Rest
Creation Story One: 1:1-2:4a
So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work. 2:3
Hopefully, the humour in God taking a break isn’t lost on you. What, was He all tuckered out? It’s not like the whole ‘whipping up the cosmos on a slow afternoon’ was really an effort! We noted this is one of the main points of the story. As per all of these originating stories (aetiologies), there’s something to contemplate. In this case, it’s the deep connection between taking appropriate rest from work in order to create necessary breathing space for God’s blessings in our lives. Sabbath is that particular day in the cycle of seven where sacred stillness should be ascendant. The Hebrew word (Shabbat) literally means resting, ceasing activity or staying still.
There are, of course, peculiar challenges to this in today’s world. Increasingly, we might feel driven or even imprisoned by work rather than actually enjoying it: ironically, more mastered than masters. Companies bent on ever-increasing profits can slip into draconian practices with their workforces. Excessive work stress, invading every part of life, eviscerates Sabbath stillness. Equally, the rewards of hard work can easily become self-fulfilling in ‘merit-economies’ leading to avarice and workaholism. When work is so all-consuming it’s entirely possible to use it to hide from the rest of life, and, if we let it, Mammon will very gladly become our deity.
Clearly, though, the rest referred to here isn’t merely a matter of doing nothing – a recipe for indolence or acedia. There’s a paradoxical idea underpinning it: active passivity. Worship is the effort of placing yourself before God and away from all other activity. He calls together a willing and open-hearted people to shower them with blessings, to offer His love, and so grant them a foretaste of heaven. But you have to seek out that different space and it’s rejuvenating calm. Indeed, the distinctness of the Seventh Day is entered into like a walk in the countryside. The Promised Land of Canaan is literally referred to as God’s rest - a foreshadowing of the foothills of our everlasting peace.
For forty years I was wearied of these people
And I said: ‘Their hearts are astray,
These people don’t know my ways.’
Then I took an oath in my anger:
‘Never shall they enter my rest.’
I’m gonna put it out there: I don’t think this is something we really want to hear God saying. Which, of course, is precisely why it’s worth imagining God saying it, (cf Heb 4:1-11). It’s in our interest to remember the importance of rest and recuperation as part of a re-energising relationship with the Lord.
This, of course, is more than physical restoration alone – we can be physically sound but still in need of psychological or spiritual healing. By losing our connection to the Sabbath, (our rightful restful day), we lose our connection to that peace that reigns in a heart accustomed to reposing in the Lord’s embrace; that deeper peace that somehow prevails through the punishing storms and sorrows of existence.
Each Sabbath points us once more in the right direction because it’s a spiritual law or need inscribed into our being. It restores our vision as to what’s really important in life and recharges our spiritual batteries so we can continue on towards that final Sabbath hopefully awaiting us at journey’s end.
You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.
[St Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, 1.1]
As a writer, I think on this a lot: the idea of active passivity. My hard work is mostly performed on my derrière. It might even be mistaken for rest! Eyes closed, statue still, praying for inspiration. It’s entirely possible I’m a charlatan: using the same words as everyone else whilst pretending these are more worthy of attention. HINT: they can all be found in an online dictionary!
There’s an old joke that everyone has a story inside, and that’s where most of them should stay. It’s not just a witty barb, though. There’s a profound Christian truth in it relating to this idea of rest. As so often, T S Eliot expresses this better than anyone else I’ve read:
The endless cycle of idea and action,
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word. (I)
Many are engaged in writing books and printing them,
Many desire to see their names in print, (III)
And they write innumerable books; being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness. (V)
[Choruses from ‘The Rock’, 1934]
The Sabbath’s silent stillness is the default for Christian communication. Words are the last, not the first, resort. When used, each must earn its worth. Measured against the better silence. God knows, writing is a labour! It can be excruciating birthing a story. Still, it can’t be about us. We Christian writers must learn to get out of our own way. Otherwise, our egos destroy the holy incantation; the recline into the divine.
It sounds like a contradiction to actively seek passivity or to labour at rest, but there it is. It’s the only way I know to ensure words have any hope of counting, of not being wasted, of not fuelling the modern funeral pyre of language. All told, it’s damn hard work this learning to relax, and a tough job letting God always have the final word. But, someone’s gotta do it.
Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light. (Mt 11:28-30)
Header photo: Michael Schaffler, Unsplash
Really enjoying these very thoughtful reflections. Thank you for this!