Dear One’s of St. C’s, 

I hope that you are enjoying this season of Advent and taking moments to let light and joy into your present moment.  Everyday of the year our culture tries to tell us that there is not enough time.  We are pulled in a million directions, so we find a million short cuts, and then we are told that there is more to do.  And it seems that it ramps up before Christmas.  But the season of Advent tells us that there is space, there is room to take a deep breathe and remember you are not a machine, but instead carry the light of Christ within you.  Your very presence in the world is a gift.  Your worth is not in what you do, but instead in who you are, just as you are.  

Tomorrow our Advent Quiet Morning is all about taking time, to declare this to be true, there is space, there is room, and you are worthy of rest.  The mornings themes come directly from the book, Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey, but our found throughout scripture and our Christian tradition as well.  

Hersey has created something called the Nap Ministry.  The tenants of the Nap Ministry are:

1. Rest is a form of resistance because its disrupts and pushes back against capitalism and white supremacy 

2. Our bodies are a site of liberation 

3. Naps provide a portal to imagine, invent, and heal.

4. Our dreamspace has been stolen and we want it back.  We will reclaim it via rest. 

This idea that rest is resistance is not an individual affair, but a collective need for all us to declare together that there is enough, enough time and space for everyone to rest. First, we must believe it for ourselves and then we must advocate this for all people.  We are going to take time this Saturday morning to rest together.  9-11 will be an open time at the church to just be.  Each room of the church will have a different theme for you to explore; resist, imagine, dream, and rest.  At 11 we will experience an exercise where we will rest together and then we will eat lunch together. 

As Michelle Desmond and I have been discussing this book and exploring this topic we have wondered how our Advent Quiet Morning each year can be a reset for our community.  A time to come together and ask how as a community can we can rest better together and support one  another.  None of this work we do at church is to be done alone, our power is found in community, and we have a beautiful community!  So let’s start there tomorrow.  Come rest with us and explore how we can rest better throughout the year. 

with hope, 

Meghan