Pastor's Blog: Enjoy the Break
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Spring Break is a welcome time for many families. The demands of everyday life, whether they arise from work or studies, take their toll and the mid-semester break brings a measure of relief that always seems to come at precisely the right time. Well, perhaps the “rightness” of the time is something sometimes up for debate.
For example, this year I’m happy with where the Spring Break falls on the calendar. Some years it comes around Holy Week, which inevitably wreaks havoc on worship planning. Though most families make concession for Easter Sunday, whether it falls on the front end or the back end of Spring Break, the middle days are fair game for getaways. I have learned not to complain about these absences. People need some time away, and the fact that most folk either delay their trips until after Easter or plan their returns in time for Easter is a cause for celebration. Fortunately, this year’s Spring Break occurs weeks prior to Holy Week, so no conflicts come into play.
If you’re planning to be away this weekend and/or the next, I’d ask you to consider a couple of things. One, check out our new live stream on the website at www.mbbc.org/watch. This new offering has been well received and we are constantly hearing good feedback from people who have to be out of town on a Sunday but want to stay connected to their church. This time might be a good one for you to stay so connected even when you disconnect from pretty much everything else in your life.
Secondly, use this time away to ponder what God might have to say to you about your faith journey. Every “retreat” holds the possibility of divine revelation, and sometimes we sell ourselves short when we fail to seize such opportunities to think about what God might want to show us once we have managed to break away from familiar surroundings. Think about how Jesus used such times to deepen his own understanding of God’s mission. The Gospels are full of times when Jesus withdrew in order to return to God’s calling refreshed and renewed. My hope is the same sense of renewal might be true for you. After all, there’s nothing worse than to return from a vacation in need of another.
So, may the next week prove to be life-giving for you, whether you are able to get away or simply take advantage of a “stay-cation.” Either way, this time can present us with a chance to focus more intently on the Holy Spirit’s replenishing power so that when Easter comes this year, we’ll be even more prepared to celebrate the sustaining hope that is ours in Christ Jesus.
“There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rests also rests from their works, just as God did from His. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:9-11).