Unplug

Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.

-Jesus

One of the most beautiful things in a relationship is when people can sit still and silent in each other's presence and be perfectly content. No performing. No seeking to impress. No conversation or tv or videos to fill the silence. Simply enjoying a deep and quiet rest with each other.

It is also amazing when people enjoy activities together, serve together, and accomplish great things together. But being active can cover over a deeper dis-ease that is exposed in the silence. God gave us quiet, silence, and rest as gifts to replenish our body, mind, and soul. In those spaces we are best able to see what is lacking and be filled up.

For a year and a half we have been limited in our activities and isolated. But it would be wrong to equate limited movement with quiet, aloneness with silence, and inactivity with rest. The pressures and fears of the pandemic - or over the responses to the pandemic - have fostered a general dis-ease that is counter to the invitation of Christ.

It is tempting to fill up our time with activities and busyness now that the vaccines are proving effective, we are beginning to see each other again, and the option is there to get back to more "normal activities." But with little over a month before the general hecticness of a fall schedule is upon us, I encourage you (if it is at all feasible for you in your situation — even for a couple of hours, a day, or a few days at a time) to prioritize saying yes to Jesus invitation to quiet and to rest.

Meet with Jesus, and with some of your loved ones, there as to stop striving and breathe deeply of God's love and fresh air and beauty and not needing to produce or accomplish.

I'll be doing just that for the next three weeks followed by a week of leading music and teaching at Camp Kahquah. As a result there won't be another Covenant Weekly until September. We are giving our Sunday morning "live" team four weeks off as well to allow space for them to rest. We know that for many, the Sunday morning service is a time and space where you find some rest so there will be services online each week at 10 am...they've just been prerecorded for you. We hope and pray the music, kids' videos, and guest teaching each week are a blessing to you.

We will be back for a live streaming service at 10 am on September 6 and then (pending health regulations) resuming in-person gatherings on September 12* in two services (9 am and 10:30 am).

Until then, may the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:15)

*This is corrected from an earlier version of the post that read September 13. While are changing time of day for our gatherings, we are not changing the day of the week!!