Leviticus 19:1-18 Selected Verses (NRSV) The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. You shall each revere your mother and father, and you shall keep my Sabbath: I am the Lord your God. Do not turn to idols or make cast images for yourselves: I am the Lord your God. When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather

If you’ve been gathering with us since we started worshipping regularly two weeks ago, you know we are talking about Sabbath. That God-blessed, God-ordained day or hour or moment of rest. Sabbath is that time of stopping set aside by God, declared not just good, but blessed in the creation story. And in the past two weeks we have talked about practices and the tangible benefits of living into this blessed space of Sabbath, of resting, of unplugging, of reconnecting, of simply

Note #1: In this service we had a rhythm of reading scripture, having a mini-sermon, and then trying one of the practices together. We did this three times. You'll see the three sections as you read through the "sermon." Note #2: Also, there are soooooo many good resources for rest and Sabbath and I totally gathered from here and there for the practices listed below. I especially relied on Wayne Muller's Sabbath and MaryAnn McKibben Dana's Sabbath in the Suburbs. Matthew 14:2

So I was restless Tuesday evening. I’d been wrestling with my sermon in the back of my head while working and being with family. I had promised you all a sermon on the benefits and blessings of rest this week because this month, at the very beginning of our regular meetings, we’re looking at rest ALL MONTH LONG, and God commanded us to rest and had blessed rest and made it holy from the very beginning in Genesis 2. I had done the research for all the amazing things that happ

Welcome, welcome, welcome. Welcome to everyone in this room because we are all first-timers this morning. We are all here to explore what it looks like to gather weekly together--to get to know one another, to get to know God, and to be shaped in community. And I want to say a few words about the community that already exists and got us here this morning. There are people among us this morning who met every week last spring and early summer to talk about what church is. What