Are you tired? I was speaking with a member of our congregation this week who told me he was “tired to [his] bones.” The past few months have been full of one life-changing government announcement after another. Sometimes more than one a week. Daily decisions have been loaded with more weight than many of us have ever known. One wrong move and we or our loved ones could be put at risk. Perhaps your job has been under threat. Perhaps you have had to navigate the constant isolation of lone habitation or the endless presence of immediate family. Friends have been distant, behind a screen at best. Acquaintances at church, those people you wouldn’t call but you like that they smile when they see you, ghosts of the past. Are you tired?
One of our most well loved collects, often prayed with us by the team who lead us in Compline prays “that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this fleeting world, may repose upon thy eternal changelessness; ”I hope the pace of change in your life starts to slow soon. Jesus says “Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy ladened and I will give you rest.” Once we have opportunity, I would like to invite us to rest, to breath over the summer. Be kind to yourself. Find spaces where you can to replenish and restore what has been knocked around. Move slowly. Give yourself permission to be unproductive. Sleep.
But then, in the Autumn I would like to invite you, all of us but starting with you, to re-invest in your faith and friendships here. We are going to focus our energies on replenishing our faith and friendships as a congregation over that season. The other opportunities can wait. One opportunity for this is new formation material that Sam and I have written called “The Being With Course”. It’s an opportunity to immerse in the foundations of our faith and build deeper friendships where we can talk about the things that really matter to us. There will be more information about that and other opportunities later, but for now, know you are loved, know you are held in the loving arms of God. Rest.
Revd Sally Hitchiner
