Today’s reflection is written by Deacon Karen Katamay.

“Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest.” —Exodus 34:21

Are you able to keep a Sabbath day, where you rest all day and don’t do any work, except maybe just attending worship services? I have trouble doing this. I can maybe set aside part of a day, but a whole day? Ask any mom if they are able to do this. After all, people need to be fed, children need to be taken care of, dishes need to be washed, etc. Even if you are not a mom, I am guessing you have a lot of things that need to get done. The world doesn’t stand still just because it is a Sabbath day!

Jesus understood this, so he reminded us that “the Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). God knows how hard we work and what we deal with every day, so he wants us to take time for ourselves to refresh and recharge. He wants us to rest in him and find inspiration in his word that will carry us through our days and our trials. God wants us to find time to slow down and rest because he cares about us and doesn’t want us to burn out.

So the next time you feel overwhelmed, take a few moments of Sabbath rest. Pray. Read your Bible or a devotion. Sing a hymn or a praise song. Or just sit and center yourself in God. You may find these moments so calming that you will want to do them more. And maybe once in a while you can take a half or whole day for rest.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). May you find your rest in Jesus.

“I, I am he who comforts you; why then are you afraid of a mere mortal who must die?” —Isaiah 51:12

My guess is that if I could see a report of the percentage of my thoughts that are rooted in one way or another in fear, I wouldn’t like the results. I don’t think of myself as a particularly fearful person, and yet it’s so easy to be consumed by fear of what might happen in the future, or fear of what I might miss out on, or even fear of who I might become.

Fear is a powerful emotion, but it rarely has positive long-term effects. Fear may allow for incredible feats when our fight-or-flight response kicks in, but ongoing, chronic fear makes it very hard to live as we truly want to live.

God knows we will encounter things that frighten us. There are things in this world that are stronger than we are, forces that are beyond our control. A healthy fear of a rip current might save your life if it leads to a wise decision to stay on the shore. But God calls us again and again to be courageous. Courage doesn’t mean stupidity. And courage doesn’t mean not feeling fear; courage means not allowing fear to become your master, not allowing fear to become your lord.

We can be courageous because we already have a Lord, and our Lord is stronger than any of the things we’re afraid of. We can have courage because our Lord is stronger even than our sin, our Lord is stronger even than our death.

So may we be people who remember that our Lord makes us brave and courageous and strong. So why should we have anything or anyone to fear? The one who comforts you and loves you and holds your life in his hands is greater than anything you might fear today.

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not belong to us. – 2 Corinthians 4:7

I had a professor in seminary who once said that you can tell the health of a church by how willing people are to name their own sin. His point was that if a person truly believes in the redemptive power of God’s grace, they should be free of the shame and embarrassment that often accompanies sin. Unfortunately, it’s that shame that makes us want to keep our sins hidden and keeps us from truly experiencing the freedom God’s forgiveness is intended to bring.  

In today’s verse, Paul is trying to communicate that the power of God’s grace is exemplified in our messy and (likely) hypocritical lives. When we strive to make our lives look picture perfect, we obscure the redemptive work that God has done in us. Just imagine what the New Testament would look like if the people who encountered Jesus’ forgiveness were never willing to share what God had done in their lives! 

May each of us live this day fully embracing God’s forgiveness and taking steps toward sharing our own story for God’s glory and the good of those around us.

Today’s reflection is written by Deacon Karen Katamay.

“He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” —Psalm 121:4

Are you a worrier? I tend to be. Even though Jesus reminded us not to worry (“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life …” [Matthew 6:25]), I find it difficult sometimes not to worry. I worry about my son’s health with his diabetes. I worry about the COVID-19 virus. I worry about many of the things I see happening in our world, especially the hatred, the violence, and the division.  

So whenever I feel worried, I find Psalm 121 to be a comfort. It reminds me that no matter what is going on around me, and especially the things I have no control over, God is always with me. We may need to sleep, but God doesn’t. God is there, day and night, each day and every day. God is my protector and keeper. God listens to me and comforts me. God knows my very heart and everything that concerns me. Thank you, Lord!

“I lift my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” —Psalm 121:1-2

“And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” —John 17:3

I’ll be honest: There are times, especially late at night when I’m having trouble sleeping, and I start thinking about death, about loved ones who I’ve lost, about loved ones who are in their final years, about how quickly life goes by and how soon death will come for me, that all I want from God is for death not to be the end. In those moments, the contrast between death and life is so stark, so severe, that all I want is to know that death has not had the last word, will not ultimately be victorious.

And there’s good reason for this. Death is an enemy. Death destroys. Death is not a benign force. In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul wrote of Jesus, “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” Death is an enemy to be defeated, and our hope in Christ is in no small part rooted in our confidence that he is the one who has conquered death.

But these words of Jesus that we read today from John 17 remind us that the news is much better than simply undoing death. The world as it is, the world as we live in it, is not as it should be. Even when we are still breathing, our lives are not as they should be. To be sure, life is a gift, and the destruction of life is part and parcel of the brokenness of our world. But simply having breath in our lungs is not all there is. Jesus came to provide eternal life. And here Jesus helps us to see that “eternal” doesn’t just mean going on forever. It means real life, life in its fullness, life in which we know our Heavenly Father and are known by him.

And this is exactly why we are able to start experiencing eternal life right now. Life knowing the God who loves us doesn’t have to wait. Because Jesus is ours and we are his, we can live, really live, right here and now. So, in the midst of the death and decay that surrounds you, in the midst of the brokenness that is in your own heart and soul, may you, today, know real, eternal life, because you know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he sent.