Hebrews is a book devoted to the explanation of who Jesus is. It was written for the Jewish Christians, the new converts, of the day, who were experiencing considerable persecution. They were discouraged and ready to return to their Jewish faith. The author is teaching them that Jesus is better than any other faith. He is higher than the angels, superior to Moses and Joshua, our intercessor with God, the supreme sacrifice for us all.

Today’s passage is complicated because the author is using the word "rest" in three different ways; as the peace of God; as the "promised land", or heaven; and finally as bodily "rest after all the work is done".

For our purposes this morning I have selected verses 9-13. Listen for the word of God, through the words of this author.

There is no doubt about it: Living is stressful. We run around in circles like hamsters in a cage. We rush through our morning routine; rush off to work, rush through errands, deadlines, meal planning and family responsibilities. We fall into bed at night, our list unfinished, with a tiredness that sleep does not erase, only to repeat the same race the next day. We long to live in the moment but don’t know what that even means. We feel guilty if we pause to take notice of our lives, to enjoy the moment. The clock is our enemy and sometimes even our god.

The stress does not go away. In fact, much of our stress we bring on ourselves through our feelings of competition with others, or bowing to the demands of others, or our need to achieve, you know the list. The stress we create added to the unavoidable stress that comes our way, can send us over the edge. The ways we choose to cope can lead to illness instead of health. We can turn to food for comfort, or increase our alcohol consumption to mask the issues; we can turn on the TV for relaxation, all sorts of ways we cope with stress; ways that do not give us the needed rest we need.

On NPR this week I was intrigued by a feature on stress. It seems that Japan has taken a business look at how to deal with stress. A small country, overpopulated, with increasing noise and limited space, people are experiencing stress that is affecting their health. So businesses have developed a multi- billion dollar relaxation industry that provides different forms of relaxation. For example you can get ten minutes of oxygen in multiple scents on your way to work for $9! Stress is expensive.

Marianne Kane Neal, free- lance writer, suggests a more helpful coping strategy using the acronym for stress.

S------Self Love

T------Time

This means loving ourselves enough to take care of our minds, bodies and spirits. It is treating ourselves gently and forgiving ourselves when necessary.

Time can be our friend or our enemy. We can procrastinate on deadlines, or plan ahead. We can do everything at once, or set priorities, doing the most important first. We can recognize time as a valuable commodity, or let it seep through our fingers, wasted at the end of the day.

Rest is God’s gift to us in order to enjoy life. When we stop to rest, we are infused with new energy. Rest is more than adequate sleep; it is about stopping what we usually do giving our brains a break. This kind of rest is a time out with God. It revives our creativity and restores our energy for living.

When we are tired it is hard to grasp the concept that exercise gives us more energy. We think we will become even more tired, but it is just the opposite. Exercise wards off what can become a silent killer. Using caffeine, drugs, alcohol or over eating, only exacerbates our stress instead of relieving it. Science has taught us that. Taking in a ski run, a hike in the mountains, a golf game, dancing, whatever feeds your spirit, can lead us into rest with God.

Accepting what is. Settling for 80% instead of 100% production is more realistic and is much less stressful. It guards against perfectionism. Settling means sticking with reality, instead of insisting on the ideal.

This is the most important of all and without our knowing it, permeates everything else. Spirituality is our sense of belonging to God, not just part way, but completely. It is knowing that God resides inside us. When we connect with God regularly we are guided, inspired, and healed. When this happens everything else is relegated to a lesser place of importance. Connecting with God is to rest in God.

If you are like me, and hopefully you are not, you often learn these important truths the hard way. We keep our feverish pace, hopeful that nothing will slow us down, without realizing we are really running on empty. Precipitating events can be opportunities for us to recognize the lack of balance in our lives. They can be times when we can shift our unhealthy patterns of living to practicing some sacred rhythms. When crisis hits we tend to run harder instead of smarter.

Ten years ago, when my husband died suddenly, I found myself upside down. I had just moved to Colorado. I had not met my neighbors; my friends were in Illinois. I was in a new job, without a church family and had just lost my spouse. At work I took a psychological stress evaluation where 0-60 points were considered normal. I topped out at 321 points, at risk for stroke I was told, or worse. I found myself running in 10 different directions all at the same time.

The symptoms got my attention. Beyond being tired, I found I could not read, watch TV, or even listen to the radio. I felt desperate for silence, both internally and externally. An odd symptom for an extrovert, I thought then. I know now, but did not then, that often an extreme need for silence is our deep longing to be with God. TV, radio, noise of any kind interrupts, even blocks the communication and care God seeks to offer us.

Somewhere along the way, a good pastor friend of mine suggested finding a Spiritual Director. "Life is a journey with God, whether we know it or not", he said, "and it goes a lot more smoothly if we regularly eradicate the noise from our lives, so God can get through." He suggested finding one who could share the Spiritual Disciplines of Ignatius, a Christian Saint, living between 40 AD and 107, Bishop of Antioch.

I did, and the Spiritual Director suggested I attend a silent retreat for nine days. Nine days? I queried. How could anyone last that long without speaking? She laid out the plan: I would be reading and learning about Ignatius; meeting with her once a day, the only time I could speak. Meals were to be silent. There were to be no conversations with others anywhere on the premises, at any time. Without really understanding it, I paid my fee and signed up.

When I arrived something profound occurred, although I didn’t know it at the time. After settling in, I met with this director who announced that I would not be learning about Ignatius after all. I remember feeling betrayed; then angry. After I arrive and pay my fee she tells me this? What was going on? I objected, yes, even complained about the injustice of it. Why? I asked. She sat quietly until I wound down, then calmly stated, "Well, I guess you have two choices. You can stay or you can leave." I was stunned. That’s it? No explanations for this behavior? I left her office. I walked the grounds, fussed and fumed with God but eventually decided to stay. I figured I was there for a reason and might as well stick it out. Besides, I always try to do what I say I’m going to do, even if it doesn’t make any sense! It also occurred to me that perhaps I was not in charge of this venture.

It took me 3 full days to wind down. Each day she gave me a Bible verse to think about, and carry around with me. Instead I spent 3 days rearranging my belongings, trying out different benches, wiping them all off, changing my shoes, walking around aimlessly, still unhappy with her behavior and feeling very restless inside. I could not quiet myself.

On the fourth day, I decided to do what she suggested. My prayer ended in a long conversation with God. Sitting before statues they seemed to come alive with compassion. The silence enveloped me. There were no TVs or radios. There was no music. There were no voices and slowly, so slowly, I began to feel God’s presence. "Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." I was not doing anything but the time flew by.

Now more curious than angry, I still asked her why she changed her mind mid stream? The answer was always the same. "You are still free to leave, or free to stay." By the end of the 9 days I had slept the deepest I had in months. I felt at peace. I really didn’t care about why she changed our plans or about Ignatius either, for that matter. It was the most meaningful, healing Sabbath experience of my life. I drank in this Sabbath gift from God.

On the last day I couldn’t resist asking her again, Why did you change our plans? "Quietly she responded, "If we had kept our plans you would never have found the peace you needed. Your mind would have been full of Ignatius instead of God. You, the student, would have insisted on mastering Ignatius in 9 days instead of allowing God to reach out for you." Sitting there, with a beam of light coming in the stained glass window, I wept. Her wisdom was actually God’s wisdom. It was just what I had needed. I did not know what was best for me, but God did.

I share this intimate story with you because Sabbath rest is not just another rule in the Book of Life. It’s not something we do to make sure we get to heaven, or because we are fearful of punishment, if we ignore it. God created a plan of rest for us to recover, to be rejuvenated again, to be whole in ways that only God can do. We are created to be with God in many different ways, but when we ignore this intentional Sabbath plan, this regular weekly rhythm, we are the losers, not God.

It took the loss of my husband to open my ears. It took a loving confidant to plant a seed. It took a skillful counselor to open my heart. Through each of these, it was really God calling to me, waiting for me, loving me into relationship. "Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

This is not just my story, it is our story, of how God waits, plans, provides, and invites us into rest with him, for our benefit. Hopefully, like me, you do not have to find yourself so empty that only a crisis will get your attention. Hopefully, the intentional rhythm that was set up by God originally, of working 6 days and resting on the 7^th will not escape you. Hopefully, you already know how to carve out your Sabbath rest; a time of quiet to simply be. Maybe it’s a walk, or perhaps a swim; maybe it is lying down only listening to music; or perhaps it is donning your coat to watch the stars on your deck. Or maybe it is doing needle work. Whatever draws you into quiet is your avenue to Sabbath with God. For when you are in your sacred, quiet place, it is then that you are ready to receive the greatest love from God.

Whatever you yearn for, it may come to you during those moments. Maybe you yearn for solutions to problems. Or comfort for sadness. Perhaps your need is for your brokenness to be made whole; whatever it is, God cannot be heard with TV, radio and general clatter blocking it out.

Most of us are not good at being quiet, listening or waiting. It feels vulnerable, tender and even out of control. Solitude is a place to which we withdraw and unplug ourselves from the noise, the busyness and the constant over stimulation in our lives. The longing for solitude is the longing for God. It is also the longing to find ourselves; to be in touch with what is real within us.

Solitude is one of the few places where the soul is truly safe. It is a place where the questions, doubts and longings are welcomed instead of judged and evaluated. Solitude is essential for our well-being. In solitude we put away our frenetic doing in exchange for some productive being.

Most of us are more tired than we realize in our souls. We are teetering at the brink of dangerous exhaustion and cannot recover until we find some rest; true rest, that fulfilling, life sustaining, Sabbath rest in God.

Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, for it was made for you and me.

Amen