Ordinary Time

Pause

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown? Will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

“The Summons Song,” John L. Bell and Graham Maule, 1987

Listen

When I kept quiet, my bones wore out; I was groaning all day long— every day, every night!— because your hand was heavy upon me. My energy was sapped as if in a summer drought. Selah

So I admitted my sin to you; I didn’t conceal my guilt. “I’ll confess my sins to the Lord, ” is what I said. Then you removed the guilt of my sin. Selah

Psalm 32:3-5

Think

It’s the day of rest!

At last.

Do you keep the Sabbath holy? Like 4th commandment, next-level rest?

God rested after making the world. Jesus rested after healing the sick.

Without rest, your bones wear out, you groan all day long, you feel like there’s a heavy hand upon you and your energy’s sapped.

Maybe you’ve got a sin to confess today — get it off your chest and give it to God. It’s already forgiven.

Or maybe your sin is just a frantic persistent busyness — the disease of our day.

Whatever it is, the Sabbath is a day to start over. Clean the slate of what’s bothering you. Put the work aside for tomorrow. Ask what sparks joy and makes your heart sing.

No one knows for sure what that word “Selah” means, that punctuates the Psalms. Some scholars think it’s a musical notation. Others think it means “So be it.” I don’t know exactly, but I like to think “Selah” is just a slow exhale. A breathing out.

A sigh of rest.

Cari Pattison

Pray

Dear Jesus,
You said to your disciples,
“Come away by yourself to a lonely place for a while.
Come to me, all ye who are weary and heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am gentle and lowly of heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light.”
Amen.

Go

The question is not whether God has called you.

The question is how and where and whether you will say “yes.”

Go into this day brave.
Go into this day believing.
Go into this day knowing
that you are already enough.