|
Season of Respite
Summer tends to be a sleepy season around the Church. While our regular schedule of services — the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer at 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday in Christ Chapel, our Wednesday morning and noontime Eucharists, and our full array of Sunday worship offerings — continues unchanged, many of the other program activities take a much-needed break before regathering strength and re-launching in the fall.
We need sleepy seasons in life — times of rest, refreshment and a salutary change of pace. God’s very first commandment is a sabbath rest for all creation every seventh day. In a culture that blesses busyness, that commandment is too often traduced. But our failure to obey it doesn’t take away our need for days of rest, or indeed for seasons of rest. And that is what I pray this summer may be for us as a Parish family and for all of you in your own lives.
As it happens, the Scriptures appointed in the Daily Office Lectionary for this Friday after Pentecost include some very practical advice that we might find helpful in our summer season of respite. First is this word from Proverbs urging against drunkenness and dissolution:
“Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
Those who tarry long over wine,
those who go to try mixed wine.”
Proverbs 23:29-30
The truth is that some of us do tend to overindulge in the pleasures of food and drink while on vacation. It is wise, then, to keep in mind this call to temperance whenever we are tempted to “tarry long over wine” while at the beach, or on the ranch or aboard a cruise. Enjoyment of the pleasures of this life, the good things of this world and the company of friends are all blessings God has poured upon us with abundance. And yet, He does not desire for us to enjoy those good things to the detriment of our physical, spiritual or mental health.
Of course, there is also the opposite problem of falling into puritanical self-righteousness. We’ve all known folks whose only enjoyment seems to be found in how much they judge what others enjoy.
A gentle urging against that possible pitfall is heard in St. Paul’s First Letter to Timothy, where the Apostle advises his young protégé, “No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.” While we do not know all the details behind this little bit of advice, we can infer from the rest of Paul’s letter that Timothy was a serious-minded young man, with perhaps a tendency to overdo ascetic practices of self-denial. In effect, Paul is saying, “Don’t take yourself so seriously.”
But the most powerful Scripture for this season of summer rest comes in our Gospel for today. Jesus tells His followers two parables: the Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Parable of the Yeast. Both are parables of the Kingdom of God, which begin in apparently small and insignificant ways and yet have the power to change the world. We cannot see the slow growth of the sown seed, but it blossoms into a mighty plant, giving shade and comfort to all. We cannot tell how a little yeast could make a whole loaf rise, but we enjoy the nourishment of the fresh-baked bread.
In just this way, the Kingdom of God is at work in us, beloved, whether we are busying ourselves with the affairs of this world or finally taking some time to rest. Though we cannot always see it, and we do not always know how, the Spirit of the Lord is transforming us — summoning life from the tiniest seeds and bringing growth from the simplest sprinkle of yeast.
May you find that grace this summer and in every season of your life.
| 
