CREDIT: picryl.com

Dear First Lutheran Family and Friends,

I have a set of battery-powered tools. They get a lot of use, partly because I can take them anywhere to get work done without the restriction of a power cord and an electrical outlet. But they don’t run forever. Eventually the batteries run out of juice and need to be recharged. So, I put them in the charging cradle to … rest and to recharge. There, in the aptly named “cradle,” the battery rests and lets the external power source restore it for new activity.

God has a set of tools He uses to get His work done in the world He created … you and me. We are His hands and feet whom He uses to get things done. But like those battery-powered tools, we run out of juice too. Which is why God has given us “the Sabbath” – a Hebrew word – שַׁבָּת – meaning “rest.” But it’s not just any “rest” … it’s a special rest in “God and His presence” where we trust God to care for us and all our needs while we let Him recharge us to reenter the world; to do the work He has called on us to do.

In Jesus’ day, God’s intent for His gift of sabbath rest had been boiled down to a single day in which nobody was to do anything. Unfortunately, God’s purpose had been taken out of His gift. Instead of a period to let God recharge His people, the Pharisees and keepers of the Law had made rest into yet more work required for people to do to earn God’s favor. (Mark 2:27) 

God’s gift recharges us physically – we stop our labors to allow our minds and bodies to recharge – and spiritually – taking some time to listen to Him, pray to Him, learn from Him, and receive guidance from Him. In worship and during the week we rest in the cradle of God and His Word … getting recharged by Him for the work He has called us to do. So let’s rest.

                                                                                                In the Love of Christ,

                                                                                        Pastor Jim