I hope that this post is being
viewed by a Rested Hope Center
community!
Our Rest sermon series is over,
but the journey for many of us has just begun.
I’ve had so many encouraging conversations over the last six weeks about
people trying to rest. We’re
experimenting, we’re failing, we’re succeeding, we’re resting!
Today is the first day of lent
(some of you will read this tomorrow, making yesterday the first day of
lent!). We want to encourage you to make
rest a part of your Lenten celebration!
The tradition of Lent is to give up something until Easter. We want to offer this option: give up busyness.
Jesus ultimately has asked us to
give up our lives (not just coffee, or chocolate, or meat or whatever…). For us in the western world, this means
giving up the idolatry of busyness.
There’s actually something freeing about the idea that giving ourselves
up in this context can and should mean adopting a pattern of rest.
Below are all of the “Invitations
to Rest” which we posted during the Rest series. We encourage you to grab one of them and use
it for your Lenten celebration. If you
want to make up your own, we think that’s awesome too!
We’re also offering an open
invitation to anybody who has been experimenting with rest and would be willing
to share about that. Whether you’ve
succeeded widely or failed miserably, we want to hear about it and believe that
your story could be an encouragement to others.
Send us an email if you think you’d like to share!
Rest on.
Ian Longtin / ilongtin@hopecenter.cc
Lenten Rest Ideas:
- Start a weekly Sabbath practice
for yourself. Invite friends and family to
participate.
- Identify one thing that burns you
out and choose a day of the week in which you do not do that thing.
- Identify a form of
entertainment/electronics that you are addicted to and choose a day of the week
in which you don’t use that thing. (Think cell phones, Facebook or Television).
- Get together with some friends
and family for a meal and something fun (movies, board games, etc). Consider making this a weekly tradition.
- Choose
one day each week and do nothing. Invite your friends and family to do
nothing with you.
- Choose
one thing on your to-do list each week that is not absolutely necessary and
replace it with something life giving.
- Think
of one type of entertainment that you use regularly (T.V., Radio, Music, etc..)
and prune that out for Lent.
- Reflect
on what makes you feel rested and rejuvenated. Possibly write down a list and
make time to do them.
- Start
small and make a plan that could take you beyond the Lenten season.
- Give
yourself grace in this process.
- Only
check Facebook on Sundays.
- As many days as you can each
week, find 5-10 minutes to just be with God.
- Unplug your television and
use that time to eat with a friend or family member, read a book or go for a
walk.
