Vacations and Revivals Are Like Morning!

‘Tis the season – for vacations.  I just got back from a brief (it seemed brief to me, anyway) vacation last week and am trying to get back to speed with the work that is still left following the Annual Conference Session in July, as well as preparing for the fall.  Sometimes the work there is when you come back from vacation makes you wonder if it was worth going.

But, of course, it is.  It is an opportunity for a change of pace and different activities, and perhaps some actual rest!  Vacation gives a different perspective and lets you “begin again” when you get back to the usual routine:  begin again with renewed intention and renewed appreciation for your usual life; begin again with a fresh awareness of what is possible.

In the last newsletter, Tim wrote about the hope for revival, a new beginning for our United Methodist Church and for our congregations.  Vacations and revivals have this in common:  they are an intentional change in our routine in order to return us to our usual lives with freshness and new vitality.  They are times out of time which are not meant to be permanent but are bridges to a refreshed commitment to the lives and work which continue to belong to us. 

This rhythm of work and rest, being in our usual roles and taking time to break out of them and then returning, was built into creation by God.  Sabbath and of Jubilee are ancient gifts which we still have trouble receiving.  I think they are gifts which we as people of faith have to offer our culture – but instead we so often succumb to our culture’s 24/7 pace and the technology-enabled intrusion of work into every moment of our day. 

Can an embrace of the gift of Sabbath bring us the experience of God’s peace and assurance of God’s provision for our needs?  And how would that experience and assurance change our witness to this fearful, anxious, and divided world?

When I feel tired all the time and resentful and anxious, when my body is achy and grumpy, I’ve learned that it is time for a vacation – whether that is an afternoon or a week, staying in place or traveling to new adventures.  Is our current dis-comfort in our denomination giving us a message?  How can we as a church take some Sabbath in our life together?  Is it time to take a break from the usual routine and do something different? What might a vacation that we take as the church look like? 

Could it involve going to a new place and meeting some new people, like at one of the Ordinary Revival gatherings across our area this summer?  Could it look like a simple worship service of singing and prayer, and then time for conversation with the congregation about how they would like their faith to impact their own lives and that of their neighbors?  Could it look like walking through the neighborhood with some other believers and noticing what is going on around you?  Could it look like noticing in each other what our passions are, what lights up our eyes and warms our hearts . . . and giving each other permission to do that?

My guess is that if we as the church took some of these kinds of vacations from our usual, harried, anxious routines and then turn back to the lives and work which belong to us we might just have a fresh awareness of what is possible.  We might just have renewed intention to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our awesome God.  We might just have revival.

Blessed to be sharing this life of faith with you,

 Linda Grund-Clampit
Cascadia District Administrative Assistant