Redeemer Family,
Summer brings many welcome changes to our rhythms of life and I’m looking forward to them just as much as you are. The season of Eastertide is behind us. The school semester is wrapping up. Many of you are anticipating a slower pace of work, more time with family and friends, and perhaps some travel away from Richmond - all good and lovely things.
If you’re anything like me, summer can also be a time (for some of us) to unintentionally put the disciplines of the academic year on hold. Isn’t it ironic that more free time somehow usually means less time given to things like reading scripture, prayer, and service to others? I’ve heard this from many of you as well. One of you has quoted,
“It’s like I’m an intentional Christian 8-9 months out of the year, and then in the summer I take a break from following Jesus.”
I love the honesty and I completely empathize. I feel this tendency in myself as well.
While there are, no doubt, many potential sources beneath this trend, one of them is certainly the reality that many of us live an overly-busy, unsustainable pace of life September through May. Many of us crash-land into June in an exhausted heap. After living with a packed calendar for most of the year, we overcorrect the other direction and step back from too many things. Back and forth the pendulum swings.
The solution, I think, is not a rousing call to spiritual activity during the summer months. Fear not, this letter is not a pitch to “just do more Christian things!” Rather, my sense is that the invitation before us from the Lord is to lean into the soul-nourishing rhythms of true rest. True rest, in a Biblical, Gospel sense, looks a lot less like three hours of late night Netflix and more like a quiet moment reading scripture, a morning walk with a friend, an afternoon siesta, or an evening cook-out with a neighbor.
So, dear brothers and sister, as we enter the new season, I’d like to invite you to consider how these opportunities might be ways of refreshing and replenishing your soul this Summer:
Summer in the Psalms: As is our practice, we will return to preaching through the Psalms this Summer, picking up where we left off with Psalm 77 this coming Sunday. The Psalms are the prayer book of the Bible and help us learn to pray the fullness of our emotional life to God. In addition to listening to the sermons this Summer, consider reading through most or all 150 Psalms over the next three months. This is not an “Accomplishment Goal.” There are not gold stars available for earning here. Rather, think of it as an “Immersion Goal.” I want to immerse myself in the prayers of the Psalms.
*Note: It has been my habit throughout Redeemer’s years to step back from preaching for a good bit of the Summer to share the pulpit with other voices. I’m thrilled and thankful for Lane Cowin, Oldson Duclos, Tee Feyrer, and Will Clark stepping in to each preach twice in this series.
Join a Book Club: With Small Groups on break until the fall semester, consider shifting into a different gear and joining a Summer Book Club. For those book-lover/speed-readers out there, this is an easy one. For those of you who don’t normally read books, this might stretch you a bit. Fear not, this is not school and there’s no grade. The goal is learning in community together.
Practice Sabbath: Look at the calendar for the entire summer and set aside as many Sundays (ideally) or Saturdays (if Sunday doesn’t work) for whole days of intentional Sabbath Rest. If you would like to learn more about why and how to practice Sabbath Rest, we did a series on this back in Eastertide of 2021.
Retreat to Silence & Solitude: Consider looking ahead at the summer calendar and setting aside a 24-hour solo, silent retreat. For many of you, this may feel intimidating. If this is the case, start smaller and try just a few hours. If you missed it, we did a sermon on this practice and you can listen or re-listen to it here.
Redeemer family, there are many more opportunities to lean in this summer and you can learn more about them on our Events page. But please hear me ask, do you need rest? Are you tired and worn out? If so, take Christ up on his invitation to find true, soul-nourishing rest in Him this summer.
In the Father’s love,
