God’s Word, the depth of God’s love and the conviction that the Truth does not change -love and life always triumph -  no matter what the state of the world is. Thank you for that gift, dear friends. Amen. 

A sprinkling of salt

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

DFMS Noonday Prayer

February 9, 2021

Psalm 8; 2 Tim. 1:1-14; Mark 9:42-50

May God’s Word be spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point us to the living Word who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

As many of you know, I love to cook. And one of my favorite things to make is chocolate chip cookies. I alternate between traditional regular chocolate chip cookies and an “everything but the kitchen sink” version that is a chocolate cookie with nuts and three kinds of chips - dark chocolate, white chocolate and peanut butter. I love them both for very different reasons. I recently made a discovery that the dark chocolate cookies were made even better if I sprinkled them with salt as soon as they came out of the oven. 

That’s the thing about salt. Just a little bit of it opens up a whole new set of flavors. But the “little bit” is key. I am sure we have all had the experience of eating something that has been over salted. There is a fine line between flavor enhancement and inedibility. A little bit is amazing. Too much is ruinous. 

Today’s Gospel is all about what gets in the way of us deepening our relationship with God. What are our stumbling blocks? What keeps us from living more fully into who God calls us to be? 

But it is that last part about salt. About having salt. About being salt. About finding peace that really caught my attention. It gave me pause, because I will admit that first portion about stumbling blocks felt like an admonition. Stumbling blocks, God? You want to talk about stumbling blocks, okay. No problem. I have a long list for you. There is a global pandemic. We are all working from home. We are utterly exhausted, and while there is a light at the end of this tunnel it is still too far away. Not enough people are getting vaccines fast enough. We miss being together - in person! We are weighed down by the enormous challenges facing our nation and our world right now. Poverty, Racism, Sexism, Environmental Degradation, name your issue. See God, we have plenty of stumbling blocks! 

But then I pause. Then I think about what some of the wisest voices I know might say to me. . . Molly, take a deep breath. Think about that list for a moment. What is notable about it? Oh. You mean the part where I have conveniently named only external stumbling blocks and failed to take responsibility for what I might do differently. You mean that might be part of the problem? Oh and externalizing everything might also cut me off from the gift of being able to connect more deeply with God and those around me? Oh, yeah, that’s not very helpful. 

And I go back to the salt. I think about how just a little bit makes a difference. What if that were true here too? What if I don’t in fact have to fix all the world’s problems today. What if I don’t have to make a seismic shift in my spiritual practices? What if, at least for today, it is not about transforming everything? What if, at least for today, it was just about the small steps, the sprinkling of salt that might be life giving? That might move us one step closer to the depth we crave, to the coming of the kingdom?

In my current state of pandemic overwhelm, coupled with my task oriented, achievement driven personality, I needed that reminder that it does not (and probably cannot nor should not) all be done today. Small steps are okay. For today, for now, they are enough. As the Carrie Nicewander song we listened to last week says, every small kindness shifts the balance toward the light. 

I hope that resonates for you. I hope that you feel your burdens lightened. I hope that you feel more glimmers of hope and possibility. I hope that you feel inspired to seek out the small ways that you might deepen your connection to God. A few more deep breaths. A little more quiet. A little more time outside. Choosing relationship over task a little more often. Reaching out just to say “hi.” A little more time for prayer. A little more time to feed our souls. 

I trust that all those sprinkles of salt, all those small steps, all those moments will enrich us and nourish us so that we might have what we need to be a part of the transformation of the world, together. Amen. 

Solid Foundations

Pouring the foundation of my parents' home

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

DFMS Noonday Prayer via Zoom

Argula von Grumbach, July 14, 2020

May God’s Word be spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point us to the living Word who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

My mom is a teacher. Over the years she has taught math, writing and literature to kids. She spent all of my childhood teaching grown-ups how to build their own houses. She and my dad built the house in which I grew up. She loved that work and teaching, and the school liked having someone who was not a professional engineer or contractor on the faculty. It reinforced their point that anyone could learn to build a house. So my mom spent years teaching people how to heat and cool their houses; how to build their house appropriately for the climate in which it was situated; and how to build the proper foundation for their house. Over the years, especially in the summer months, I sat in on some or all of many of her lectures. I couldn’t help but think of all her lectures on foundations when I read today’s Gospel. 

I thought of her teaching her students how to calculate all the factors. What kind of ground is it? Is the house going to be on posts or is it going to have a full basement? Then my favorite part was the slide show. There were loads of photos of all the different kinds of foundations you could build, and lessons in how to pour concrete correctly. How to spread it. How not to get stuck in it. How to be sure it sets properly. Foundations are complicated!

And building a solid, strong foundation matters, just about more than anything. That is the lesson that I have carried with me from those lectures. Here is the thing. It does not actually matter whether you are building a tiny little shingled cottage or a mansion or a skyscraper. If you don’t get the foundation right, the building will not stand. It will not last. It does not matter whether the building will be a smart home where you can control the lights and the heat from your phone or an off the grid house that is made from salvaged materials. It does not matter whether the countertops will be granite or the bathrooms will be made of marble. What matters is the foundation.

The same is true for our own lives, particularly our spiritual lives. What is our foundation? How are we grounded? Our foundations do not all have to look the same. It depends on our context, our climate, and what we want to build.  But it is not about keeping up appearances. What matters is the substance - not the looks. 

So where are we finding substance and strength these days? What might need shoring up and bolstering in our lives? What might be mere window dressing that we can let go of because it does not actually impact what really matters?

For me, I am finding substance and strength in two important things, which I think are intertwined. They are connection and learning. In this world of remote work, it could be very easy (particularly since my personality tends this way) to become supremely task oriented. To make my day all about the “to do list.” But that could so easily lead to isolation. Strength is found in community, not in isolation. I am grateful for the ways in which more time at home allows more meals and activities with my family. I am grateful for the gift of technology that allows me to stay connected with friends and colleagues who are at a distance. And another one of the many reasons I am grateful for this chapel group is that  you all help me stay connected - to community and to God. You also help me keep learning. There is so much uncertainty in our lives right now. So much unknown. It can be easy to pull back and just focus on what we already know. Or easy to think that we have to have all the right answers. My communities, my connections remind me that I don’t need to figure it all out right now. The point is to keep learning, keep gaining wisdom and finding new perspectives. 

Having a strong foundation is not about being immovable or stagnant. It is about being grounded and connected, so that I can weather whatever changes come. We do not and we cannot know what the next weeks and months will hold for us. What we can know is that we can thrive in the midst of whatever if we have grounded ourselves in relationship with God and with those whose presence enriches and enlivens our journey. AMEN.    

Cultivating Connection

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Rev. Molly F. James, PhD
DFMS Noonday Prayer via Zoom
Dunstan, May 19, 2020

May God’s Word be spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point us to the living Word who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

“Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” Be ready. At first, I read our Gospel today, and I feel exhausted. Be ready? God, I am already tired or weary or whatever the word is for the kind of tired that is not just fixed by more sleep. Now you want me to get ready? That just sounds like more work, and I don’t even know what I am preparing for . . . I just know I will be blessed if I am “working” when God shows up.

And then I pause. Then I take a deep breath. I think, does work purely for the sake of work, does valuing “being busy” above all else really match up with what I know about God? No. It doesn’t. So what other interpretation might there be?

What if the “work” into which God is inviting us is not just more tasks, more accomplishments, more tangible proof that we are “productive”? What if the “work” God is inviting us to is the work of our hearts and souls? It is indeed true that we do not know what tomorrow will look like. Sure, we could make some educated guesses. We could analyze the data we have to make some logical predictions about what the future will look like. But we cannot account for all the variables, and as we know all too well, we can often get thrown a curve ball that we did not see coming. So our preparations cannot be limited to the particulars of all the scenarios we think might be possible.

The best preparation we can do is to cultivate our gifts and our habits, so that we are ready to respond to whatever the future brings. I think there are two “habits” or practices that are particularly worth cultivating in our lives, especially in a time like this. The first is being grounded.

Being grounded means that we are connected to God. We stand firm in the truth that we belong to God. We are beloved of God, not because of what we do, what kind of material wealth we have or how famous we are - or any of the ways society measures success. We are beloved of God because we belong to God. Because God loves us. Period. Full stop. We do not earn that love. It is a gift, pure and simple.

Life is full of tempests, of changes and chances, of tumultuous times that can easily knock us off that sure footing. That can temporarily (or even permanently, if we let it) blind us to that foundational truth of who and whose we are. And so we must be in the habit of cultivating our connection with God, so that we can find it quickly in the midst of a challenge.

That probably looks a little different for each of us, and yet I am guessing that prayer and worship are a significant part of that. I would also bet there is something else that helps that connects with the second “habit” we can be cultivating - each other.

That second habit is collaboration. It is connection and community. It is NOT isolation. In our land of rugged individualism, in a society that consistently rewards individual achievement, it can be easy to think that we have to do it all on our own or that it is somehow a mark of strength or superiority to be able to go solo. But it is not. Jesus didn’t. The disciples didn’t. The women at the tomb didn’t. Paul didn’t. Again and again in Scripture we are reminded of the value of having a partner or even multiple teammates in our ministry. The story of Dunstan, who we honor today, is also a reminder that we are not meant to journey alone. He revitalized monasticism in England, and set a precedent for centuries that the Archbishop of Canterbury was a monk - someone who lived in community.

We need each other. We need companions on the way. We need the wisdom and perspective that comes with shared insights and different points of view. We need the encouragement and the gift of being able to care for each other. We need the reminder that we do not ever have to bear our burdens alone. We need the reassurance that comes through holding the faith for each other in moments of fear or doubt. We need the fullness of joy that comes only through being in relationship.

I hope as we go through this week, and the weeks ahead, we will keep making space for all those habits that renew our connection to God, that help us feel grounded and rooted. I also hope we will keep reaching out, keep seeking connection, keep looking for opportunities to collaborate, so that we never feel lonely. The future is indeed uncertain, but we CAN be prepared for anything if we ground ourselves in the truth that we are, each of us, a beloved child of God. And if we keep ourselves connected to those who make the journey a delight. Amen.

Recognizing the Truth

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Rev. Molly F. James, PhD
Chapel of our Lord, Episcopal Church Center
Feast of Gregory of Nazianzus, January 2, 2020

May God’s Word be spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point us to the living Word, who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

“If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

When you are in the ordination process, you are required to write your bishop a letter at least four times a year on what are known as the Ember Days. They were an opportunity to update my bishop on what was going on in my life- spiritually, academically, etc. While I had friends and classmates who only occasionally received replies from their bishops, my bishop was always very good at writing me back and sharing her wisdom with me. I remember in one particular exchange, I wrote her about discovering so many connections between what I was learning in my classes. She replied that is how we know the Holy Spirit is leading us to Truth.

I come back to that idea and phrase often. The idea that Truth is not understood in isolation. We understand Truth as it connects with what we already know, and we understand it best in community. I think this is really important. We cannot be sure of Truth just in our own heads. We need community - we need the questions and insights of others to fully understand what is true. I think this bears out in our own experiences. I think most of us are capable of rationalizing quite a lot of things. We can be good at convincing ourselves what we would like to believe or what we would like to be true. It is only when we share our internal process with someone whose wisdom we trust and respect that we realize that it might be possible that we are fooling ourselves or just that we are missing a key aspect or insight. Think of the ways that our minds are enlightened or new connections are made as we learn from family, dear friends, teachers, colleagues . . . sometimes even our own children!

We gain a fuller understanding of ourselves and of the world around us through relationship and conversation. While some of us are independent and driven, convinced we can learn “on our own” through a discipline of reading and research. Even then we are not really learning alone, we are learning from experts in whatever field we might be studying. It is through that engagement with others, whether they be long dead theologians or thinkers or dear companions with whom we have the privilege of in person conversations, we learn the Truth more fully because we learn from each other and together.

These days, when you can find information on the internet to agree with almost any idea or point of view, it can feel hard to know what the Truth is. Certainly it can not be said that something is true because we read it somewhere. We need to be more discerning and engaged than that. Here are some discernment criteria or questions that I find helpful. I hope they are helpful to you as well.

Does this new piece of information fit with what I know already? Does it add to, enhance, deepen my knowledge?

Does this information fit with my understanding of who God is? Does it fit with who Jesus is and what it means to walk in the Way of Love, as we have understood from our Scriptures?

Does this information build up God’s kingdom? Does it enable me and those around me to have the abundant life to which Jesus calls each and everyone of us?

The Truth that Jesus was talking about, the Truth that will set us free is not simply just new information that is based in reality. It is far richer and more nuanced than that. The Truth is that which enriches and deepens our lives and our understanding. Now, of course, you may be wondering what this all means for the reality of evil in the world. Certainly there are terrible things (violence, hatred, etc) that are all too real. People die. People are irrevocably harmed by these facts. Evil is real. There is no disputing that. But the reality of evil in the world is not the Truth. It does not set us free. It does not build up God’s kingdom or our own lives. In fact, I think one of the most helpful definitions of evil (thanks to St. Augustine) is that it is the privation (or complete absence) of good.

Evil is a force in the world that can do real damage, but it can never win out. That is the fundamental Truth we hear over and over again from our Scriptures, from our own learning and from our own experiences and relationships. The Truth is that God’s Love is more powerful than anything on earth, than anything we can do to each other. God’s love, God’s Truth always, always has the last word. And indeed, trusting in God will set us free. AMEN.

Sabbath and Community

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford, CT

Proper 21B; September 30, 2019

Numbers 11:4-6,10-16,24-29; Psalm 19:7-14; James 5:13-20; Mark 9:38-50

May God’s Word be spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point us to the living Word, who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Oooh how I love today’s reading from Numbers. It is SO human. The Israelites are complaining to Moses that there is nothing good to eat. They are grumbling and wishing they were back in Egypt. So Moses goes to the Lord and complains that he has to lead these ungrateful people. Sounds a lot like the end of a family road trip when everyone is tired, hungry, and just wants to get out of the car! And it is worth noting the very human tendency to blame someone else rather than take responsibility for our own actions or embrace our own power to change the future.

Isn’t it amazing how our perspective can shrink when we are tired or hungry or stressed out? Here the Israelites are in the wilderness. They are free. They are being provided sufficient food and water. They are together. They have a leader. God is with them. They are not still in Egypt. They are no longer slaves. They are not being forced to do back breaking work making bricks for Pharaoh's buildings. There is so much that is new and good in their lives, but all they can talk about is the fact there is not any meat. They even go so far as to say that life was better in Egypt, because they had meat! Really?!

And then there is Moses. He has been put in charge of leading this whole nation. God is with him. God has confidence in him. Thus far God has empowered and equipped Moses every step of the way. Does Moses go to God to say, “God, please help me to remember how faithful you are and how you will continue to be with us. Please help me share this truth with the Israelites.” No, Moses goes to God and complains. He asks God why he even put him in charge of these people. Why does he have to lead a bunch of complainers? This is no fun, and Moses would like to give them back.

Can’t you just picture it? Moses is ranting and raving. Probably pacing back and forth, gesturing widely. And you can just see God, the ever patient parent, smiling and nodding, just waiting for Moses to get all the anger out of his system, so God can calmly explain why it is all going to be okay, and Moses can even have help.

Ah, there it is. There is the heart of the message I needed to hear today. Perhaps you do as well?

I will confess to easily falling into the same bad habits as Moses and the Israelites. I can lose my perspective. I can get too inwardly focused on my own needs and challenges. I can think I need to be doing it all by myself. I can forget to pause and reorient my vision and my priorities. I can forget to keep things in perspective. I can get too caught up in the need to accomplish and achieve and fail to keep myself grounded in God’s love and God’s abiding presence.

There are some very important reminders in today’s readings for those of us who feel overwhelmed by the problems of the world, or who feel pulled in too many directions, or who feel exhausted by the pace of life. The first reminder is that we do not need to do it all by ourselves. There is nothing in life that has to be done solo. Of course, things CAN be done solo, but choosing to work alone and feeling as though we are all out on our own are two very different things. Both in our Numbers reading and in the Epistle and even in in the Gospel, we are reminded that God invites his followers to do ministry as a team. Elders get appointed to join Moses in leadership. James is all about being in relationship. Healing happens when you go seek out the elders. Notice how everything in James is in the plural. There is nothing done just by one person alone. In the Gospel, Jesus does not stop someone from doing good works in his name, Jesus realizes that the work we are about in the world is huge, and we need all the hands we can find. Ministry, all our ministry, is meant to be done in a team. We are created to be in relationship. We are created to work together.

The other important reminder for us today is that we need to ground ourselves first and foremost in God’s love. I recently read a book entitled Sabbath as Resistance by biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann. This book serves as a wonderful reminder of the importance of sabbath. It is also very much connected with our reading from Numbers today. Brueggemann notes that the command for sabbath came to the Israelites while they were in the wilderness, once they had left their lives under Pharaoh's rule, where worth was entirely measured by the production of a commodity. Brueggemann draws parallels from that life to our own society, noting that “In our own contemporary context of the rat race of anxiety, the celebration of Sabbath is an act of both resistance and alternative. It is resistance because it is a visible insistence that our lives are not defined by the production and consumption of commodity goods.” (Preface) Like the Israelites, we are restless. Brueggemann invites us to take a journey, not out into a literal wilderness, but to relocate ourselves emotionally, liturgically, and economically through the practice of sabbath. Brueggemann defines sabbath as “the pause that transforms,” as “an acknowledgment that what is needed is given and need not be seized,” (p. 45) and as “the regular, disciplined, visible, concrete yes to the neighborly reality of the community beloved by God.” (p. 87)

Sabbath is a reminder that we are created to be in relationship with God and with each other. Sabbath is a reminder that our worth is not wrapped up in what we do or have or acheive. Our worth is wrapped up in God’s love. We are worthy. We are valuable, each and every person, each and every one of us, because we are beloved of God.

So, I hope in our readings this week, you will find permission to be gentle with yourself when you find yourself complaining like Moses and the Israelites. Take a deep breath. Pray. Ground yourself in God’s love. Reach out to the people around you who you love most. Cultivate the relationships that sustain you. Take a “pause that transforms.” Even if you can’t take a whole day off, find a part of a day, find a few hours. Even just a few minutes sprinkled through your day and your week will make a difference. And you deserve it. AMEN.