Starting with Sabbath 2023

Call to Worship

Psalm 148:1-5 “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his host! Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created.”

Scripture Reading

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13

Kidz Message

On-ramp

Open with a game called “go to sleep”

I will give you an activity (jog in place, hop, give high fives) then interrupt that activity with “go to sleep”

Do 2 or 3 rounds before going to sit down.

Lesson

Did you know rest and creating are made to go together?

Genesis 2:2 NIV

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.

We do our best “creating” when we are well rested.

Creating is hard work, but do you think God rested because he was tired?

No, God rested because he wanted to start the world off right. He knew that we would have the most fun if the world started with rest.

Rest also reminds us that we don;t need to rush and that we don’t need to worry about what we’ll miss out on if we rest.

PULL OUT PILLOW

It’s like this pillow. What do we use pillows for?

That’s right, holding our heads

God’s rest is like that, he hold us while we rest.

But sometimes we don’t rest because we have too many things we want to do. So let’s remember today, to rest first so that we remember that God will take care of us AND to be all rested so we can do our best creating!

Prayer

God, thank you for creating the world, it’s such a fun place to live

Help us to remember to regularly take breaks, to rest and recharge

So that we can keep creating,and enjoying your world.

Amen.

Sermon

Many of you are struggling with the fact that our church is much smaller than it used to be.

Opener

SLIDE - Title

Story about my knee injuries & Physical Therapy

- took me out of basketball season

- Couldn’t do anything for a few weeks

Bills Player: Von Miller ACL Tear 1 year of recovery

Recovery is HARD WORK and it’s not a linear progress thing.

Life has seasons and some are harder than others.

Ecclesiastes

SCRIPTURE - ECCL 3:1

Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

The book is a response to the Psalms that say life is predictable if you behave right

“life is a vapor” meaning it’s impossible to contain or control it

There is a season for everything, including rest and recovery

RE:23 Season

SLIDE - RE:23 Chart

Celebrate the 2022 win!

SLIDE - RE:23 Main

Explain where the idea of RE:23 came from

A season of Recovery, Renewal, & Re-imagining

RE:23 is going to be hard work

Genesis & God’s Hard work

SCRIPTURE - Gen 2:1-3

Genesis 2:1–3 NIV

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Explain how this means the 7th day is still happening

Rest is the starting point of completed creation, not God’s reward for his hard work.

Fun Fact: Jewish Sabbath starting on Friday night as they go to bed & how that is the start of their week

It’s a wise spiritual practice to look ahead and if there is a hard season, to rest first.

SLIDE - Big Idea

Big Idea: We are designed to work out of our rest, not rest from our work.

You could call this a “chicken or the egg” situation, but it’s an important distinction that will impact your life.

“Need a vacation from my vacation” illustration

Exhausted when we grind into a break

Good rest allows us to dream, imagine, and try new things with minimal risk. [Think what it’s like on Vacation]

The risk is that we assume that the grind is just life and we start to call a bad thing good.

RE:23 Trajectory

SLIDE - Title

Transitioning from rest & reflection to the hard work of recovery

By Easter we will be well into the hard work, but let’s start slow.

Requires us to trust God along the way without needing to use our effort as a means of trying to control the vapor that is life

God will inspire us if we let go and let him

How I have learned to prep my sermons Illustration

- It’s impossible to dream and imagine when you are active and focused “Can’t dream if you never sleep”

- our brains are wired to do work for us when we let them work on their own time

Call to Action

My Word of the Year Experiences

Last Year’s word was Focus

SLIDE - RE:Word

RE:Word of the year & Restful dreaming

Today, take it easy, let go, and intentionally make space for dreaming. Go for a walk, sit in a hot tub, lay down on a couch without a TV or phone, work on a craft or art project, eat at a new restaurant.

Prayer

SLIDE - Title

Benediction

May you be still today, resting in the gentle care of your God

May you know the goodness that God has for you.

and May you experience the joy that comes from a well rested soul.

Amen