Even in Sleep…
It is vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for God gives sleep to his beloved - Psalm 127:2
Those who have the wind of the Holy Spirit go forward, even while they sleep – Brother Lawrence
Last Thursday the MRN team enjoyed a half day retreat with Marjorie Thompson from The Upper Room. Her theme for the morning was Sabbath. This beautiful poem set the refreshing tone:
Camas Lilies
Consider the lilies of the field,
the blue banks of camas
opening into acres of sky along the road.
Would the longing to lie down
and be washed by that beauty
abate if you knew their usefulness,
how the natives ground their bulbs
for flour, how the settlers’ hogs
uprooted them, grunting in gleeful
oblivion as the flowers fell?
And you — what of your rushed
and useful life? Imagine setting it all down —
papers, plans, appointments, everything —
leaving only a note: “Gone
to the fields to be lovely. Be back
when I’m through with blooming.”
Even now, unneeded and uneaten,
the camas lilies gaze out above the grass
from their tender blue eyes.
Even in sleep your life will shine.
Make no mistake. Of course
your work will always matter.
Yet Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these.
~ Lynn Ungar, from Blessing the Bread
Marjorie reminded us that in the Jewish tradition day begins at sundown. We tend to think the day begins when it is morning and we get up, ready to make things happen. All labour begins with rest. A secular rhythm makes work primary, and we go from work to vacation. In contrast, a sacred rhythm moves from Sabbath to vocation. Resting in God is radical in our culture and in our churches particularly for those in church leadership: we are always being tempted to “leave God for God’s service”. I enjoyed hearing Marjorie quote Eugene Peterson
”The Hebrew evening/ morning sequence conditions us to the rhythms of grace. We go to sleep, and God begins His work. As we sleep, He develops His covenant. We wake and are called out to participate in God’s creative action. We respond in faith, in work. But always grace is previous. Grace is primary. We wake into a world we did not make, into a salvation we did not earn. Evening: God begins, without our help, His creative day. Morning: God calls us to enjoy and share and develop the work He initiated.”
How beautiful is that! What a way to begin each day – remembering that God has already been at work and now that we are awake we are invited to join in and participate with delight in what God has already been doing.
