You're About to Catch a Break | September 18, 2022 | Hillhurst United Church

good morning everyone god is with you it is so great to see you all today welcome to hillhurst united church welcome online if this is your first time here we're glad you're here if this is your 100th time here we're kind of glad you're here just kidding we're very glad you're here my name is andrea irwin i'm one of the ministers here and i was just telling a story back at the tech booth i remember a few years ago i was camping and i was sitting in a chair by the beach having a lounging time and there was a playground behind me and there was a bunch of kids playing on the playground and i hear this squeal of delight behind me it was something and i kind of turn around and get involved in what's happening and all of a sudden i hear one of the children playing say we're unsupervised and i i've never forgotten that and that's how i feel today because john's at his son's wedding and anne's taking a break so we're unsupervised happy sunday so here at hillhurst we have four core values those are spirituality we know that not everyone is religious but we believe that everyone is spiritual hospitality eating and drinking together joining together having conversation with one another you might have had a coffee outside that's really important to us too and social justice how we take what we hear in this place out into the world is also really important to us and we ground all of that in a sense of risk we are located here at hillhurst on the traditional lands of the treaty seven region that's the blackfoot confederacy the sixika the ghana and the pagani first nations the sudsina first nations as well as the stoney nakota including the chinooky the bears paw and the wesley first nation and the city of calgary is also home to the metis nation of alberta region 3. and we know if you are joining us online that you might be on a different territory you might be on different land and we would love for you to put that in the chat box so we know where everyone is joining us from again if this is your first time here you might have noticed walking up to the church that we have a banner out front and it says whoever you are wherever you're at join us on the journey and what we mean by that is exactly what it says whoever you are whatever your sexual orientation whatever your gender identity or your gender expression whatever your ethnicity wherever you call home whatever your economic status however many facebook friends you have it doesn't matter we are so proud to know you and we're glad that you're here that's what it means to be an affirming community of faith which we are proud to call ourselves one i'm going to invite sarah up to help me with some announcements everyone this is sarah elliott sarah runs our communications here she rarely comes up front she's always back there so sarah yay what's going on this week this week we have i guess we didn't talk about how we were going to split these up we can figure it out okay all right improv um this weekend is our annual junk for jesus garage sale which is a ton of fun to both shop at and volunteer at so that is september 24th and 25th and you can sign up to volunteer at hillhurstunited.life also after service today i've been asked to ask you we need 10 strong people to help set up tables in the gymnasium it'll be really quick so if you identify as a strong person please meet us in the gymnasium after church awesome where are you meeting in the gym in the gymnasium yeah perfect um we had a a very weird feeling congregational meeting on wednesday night we were so glad to see lots of you there in person and online it was our first hybrid meeting um and that was weird and terrifying and we kind of made it work and it kind of didn't but we were really glad for your participation and for your enthusiasm and encouragement around the work of the church this past year and upcoming uh if you would like to watch the meeting that i have just sold so well you can do that online and sarah's brilliant and beautiful annual report is also up for you to take a look at and that you can find at that website right there hillhurst united dot life yes we also have some sad news this week we have had two significant deaths in the congregation we have the death of chuck nolan and also the death of keith feuster both of these people have been a part of this community and have been well loved for quite some time and both of their memorial services are coming up this week so chuck's service will be on september 20th and keith's service will be um on thursday september 22nd so we we hope to see you there for those celebrations of life and both of those will be live streamed as well if you can't make it in person or you'd like to watch online um you can find them on the front page of hillhurstunited.com awesome is that it one more actually two more really quick things i know there's a lot to go out okay spiritual nurture has started a new series um spiritual nurture is a really fabulous program that we run here if you haven't been i strongly encourage you to check it out it's monday evenings and for the next six weeks they are exploring pilgrimage as a spiritual practice um lots of great content conversation and connection there and then lastly uh thanksgiving sunday on october 9th you may have heard we're moving to two services a 905 and a 10 45 a.m so pick your service talk to your friends which one are you going to figure it out and then also masks will be optional as we move to two services and after thanksgiving sunday we are going to be celebrating um the park dedication for paul smokey wilkinson who was a beloved member of our community a friend of ours from our street community and there's a park a green space really close to the church a short six minute walk that has been dedicated by the city to paul and so we're going to have a short dedication there will be some words said and some stories told about paul so please join us on october 9th for that awesome thank you happy sunday happy sunday so last week john invited us into an exploration of time in the worship service looking at what meaningful time is in our lives and the difference between kronos time which is the time that we see on our clocks and kairos time the deep time in which we get this sense that we're losing ourselves in it we actually stop paying attention to time because that's where the meaningful stuff is happening and he spoke about how his intention this fall is presence and living into that deep time so i wanted to use that as a jumping off point for us today and talk about something that's been on my heart and my mind for a little while now and that is the practice of sabbath what it means to really rest so i'm joined today in worship by william brooke william give a wave william's been a congregant here for a very long time a student at vst and is also the leader of our contemplative ministry and william's going to help lead us into that kind of restful moment no pressure following our opening hymn um but first i'm going to take a risk and i'm going to invite you to pull out your phone if you have one every single person here you can pretend to do what i'm about to ask you but if you have one of these i want you to pull it out and i want you to turn it off yeah yeah yeah i know not on silent not on airplane i want you to actually you have to so if you don't know because you never turn your phone off you got to hold down this button and this one at the same time don't accidentally make the emergency call slide to power off okay you're grown humans you can make your own choices i'm just giving a suggestion but i encourage you to turn your phone off if you want to try if that feels a little uncomfortable i especially encourage you and if i see you sneaking off to the washroom halfway through the service i will not judge and neither will anybody [Laughter] ooh else so friends maybe you turned your phone off maybe you didn't you can pretend but rest in this space this buzzing but hopefully not beeping space might be a little uncomfortable might feel a little weird but just breathe here i invite you to stand and join with our opening hymn come and find the quiet center [Music] uh [Music] me [Applause] [Music] baby is [Music] is [Music] is is [Music] there is always i feel like i'm cheating i still have my ipad on that's okay right okay okay so um welcome everybody and today we're reflecting on the practice of sabbath for so for our centering today i'm just going to ask you to rest just to breathe and just simply to be so invite you to get comfortable and you can close your eyes if you like and just notice your breath and just allow yourself to center in your body and just allow yourself to be still and so we pray holy one we are grateful that you call us to a life of balance our life of work is necessary and we pray that we do it in ways that please you but sometimes we forget that as children of god you also call us to times of play where we engage joyfully with others and with your world and you call us to times of deep deep rest that nourish us body mind and spirit help us to remember that these times of play and rest are no less meaningful than our work and so let us sit in silness and silence for a few moments as we contemplate playing and resting in holy leisure [Music] and so invite you to bring your attention back into the room and together we today we are going to say the lord's prayer together our father who art in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for yours is the kingdom the power and the glory now and forever amen friends the good news is that we are called to lives of fullness and flourishing lives of wholeness lies of work and rest of play and prayer we are forgiven we are set free we are loved just as we are and we are enough may we have the courage to live this way today and this we pray in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit one god mother of us all amen so i invite you to stay seated as we sing together the hymn spirit open my heart [Music] as you know [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] so this is a time in our service where we get to practice being active in our community and that might look like for some of you leaving an offering you can hear all about our financials at the aforementioned uh congregational meeting that i told you about we have offering boxes up here or the little qr codes that nobody can use oh no anne's gonna hate me nobody can use the qr codes i didn't think that one through anyway you'll have to write us a check it is what it is um offering it's also an opportunity for us to send children off to kids space if you're uh someone between the ages of preschool and high school you can head off to hang out with bethany who's at the back and herman you can meet with them in that corner and it is an opportunity for us to reconcile with one another whoever is sitting beside you this is an opportunity for you to say hello we call this the passing of the piece you can do it like this you can do it like this you can do the fist bump you can shake hands you can even hug but i invite you to stand and share that piece with one another so peace be with you [Music] [Applause] [Music] do [Music] so [Music] us [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] yes [Music] now [Music] [Applause] when oceans rise i am yours [Music] [Applause] [Music] my [Music] is [Music] me [Music] [Applause] keep my eyes [Music] [Applause] [Music] and you are [Music] friends our faith is made stronger in the presence of the god we know and in the presence of one another so let's gather the prayers of this community today and hold those as one [Music] so [Music] prayers for a thirteen-year-old niece who lost her life to fentanyl this week [Music] for family and friends who are going through significant challenges afghanistan especially the females for all the people of afghanistan especially a female people who are struggling right now for my employment that i may be given the strength to carry [Music] thank on prayers for courage in our employment may we have the strength to carry on doing what we are doing and prayers as well for queen elizabeth ii's passing prayers for the remaining family whose parents have been killed in a car accident this week prayers in our online community prayers for people who are struggling with kovid at the moment people for whom it is a dangerous threat prayers for a sister who is healing after a car accident let's gather these prayers and sing [Music] so [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] holy one we gather all of these prayers the ones that have been boldly spoken into this community out loud the ones that we have kept behind sealed lips the ones so deep in our hearts we wouldn't even know where to start naming we gather all of these prayers god we ask your blessing your comfort your healing on those who are in the throes of grief those who have recently experienced grave loss those who have experienced a lifetime of loss those who feel like they can't just catch one break [Music] we ask god for your strength for everyone in this community for the individual needs of every person here every person online for those who are sick we ask for comfort and healing for the support that they need we ask for ourselves the courage to be that support for those who are around us especially in the moments when that feels hard god we are grateful for all of the celebrations in our midst as well new retirements new babies birthdays weddings we know that there is so much love and there is so much to celebrate we're grateful for the turning of the seasons we ask your blessing on the land as it goes through another change maybe faster than we'd like but we won't throw that in there god we are glad to be here for all the places in the world that are hurting that are war torn the places where freedom is such a complicated word we ask for your care we ask that people know your presence we ask that people are bold enough to witness to you even in those places and for all the other prayers on our hearts the ones unspoken the ones unknown but that are prayers nonetheless we ask your blessing let's sing [Music] amen i invite william to come up and share our scripture this is a reading from the book of exodus and in the story god is telling moses the commandments which are an invitation to the people of israel into a new way of living remember the sabbath day and keep it holy six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is a sabbath to the lord your god you shall not do any work you your children your servants your livestock or the alien resident of your towns for in six days the lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that is in them but rested the seventh day therefore the lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it this is the word of god for the living of our lives amen thanks william so i'm going to ask us to get to know one another a little bit better by a show of hands how many of you resonate with the statement i could sure use a break okay all right what about those of you who answered what about i deserve a break what about i'm owed a break my boss is watching and i'm leaving my hand up okay what about this how many of you resonate with the statement i'm about to catch a break okay we got a couple of people in here feeling feeling lucky i like it for the rest of you what if i told you you are william you are about to catch a break greg you are about to catch a break tina you're about to catch a break all of you i'm here to tell you today that you're about to catch a break and if you don't believe it we're gonna do stepping into the fake it till you make it experiment and i'm gonna get you to turn to your neighbor and tell them i'm about to catch a break do it do it i'm about to catch a break say it i'm about to catch a break thank you thank you nice sounds good all right we are all beautifully affirmed i feel like we're on the same page this is a good place to start let's pray holy one may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts this morning be acceptable to you amen so a couple years ago when i was at the height of my covid induced adrenal fatigue a pastor friend of mine reverend aaron miller who's at university hill in vancouver gifted me a book and it was called the sense of the call a sabbath way of life for those who serve god the church and the world it was a gentle hint that maybe i was doing too much and i was i was in the last semester of my master's degree i was trying to plant a church i was consulting for the national one i was trying to meet a book deadline and i was trying to save a failing marriage and i succeeded in doing every single one of those things except for one yeah this is a book i clearly should have read but didn't up until about a month ago when i started realizing that everyone around me my friends my family my colleagues some of you were saying these words i need a break so i picked it up it called to me sabbath keeping is not something we spend a lot of time talking about in the churches at least that i am familiar with and this in part is probably because clergy are really bad at it i pulled my twitter following this past week and 46 of practicing pastors or priests or ministers who answered said that they don't keep a sabbath almost half the sabbath for those of you who aren't familiar with the word or shabbat is an ancient jewish practice during which believers set aside a day traditionally sundown on friday to sundown on saturday to be free from work and the busyness of life and instead to practice observing god and resting in all that god created the word itself sabbath means to rest and the practice comes from the very first book of the torah what we know as the hebrew bible or the old testament so in genesis god creates the world not in seven days but in six and on the seventh day god rested but we include that in the telling of the story abraham herschel writes that on the seventh day is when god created god's self in the form of time time was created as sacred rest so to us this practice is a beautiful albeit maybe unpractical sounding ideal but for the israelites as william mentioned this was the law the ten commandments passed down from god to moses on mount sinai holding sabbath is one of those commandments and it is held alongside the others thou shalt not you shall keep the sabbath and you shall not murder you shall keep the sabbath and you shall not commit adultery you shall keep the sabbath and you shall not make idols we are holding these things in tandem in equal seriousness these laws sound very different but they're presented with the same kind of severity not resting god tells moses later on is a death sentence now people as a christian faith the sabbath is a law we've been introduced to through jesus that helps to give us life we're not putting on the rituals of another faith tradition we're being invited into a way of life that connects us more deeply to what matters sabbath was a commandment given to the israelites and it is a gift given to us it is a part of our redemption story it is a gift that allows us to witness all that is good around us it's a gift that gives us the energy to create it's a gift that enables our relationships to flourish it's a gift that reminds us that we are each and every one of us good enough unfortunately this is a gift that most of us leave in the corner and assume is meant for somebody else sure we're not all going to go out into the driveway after church and start throwing stones but did you know that the american institute of stress reports that 120 000 people die every single year as a direct result of work-related stress mood and anxiety disorders kill five million people approximately playing a huge role in that is stress we are not going to be put to death for refusing our rest but it might catch up to us quicker and if you're anything like me you think to yourself yes yes reverend andy i do need two weeks off i do need a month sleeve can a minister please write a permission slip for this and i cannot i can't sign it but i can equip you with an ancient spiritual practice or at least an understanding of one that might help you catch the break i told you was coming our fourth commandment begins this way remember the sabbath not demand it not not ask for it not take it not even observe it but remember it to remember in our scriptures is never a passive form of nostalgia like looking at those iphone photos that show up saying on this day in 2018 it's not that kind of remembering remembering in the scriptures is an active way of living your life forward remember the sabbath so here's how we're going to do that chapter 20 verse 8 says remember the sabbath and keep it holy keep it holy that's number one in the book that i should have read when my friend gave it to me but saved until it slapped me across the face a sabbath has four key parts we have embracing we have ceasing we have feasting and we have resting in no particular order to keep it holy is to build into your day moments in which you embrace god embrace creation traditionally this would be a form of corporate worship like we're doing right now something you do with other people to draw you closer to the beauty of us simply being alive in this time and place a way of expressing gratitude to the creator a song of praise a quiet prayer with a child before bed an act of service or servanthood to another when we embrace our identity as people of faith a people of the way a people of the creator we are keeping holy what god declared good so to keep and remember the sabbath we have to keep it holy our scripture continues six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is a sabbath to the lord your god you shall not do any work one of the top google searches when i started looking this up said can you flush the toilet on the sabbath i vote yes but that's just a side that's just a sidebar ceasing this is the part that if i had to guess most of us that raised our hands when we said can i need to catch a break that resonates with me most of us get hung up on this part there's a new trend going around on tick tock called the five to nine and it's people showing us people thinking we wanna see how they are spending their day from five a.m to nine a.m and nine p and five p.m to nine pm after their nine to five job this is a way of them bettering their lives how we use this time matters but here's the thing it's never play like william was suggesting it's never things like i cuddled my child or i called my mom or i stopped to smell the roses or i took a dance class or i had a good cry it's never those things instead what is being shown is something that perpetuates the reality that we have become so enmeshed in work culture that we now spend our time outside of it trying to get better at it to take a break like john said last week or in his sermon on quiet quitting and in his article is to risk people saying you are doing the bare minimum what an awful phrase it reduces us diminishes us minimum it minimizes who we are as people if we don't subscribe to the notion that our overtime makes us better humans and even if we don't inherently believe that the cost of living might require us to there was an article i'm sure some of you saw on cbc the other day that was talking about how remote working has made it possible for people to now work two simultaneous full-time jobs and they're saying this is making their life easier that's not okay and yet as the canadian rapper drake likes to say i don't take naps me and the money are way too attached to go and do that it's gross we don't want to live in that place but that's the world we live in to cease means to risk letting people down and that is hard but to not do so is to let ourselves down as people who have been called to a different way of life a life in which god calls us to wholeness and to an alternate way of being in the world sabbath is resistance as walter brugerman says this commandment it invites us into the risk of disappointment but it also invites us to risk that disappointment for god's delight so let us cease for just a moment and discover the goodness that god has for us there verse 10 continues you know there's four points there's always four points you shall not do any work you your child your workers your livestock or the refugees in your towns no one shall work that's number three the end of christendom has made this ceasing the really difficult part because of this important sabbath clause in jewish tradition everyone takes the same sabbath 24 hours in christian tradition we've typically set aside sundays and there was a time when shops would close when sports wouldn't happen when the extracurriculars took place after the church bells finished ringing all to facilitate the hollowing of a day's rest but this isn't the case anymore the world doesn't function like that we run all the time everything stays open on sundays the extracurriculars happen at the same time and you can schedule an amazon prime delivery while you're there and it'll be there when you arrive home feasting this is the part of celebrating the sabbath that we do with one another that we're supposed to be able to do with one another because we're all there who do you love and can you make time for them can you share a meal can you have a cup of coffee can you throw a ball can you go for a walk can you have a face time can you stop on your walk when you run into a neighbor and truly witness to them in that moment we don't all have the same days off anymore but we can still spend time with those who matter it's not necessarily a meal this feasting but a moment of being fully present like john said last week being fully present with those who matter to us and finally our scripture concludes for in six days the lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that is in them but god rested on the seventh day therefore the lord blessed the sabbath and consecrated it god rested the seventh day and blessed it rest that's number four and there is the kind of rest that we get when we luxuriate in a good night's sleep and i'll be the first to say i really hope my sabbath includes that kind of rest but there's a different kind of rest we are called to and we have access to when we embark on the spirit the sabbath as a spiritual practice and that is resting that we are enough resting in that even in our undoing matthew 11 quotes jesus as saying come to me all you who are weary and burdened and i will give you rest rest is not another thing we have to strive for it's not something we need to deserve or that we're owed it is something that has already been given but we have to believe that it is ours that's four the other day i picked up some biblical commentaries that had belonged to the reverend dr bill phipps and as i was flipping through one on exodus i came up across a page that was marked by bill with a business card of his from when he was moderator of the national church and the page that was marked was exodus 20. it was the start of the ten commandments and i love good marginalia so my eyes were drawn to everything that bill had underlined and i saw these sentences underlined in the section on this particular passage on sabbath in bill's pencil underlined said god's resting is a divine act that builds into the very created order of things a working and resting rhythm only when that rhythm is honored by all is creation what god intended it to be sabbath keeping is an act of creation keeping sabbath keeping is an act of creation keeping of course bill a leader in social and ecological justice ministry in the country would underline the one part of rest that made it sound like activism but that's exactly right it may be the case that you're not getting the break that you need it may seem far-fetched it may be that like me you did everything you could to make it happen and you still ended up writing your sermon on sabbath on your sabbath but we are a people of resurrection we are a people who believe in a great love that is redeeming us all and all things we are a people who have faith that it can be different we are a people who despite the call of the culture and it's so loud i know but we know what's worth fighting for and the renewal of all creation the renewal of creation of our very selves included that is the good fight and we can rest assured amen sing [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] like [Music] no [Music] like [Music] is [Music] last week our scripture spoke about the different seasons in our lives you might be in a particularly busy one right now or you might be in a season of sabbath you might be recently retired and enjoying the fruits of your labor you might live a life that calls itself to sabbath the whole thing is holy leisure as william said however you find yourself friends go out into the world this afternoon knowing that the gift of sabbath is one for you to have and if you still don't believe it know that sometimes an hour is all it takes and you just sat here resting feasting look at all of these people you're with you sat here ceasing in your phonelessness or pretend homelessness you sat here embracing god with this community you've just done it and you can stay here as long as you need but i invite you to take that spirit of sabbath out into the world with you today and go with the grace of jesus christ and the love of god and your participation in the wild and wonderful workings of the holy spirit go in peace [Music] you

Channel: Hillhurst United Church

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Keywords: Hillhurst United Church, Calgary Church, Welcoming Church, Affirming, Church, Gay Church, Calgary NW church, Kensington Church, LGBTQ, LGBT, John Pentland, Anne Yates-Laberge, United Church of Canada, livestream church, canada, alberta, god, jesus, spirituality, social justice, gender, gender equality, progressive, progressive church, liberal church, mainline church, liberal, mainline, brian mclaren, theology, bible, spiritual church, contemplative, calgary, united church, 2 spirit

Id: fG29KALI_IM

Length: 63min 26sec (3806 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 18 2022