2023 End of Year Letter

How about this for a New Year’s resolution: Rest differently. Might seem crazy when this is the time of year our culture goes crazy for making lists of things to do more of and less of – but hear me out.

This January we kick off the New Year with a deep dive into Sabbath. This is, in a way, a continuation of our study of Exodus. If you’re wondering why we would give attention to something that might seem irrelevant or at least self evident and thus not needing much study, hold on.

I believe the majority of our personal and societal ills, anxieties and frustrations can be linked to our misunderstanding and subsequent malpractice of Sabbath. I’m dead serious about this. I really think this is something at the root of so much that hurts us.

For followers of Jesus today, the celebration of Sabbath is both an act of resistance and alternative way of life in a world filled with anxiety, oppression and exploitation. We need to know how to rest differently. This takes revelation, practice and community.

I’m asking each and all of us to make an extra effort to show up for the first six Sundays of 2024 because of this. We will wade into a deep study that will ask us to try some new practices that will hopefully change the way we think about and practice Sabbath.