Busy People

Recently, we were driving to drop our kids off at school in the morning, and out of nowhere—totally disconnected from what everyone else in the car was talking about—one of our kids said, “What if there were 3-D t-shirts?”

Well…technically, t-shirts are already 3-D…but I get the question.

This is completely normal in our home, and I’m guessing in most of our lives. One of the people in our family will just throw out a completely off-the-wall or bizarre thought that doesn’t seem to be rooted in anything the rest of us are talking about.  I’m likely the most guilty of this in our home…Sarah can attest.  I am sure you don’t do this…but you likely know someone who does, right?

Regularly, most of us are in our own thoughts instead of being fully present. We’re thinking something and, for some reason, we assume everyone else is thinking about the same thing or at least on the same page of curiosity as us or cares deeply about that seemingly random thing.

We are busy people with busy minds. And this scattered way of living isn’t just in our brains. We have busy and tired lives. We are constantly getting hit with an onslaught of information and misinformation, opinions and responses, push notifications, alerts, posts—the list goes on—that keep us from ever slowing our bodies and our minds down.

How in the world, will we ever be able to hear from Jesus if we never stop?

I heard recently that one of the biggest problems in America is our lack of sleep…which seems insane. But the researcher said many of our challenges could be solved if people simply got more rest.

About 12 years ago, I was leading a mission trip. At the time, I was the associate director of our Youth Team, the worship pastor, running our social media, in seminary, I had an 11-month-old son, and Sarah was 6 months pregnant with a high-risk pregnancy. I was pulled in every direction—stretched thin and exhausted. I remember on that trip, I was out running errands with a few of our team members, and we were laughing and laughing—and then suddenly, I just started crying. Everyone was like, “Uh…you okay, Andrew?”

Through my laughter and confusion, I managed to get out: “Yes…I don’t know why I’m crying…I’m just so tired.”

I wonder—are we, as followers of Jesus, getting the rest we need, or are we just so tired? Are we slowing down enough to be present, or are we rushing from thing to thing, overstimulated and on edge? Have we just accepted this busy, tired, distracted way of life as our reality—or are we missing something?

Years ago, when Sarah and I started practicing Sabbath, I noticed every time I’d share that with people, they’d respond with things like:
“Yeah, aren’t we free from that?”
“Wasn’t that an Old Testament thing the Hebrew people had to do?”
“There were so many rules about it—I’m glad we don’t have to do that anymore.”

But here’s the truth: Sabbath isn’t a burden. Sabbath is a gift. It isn’t meant to hinder us; it’s meant to bring life, healing, mercy, love, and rest.

If you were with us Sunday, we talked about how easy it was for the religious elites to get caught up in what they thought Sabbath should be, or what Jesus and his followers should do—and in their fixation, they missed what God was actually offering.

Throughout the Old Testament, there are countless teachings, stories, reminders, rules, and illustrations about how important stopping, resting, delighting, and worshiping are. If we don’t have regular practices of this, we will continue to be shaped by our fast-paced, nonstop, angry, petty world.

But if we build weekly rhythms of intentionally stopping—to remember, give thanks, celebrate, worship, sleep, and remind ourselves that we are not God, that we’re not calling all the shots, that the world doesn’t revolve around us—and turn our gaze fully to Jesus, we will experience the soul-refresh we need.

We’ll see things clearer.
We’ll start caring about some things more…and other things less.
We’ll remember what matters most—because we stopped long enough to let our mind, body, and soul breathe the way God intended.

I love Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 11. He had just finished warning communities who refused to learn from him, who were too caught up in their own priorities, that they were missing what God had for them. And right after that, he says:

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

I love how Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me, and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me, and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Jesus knew people 2,000 years ago were tired—emotionally, mentally, spiritually, relationally, physically. He knew if they turned from the way they were going and followed him, they’d find the rest they needed.

And that still applies to us 2,000 years later.

I love how he describes himself: gentle and lowly. That word lowly also translates to humble. Jesus is gentle and humble. He isn’t trying to ratchet us up; he’s trying to lead us to become like him.

See, every person takes on the teachings of someone—here, Jesus calls it a yoke. A yoke was the coupling that linked two animals together to plow fields or pull wagons. It guided them and allowed them to share the load. And the truth is: we are all yoked to something. We are all carrying some shared weight. But what Jesus offers is easy and light.

And one of the best ways to remind ourselves of that, every single week, is to simply stop and rest in him.

Our family has been practicing Sabbath for about three years now. It’s become such a rhythm for us that recently we were discussing as a family if we should shift our Sabbath to a different day to better fit our life and ministry schedule. And one of our boys said, “I hated the Sabbath at first, but now I can’t imagine us not doing this together anymore.”

Something that once felt hard or inconvenient became something my kids can’t imagine living without.

My hope is that you’ll try it too. Build in a day where you turn off your phone, stay off news and social media, sleep, be present, do what gives you life, and celebrate—all while remembering that God has invited you to experience rest for your soul in him.

Here’s the best way I can describe it: recently, my son’s smartwatch was glitching. It wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do. He kept trying harder, retrying the same things, hoping for different results—and just got more frustrated. The solution? Turn it off and back on. Suddenly, it worked perfectly.

Sabbath is like that for us. We’re glitching. We’re not functioning the way we’re supposed to. And we just keep trying harder, hoping for different results, getting more and more frustrated. But what if the solution is to shut down for 24 hours so we can reset?

Will you try? Or will you dismiss it as old, outdated, or too full of rules?

I hope you’ll try. Not just once, but every week. And I believe that when you do, you’ll see what God is doing—and you’ll start to see the world more like Jesus.

 

We will continue looking at different disciplines and practices Jesus and the early church lived out over the next few Sundays here at The Chapel. This Sunday we are taking a look at Prayer.  Later this month, we’ll roll out a new practice—the Scripture Experiment—which we’re excited about. Our hope is that it helps you grow in knowledge, passion, and the practice of wrestling with and letting the words of Scripture guide and inform us.
This past week, we baptized 12 people, dedicated 2 kids to Jesus, launched 4 new Chapel Communities, and added people to 3 existing ones. We’ve seen so many people joining us for Bible Study, for Tuesday Noon Prayer, for Worship on Sundays, and more.  It seems as though God is doing amazing things in and through this community and we are excited to see what is next.

Read on to see all the other great things happening around here:

• Tuesday Noon Prayer
  • Every Tuesday, we gather for live worship and self-guided prayer.
  • It’s a time to sit quietly, pray thoughtfully, listen carefully, and see what God might have for you in those moments.  Come and go as you need.
• Bible Studies
  • Men’s: Wednesdays, 8:00 AM at The Chapel
  • Women’s: Wednesdays, 9:30 AM at The Chapel
  • If you can’t make it in person, Sarah and I are continuing to release our weekly podcast, teaching through Scripture together.  This Wednesday, we’re in Hebrews 4.
• Communion Sunday
  • This Sunday at 9:00 AM at The Chapel (before our 10:00 AM service).
  • A chance to gather, remember the story of our faith, commune with Jesus, and receive the spiritual nourishment we need.  Coffee and pastries between the services!
• Chapel 101
  • Small gatherings this fall to learn more about our mission, vision, and how to connect more deeply.
  • After years of prayer, writing, and refining, we’ve created The Chapel Guide—our roadmap for those who call this place home.
  • Each gathering includes conversation with Sarah and me. Our dates have pretty much filled up at this point, but we’ll send out some more dates soon!

Let me know any questions you have. I hope to see you at some of these great things happening here at The Chapel in the coming weeks.

Blessings,

Andrew