Fellowship "Elbow Bump" for August 28

Our World Belongs to God 49

Jesus said to the apostles, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while (Mark 6:31). Jesus said to the Pharisees,“The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28).

We continue on this week with the "Contemporary Testimony: Our World Belongs to God." 

Paragraphs 1-6: Preamble (April 11-29)
Paragraphs 7-12: Creation (April 30-May 8)
Paragraphs 13-17: Fall (May 11-15)
Paragraphs 18-22: Redemption (May 18-22)
Paragraphs 23-27: Jesus Christ (May 25-29)
Paragraphs 28-30: Holy Spirit (June 1-2, 5)
Paragraphs 31-33: Revelation (June 8-10)
Paragraphs 34-40: God's New People (June 11-19)
Paragraphs 41-54 The Mission of God's People (June 23-)

Paragraph 49 (Today)
Rest and leisure are gifts from God
that relax us and set us free
to discover and to explore.
But we confess
that often our addiction to busyness
allows our tools and toys to invade our rest
and that an internet world with its temptations
distorts our leisure.
Reminding each other that
our Maker rested and gave us rest,
we seek to rest more trustingly
and to entertain ourselves more simply.

[For rest, see Genesis 2:2-3 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15; for the discriminating use of leisure, Philippians 4:8-9 and Ephesians 4:17-32.]

There are certainly many directions we could go in commenting on Paragraph 49, not the least of which is "addiction to busyness" (a personal pitfall). Liesure and entertainment are a huge business in Canada, which should be an oxymoron but it's not. Despite the size of the industry, the U of W's Canadian Index of Wellbeing tells us that particpation in leisure and culture activities is actually on the decline.  We don't rest well. But this Paragraph 49 does well to remind us that rest is part of our mission as God's people, even as the quotes from Jesus on this page remind us.

According to the Index of Wellbeing, one area that is on the increase is participation in physical activity. Which leads me to our Friday walking group.  I started the group just to get to know some neighbours and for neighbours to get to know one another.  After 18 months we have such a great group!  We even stayed together by Zoom during the quarantine (yes, a Zoom walking group).  I love the way they care for one another.  Every person has someone to walk with, whatever pace they walk. For me, this group represents a chance to relax with friends after a busy week.

And it has been a busy week, so excuse me now while I go prepare to enjoy a Sabbath rest!

Today's song is Fernando Ortega's Guardian of My Heart (A Place in the World).

Pray with me as our Lord taught us to pray,

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
As we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.

Go with this blessing:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Pastor Mark