A Collect for Saturdays
Almighty God, who after the creation of the world rested from all your works and sanctified a day of rest for all your creatures: Grant that we, putting away all earthly anxieties, may be duly prepared for the service of your sanctuary, and that our rest here upon earth may be a preparation for the eternal rest promised to your people in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
This phrase strikes me today: Putting away all earthly anxieties.
We are worried about many things. What if Sabbath rest is not just to rest from our labors, but also from worry? When God rested after creating all things, did God spend the seventh day worrying whether everything would turn out ok? How it was going with the plants and birds and people? Did God wonder whether it was enough? Good enough? Big enough? Whether God had considered all contingencies? Did God worry about the past, the present, or the future?
God rested. And it must have been helpful to God because God commands us to rest, too. To keep a holy Sabbath. A day of resting in God.
We are pretty bad at this, in my experience. Even if we rest physically, our minds continue to work and worry. Particularly when there is something big and scary happening over which we have no control.
But how can we truly rest? How to put away anxieties? Here are some ways I have found to rest in God:
- take off my shoes outside and remember that, like Moses, I am standing on holy ground.
- focus on my breathing, welcoming the Holy Spirit with each breath and feeling God’s closeness.
- light a candle and watch the flame that never consumes the wick.
- make music
- look at a bird, or flower, or anything else in creation and marvel at how wonderfully it is made - and remember that I also am wonderfully made
- walk, feeling my body and its connection with the earth
It is never perfect, my rest. It will never be perfect until at the last I rest completely in God. But it does restore, body and soul.
How will you rest today, putting away all anxiety?