REST/LIVE/WORK - Work w/Pastor Jenn Swift

We have been in a series, a little like a mini series on rest, live, and work.

And so if you've been here, again, within the course of a month, you've heard us talk

about this pattern because we've been preaching on it, but also we,

it's a part of our regular prayer pattern here at the church.

We talk about how we want to be transformed in how we think about rest, live, and work

because we live in a society that has taught us what it thinks resting and living

and working should look like, and it is very much out of alignment

with the way we've been designed to do these things.

We have been created by a loving creator intentionally and with significance,

and so our world is not designed to value people, and God does.

And so these patterns, we ask God to continually transform what rest looks like for us,

what life looks like for us, and what work looks like for us.

We live in a society that values work first, and it will ask us to give everything

that we have and then more, and it values how we work and what we do as work.

And so we are going to talk today about what that looks like from another perspective,

from what we hope is a healthier and more human-centered in light of God's creation,

what that looks like for us.

So a few weeks ago when Greg brought up the early conversation that we had had

around how this church came into being, we, you know, it is called the house,

but it was, there were some roots in an earlier conversation about 10 years before

about what that would look like.

So he mentioned that I had thought about, this is in 2004, some things had changed

in our ministry experience, and we were coming up with dreams

about what could ministry look like for us or in the Quad Cities.

And so he had shared I had had this idea about a house that would be a place of creativity

and a place for people to gather, and it could serve the community in a number

of different ways, but because I had just been to Germany within the year, I was like,

we're going to call it the house, H-A-U-S, and it's going to be cool.

And so, but we didn't know that there was actually some interesting roots connected

to that, and so even though I was feeling very cool about that name, when we did come

to discuss what, well, and what Greg had thought about it first, and then when he talked

about it with me, he said, I want to plant this church, it's going to be called the house,

and I said, do you remember our conversation?

And so we had connected it back to that idea, and when he, as he said, he looked it up,

and it was an idea of, like the German or more Northern European idea was that it was built

on a house that was a place where you lived and worked together.

So I went to Estonia a number of years ago, so within the first year of planting this church,

I took a trip that took me to Northern Europe and went to a restaurant called the Hansa House,

and it was spelled H-A-U-S.

It was cool, but it was actually a really cool historic sort of experience.

Like they had set it up to be a replica or in the spirit of what was called the Hansa House,

which were these regular places of merchants that would, it was a place that they knew

within a community that they could go to and find other community of other merchants.

So the, a little history lesson because I really like history, the Hanseatic League was a league

of merchants within the medieval period that was all,

like connected all throughout the Baltic region.

So think about Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Northern Germany, Denmark, Poland,

like that Northern region around the Baltic Sea developed a network for those that worked together.

And then they had within these places, these houses that were like, well, if I go to this town,

I know that there will be a merchant's house there.

If I go to this town, there will be a merchant's house there.

And within these houses, there would also be apprentices that were living in these houses,

learning how to work and developing their skills.

And so it started roughly in the 11th century as a method of protection.

Like we need to network ourselves so that our work isn't ruined basically,

that we protect each other from theft, that we protect each other from, you know,

injustices within our monetary systems.

And so it was a system that was designed and a network that developed over time to protect workers

and that they were networked together so that they could help each other in their work.

And this lasted like a good 400 years.

Like it was a really, really foundational part of Northern Europe medieval society.

So throughout its existence, it developed methods of safety for those traveling with goods.

It provided support for them.

It broadened trade throughout the region.

It benefited those who were working and it did a great deal actually

to unify the broader merchant community.

And it also assured that those who were to work as merchants would have work.

Like it helped continue the kind of work that they did.

So those that wanted to develop their skills could have connections

and then there was a good pipeline to a fruitful future for them.

So kind of tuck that away.

We're not going to come back to that idea until the very end.

But I want to jump backwards in history again about 700 years.

We're just taking a tour of history to the late 5th century, so the late 400s.

And we're going to go to Italy.

So here we meet a guy named Benedict.

Benedict in his time was a monk and he developed what was known as a rule for life.

So for those living in community with each other, that was what this was for.

Monks live in community with other monks.

And so this was a rule, and I'll explain what that is, for life in a community,

specifically a community of faith.

So a rule is, it's loosely a schedule and a set of practices.

It's a relational rhythm of something that a community does together

that helps create space for us to be with Jesus.

It's intentional space made.

Just like we sang today, I will make room for you.

There's intention behind it.

So a rule helps create a rhythm to make space for things.

And to make space for Jesus and to be more like Jesus and to do what he did to,

as John 10, 10 says, live in a way that is full.

So in his kingdom and in alignment with our deepest passions and priorities.

So this is interesting.

The Latin rule that we translate or the Latin word that we translate or get the word rule

from was originally used, was originally the word for think of a trellis that vines grow on

or tomatoes grow on or roses or whatever.

So in the same way that a vine needs a trellis to lift it off the ground

so that it can bear the maximum amount of fruit and keep free of predators and diseases.

We need a rule or a structure, a support structure to help us organize our life

around abiding and abiding in the vine as John, as Jesus talks about in John 15.

He uses this great visual of being the vine and abiding.

And so having a structure to grow on is a really useful idea.

So it's been said that we can achieve inner peace when our schedule is aligned with our values.

That sounds very lofty.

But there's great truth to it.

A rule of life is simply a tool towards that end.

Rather than a rigid, legalistic to-do list, it's a life-giving structure for freedom,

growth, and joy.

So Benedict's rule was really extensive.

He wasn't the first to come up with one, but he did create this format in which others followed.

And like I said, it was extensive.

He was covering all manner of life and community as those were looking towards

and trying to seek Jesus in their life.

But it wasn't burdensome because they were doing it together.

For those in the Benedictine order, they follow this rule within their days

and their weeks, moving smoothly through the practices.

They do it together.

They do it as one.

There's strength in unity.

There's strength in the community doing it together.

If you would like to know more, I can't recommend this book enough called Benedict's Way.

It's sort of a breakdown of what that looked like.

But as I'm talking more about these ideas of structure or intention,

this is a great book to really accessible.

So it'll be up here to look at afterwards.

The gist is though that throughout the day, there's a structure that helps one committed

to the order to lead a contemplative, dedicated, and balanced life within the framework

of living in faith in Christ.

So our pattern of rest, live, and work is a rule.

Really, it is a structure that you can integrate into your life as a way to have intention

and make space for Christ in your life.

They are tools.

And so at its very basic form, rest, live, and work is a rule of life.

It is a structure.

So Benedict's rules were built on the understanding of a community that lived

and worked together.

Where have we heard that before?

There was a united purpose that brought them together in the first place.

They wished to serve God and grow in the way of Christ.

But just like the early church, there needed to be some kind of organization

about how they might spend their time together

so that they could collectively walk alongside the road together well, finding the life

and love of Christ dwelling among them, uniting them.

But they lived in an intentional way to the spirit.

So I also have up here too, if you want to know more about like how to build a rule of life,

I'll talk about this more, but I have a copy of a guide up here.

So Benedict based his rule extensively in scripture.

I love resources.

I love information.

So I also have on my computer, if you want to look at it, pulled up Benedict's rule.

And you can see how full of scripture it is.

Everything that he built and brought some form to is highly rooted in scripture.

So before we go forward much, so before we go forward, much like how we pray when we do our prayer

for work, let's ask God to shape our understanding today of work both in our hearts and our minds.

So I'm going to invite us to pray just for a moment.

Lord, as we go forward from this, I just am asking as we discuss work,

there's a lot about what our society says work should look like for us.

And there may be some things even today as we talk about work that we have to wrestle with

because it feels as though it's the right way when it may not be your way.

And so I'm asking for help as we talk about work because it is a sensitive topic in all of our lives,

how we work, the work that we do.

We have a lot enmeshed in that thinking.

And so will you untangle our ideas about work and free us up to understand what work looks like

when you are a central part of that.

So we pray all this in your name and ask for your transformation today.

Amen.

So I will refer a lot to Benedict's rule just because it is a structure that I'm structure,

trellis framework.

It's a useful framework today, but we will be going through scriptural pieces that work with the

support of Benedict's rule.

So Benedict's rule summarized seems to highlight three basic principles about how a person of faith

might consider what the work they do looks like.

So and I'm speaking broadly, like not just our jobs, but the work of our hands, the work of our lives,

the effort and the energy that we spend.

Not all of the work we do is at a workplace, is it?

We do work in various forms.

And so this is going to encapsulate, I won't define that much after this, but it's going to encapsulate

sort of the broad form of what work looks like for our lives.

So one aspect is vocation, what we are called to do, the things that we find ourselves moving towards

where we spend our energy.

Secondly, an aspect that's critical is stewardship, taking care of what it is that you have or what

you produce.

And lastly, service, accountability and submission to each other.

These are things that Benedict seems to highlight when he talks about work and he talks about work

frequently within his rule.

But these aspects, the calling of the vocation, the stewardship, how you care for it and the service,

how you serve others through it.

What he also points out is that work stands as a constant reminder that we are not alone in this

world.

There are others to think of, there are things to get done and there is a kingdom way culture to build.

Work can turn us outward if we allow it to, it can help us engage and extend our hands to others.

Work can be a means of experiencing God.

God is not outside of our work.

We all have work that we are about.

Some of you work for pay in a career or a job.

Some of you are working for a job for now.

Mowing the lawn, babysitting, retail between jobs, I've done them for sure.

I will probably do them again.

Some of you are working for spending money and completing chores at home.

But not all work is paid, isn't it?

Though we tend to often categorize work as that, the thing you get paid for.

Some work is just simply keeping the house clean and that creates peace in the house.

Some work is keeping the lawnmowed which creates peace in the neighborhood.

Some work is regular, some is occasional, working to paint a room in a new house, working on a

project that you won't be done for another 10 years.

Work is all around it whether we're clocked in or not.

Work is all around us whether we're clocked in or not.

In the course of a week, we dedicate between occupations that includes school as well.

For those who are in school, that is your job.

So we clock in well past 50% of our time to labor in some way in the course of a week,

which is a lot of time.

Benedict offers to us a way to not only find balance but meaning.

So let's talk about those three pieces.

Vocation.

Vocation is starting with the one that I think has the most complexities but is also

the most regular way we understand work, which is the jobs we have and adjacently the work

we do both in those jobs and outside of them at home or in our communities.

I believe that none of us are without appointment or without some kind of calling that is meant

in our lives.

And often we think of this in terms of like we see people in our lives that were like

you were called to that.

We often think of teachers.

We know that their work is a calling.

That's an easy one to look at and think, oh, that's a certain kind of person.

It feels like it has to be, right?

Or someone in the medical field.

Pastors often describe their path into ministry as having a moment of calling.

But gosh, if we have not elevated what that looks like, I think it can be simpler than

that because if God has taken great care in our creation and designing us with intention,

not making anything or any of us a copy of each other, and he desires that every part

of our life be offered in surrender to him, then there is not a part of our lives that

is overlooked, right?

There's nothing in our lives that is overlooked by God.

He has not forgotten something.

He has not overlooked an aspect that you bring up and he's like, oh, I never thought about

that.

That's not a thing.

And so he desires every part of our life to be in surrender to him.

And so with that, if that is the case, then I think that that includes, God includes how

we spend our energies and what our life and him looks like.

So we have each been given giftings and interests and propensities for certain skills and minds

and hearts that are unique in their pairing and even life experience that uniquely informs

us.

I do not think that those things are random.

And when you were young, you had an idea of what you wanted to do with those interests

and gifts.

When you were young, you didn't think about the bills you're going to need to pay, right?

We don't work in reality when we're children.

So that's a great gift though, isn't it?

Because we can just enjoy things for what they are and we can love spending time doing

something and put our energies into something.

But when you were young, you didn't think about the bills you might need to pay.

You thought about what would bring you joy and what would bring you life.

There was something instinctual about where you spent your energy and your effort.

So there are two scriptures that I think about with this.

So Ephesians 2, 10 says, we are what he has made us.

We're God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand

so that we may walk in them.

Acts 13, 1 and 2.

This is the early part of the church.

So they were meeting in Antioch and it says, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting,

the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called

them.

And so it would appear that the intent in the phrasing of the Greek here is to summon

or call forward.

But the way it's described is more like when you were in class and your teacher would call

you forward to come speak with them or you had a presentation.

So they would call your name for the thing that you had prepared or for the thing that

they wanted to talk to you about.

And so there's a piece to this that insinuates that the Father not only knows your name but

has called you because it's your time.

The goodness of that is that the Father knows everyone's name and everyone gets a turn.

So when we think about how he's designed us, there is a time that he will call you forward

for something.

And I think that that is an amazing idea.

It's not always a big thing, but it is specific to you because he knows you.

The Father knows you.

And so I know for some that it does not feel like there's a calling available for you or

a path to something you feel like you want to do.

I know that some are in their jobs right now stage that feels really long and that there's

an aspect to it of needing, it can be discouraging or frustrating.

But there's an aspect of it that is, part of that is needing to be faithful with where

you are right now because you have encouragement that God knows your name and will call you

forward into the thing that you have been designed for.

Sometimes we're just waiting and that can be hard.

So it doesn't, and waiting can feel like it's long and so that can be really tricky.

I also know that life on earth as a human can be really hard and it can be because we've

been handed work to do that we didn't choose but we need to be about.

And that takes many forms.

And I want to promise you that God is not outside of that.

That there is a calling for you in those things.

That God identifies your name, He knows your giftedness, He recognizes the things that

He has put in you to call forward.

And so if you're finding that that is where you are, hang tight.

I know that that's a really tough thing to hear.

But I also think that when people find themselves in places where the work is hard and it's

not a reflection that they feel of their skills or the gifts or their interests, I think that

the community is essential at this point.

I think the community is always essential, but particularly at this point because the

community finds a way.

I think that the community is always essential but more so in these experiences because we

realize that we cannot do it alone.

So but also the community has connections and is networked in places that you are not.

And so when you are feeling discouraged or frustrated, you feel like God has forgotten

your name and what He's created you to do.

Make your hopes known.

Tell your community.

Include them so that they can pray.

But also there may be an opportunity through somebody that you don't know about because

the community is meant to be here to care for each other.

And so these are things that when we are feeling discouraged or frustrated, we tend to isolate.

We keep quiet.

We don't talk about these things.

We just keep them here.

But one of the aspects that we're going to really hone in on where we're driving towards

here is that work is meant to be done in community, but also the community is meant to be the

home from which you do your work.

That's what life leads us to, right?

Like the rest live work.

Like we build the life part.

We build the community part heading into the work because that's an important aspect of

the work you do, is the community that you're in, I think.

And so if you're feeling frustrated, let your community know.

Lean back into the life aspect at that point.

I think Cindy Hampton is currently an art teacher at a school because of a connection

made for her that she didn't even know existed that somebody just happened to think of and

brought her away.

And now Cindy gets to be an art teacher, which is amazing.

So these sorts of things, I think, are great examples of what happens within the community

in terms of work.

Moving on.

So wherever we are right now within our vocation, I do know that the next two pieces offer less

complexities because we can be mindful of them no matter what kind of job or the work

we have before us looks like.

So the next thing is stewardship.

Taking care of what it is you do have right now or are in the steps of producing in all

stages, whatever you've been given.

We need to be good stewards.

We are called to be good stewards.

So what is that?

What is a steward?

Simply one that cares for something until it's time for it to be returned.

A steward does not own the thing.

It is owned by someone else.

So you're caring for something on behalf of someone else.

In Jesus' time, the steward was the manager of a household.

The steward was not the owner of the assets but a responsible administrator of the owner's

property.

And that, I think, is a beneficial way of looking at our work.

Ephesians 4.28 says, for those referring to community and those who are coming out of

moving away from sin into life in Christ.

So Ephesians 4.28 says, those who steal must give up stealing.

That's a good rule.

But rather, let them labor, doing good work with their own hands, so as to have something

to share with the needy.

God's economy is extraordinary and it is built on resources moving hands.

It is dependent on it.

Whatever is in your possession right now, hold it lightly because Jesus will need it

to provide for someone else through you.

Y'all, the ways I've seen this happen, the ways I've benefited from it, I would say the

same for all of us, right?

This has probably brought something, our direction, through someone else that we didn't, it was

like amazing.

It was miraculous.

And that's how God's economy works.

Contrary to Western and American thought, nothing is ours.

Guys, nothing is ours.

Your hard-earned money is not yours.

It is just in your hands right now.

But it may not be for long.

And if that's the case for you, then it is the case for others too.

Just as much as you may be asked to lovingly care for something until it is time for it

to go to someone else, someone else is currently being asked to care for something until it

is ready to come to you.

God's economy works on things moving.

And so we are simply stewards.

And this is referring to all manner of resources, not just money, though in America we think

about money.

We think about money all the time.

But I'm talking about all resources, time, material things that you have, your home and

the space that it has, your knowledge and ideas that you have, whether it's in the work

you do or the things that it produces, you are treating it as though it is borrowed.

That's how we need to treat it, that it is borrowed.

The tool you borrowed from a neighbor needs to go back as good as how you got it.

And if you use materials with the tools, you need to replace them.

The tool you borrowed from a neighbor that needs to go back or the thing that you've

been asked to do to help someone out, you want to do it as well as if it was yours or

for you.

This is the way to approach it.

In fact, it might be the right approach because I do see some people cut corners when it's

for themselves.

Have you ever done that?

Like it's good enough.

I'm the only one that's going to see it.

Right?

But if you did that for somebody else, you'd feel horrified.

You'd be like, oh my gosh, I need to do better.

Do it better.

Do it as good as that.

And so hold the things that you have as though you're caring for them for right now and

they are precious.

Our behaviors change when we are caring for something that belongs to someone else.

So whatever you've earned, whatever you produce, whatever is currently your work, we are to

be good stewards of it.

We are to be stewards of skills and giftings and even personal resources because they are

not ours to solely benefit us.

They have been given to us with the intent to be used as the father desires to care for

all.

And lastly, service.

Accountability and submission to each other.

Our work is meant to be of service or in service to others.

Unless the work you do, job or otherwise, is not you living out of your passions, feeling

called and sent.

We said that that is real.

However, whether it is or not and if it's not and you're in an in between stage with

the work you do, which is real, our work can absolutely still be in service to someone

else.

Y'all, I have a hard time keeping up with my yard work.

True story.

But what has changed my attitude about my yard work is that it affects the neighborhood.

And I appreciate when others keep their yards tidy.

I also notice when others don't.

And I don't mean it as judgment.

I just notice it.

But what I want to say is I live in a neighborhood that is often seen as being a less desirable

neighborhood because of where it is.

It's off of 11th Street, which can, in Rock Island, which can generally be thought of

poorly.

None of us in our neighborhood have a lot of money for upkeep or large improvements.

Definitely a lower income neighborhood.

So our yards can tell bigger stories, but it is also how we care for each other.

I want to be a good neighbor and add value to the neighborhood for all of us.

And so I see the work of my lawn or how I keep my weeds or whatever, an extension of

how I care for my neighbors.

It is transformed how I look at the work that is in front of me to do.

I own a house.

The work has to be done.

But how I frame it in service to my neighborhood and in service to my neighbor, that makes

me thoughtful in a different way.

That adds meaning to the work.

So 1 Peter 4, 8, above all, maintain constant love for one another.

For love covers a multitude of sins, be hospitable to one another without complaining.

Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift

each of you has received.

This is probably one of the loudest cries of scripture, to serve one another.

This might also be the thing that turns it around for you in the work that you do.

What is your opportunity to serve?

Now I understand that service to others may feel fraught.

Some of you may feel like your work is only and ever endlessly in service to others.

And you are exhausted.

This is where evaluating what your pattern of rest in life looks like.

And those around you may need to help.

Your community needs to step in.

These are things that need to be regularly in structured patterns for us.

If they are not, your current patterns will be disrupted out of demand.

If you find that you are work, work, work, work, work, I'm serving, I'm serving, I'm

serving, I'm serving, you will break down at some point.

Rest will be demanded of you.

And so if it is not structured in your life, you can't avoid it.

So it is best when we think about these things to structure it, to plan it, to have it in

place so that you know and you protect it.

You steward it well.

You protect it.

You care for it.

So that this cycle can be a healthy thing for you versus one thing demanding all your

attention.

Because as I said, we live in a society where work will be demanded of you and it will not

ask for your rest.

It does not care.

But your life and rest with others matter.

And so again, in service to others, don't over serve.

And care for others and you, don't over serve, don't overwork.

So a couple things I want to just say as we head towards closing.

We are not our work.

As God transforms our thinking, we are not our work.

Unsurprisingly, our perspective on work comes from the societies we live in.

We live in a society that associates the work you do with the person that you are.

How many people have ever met somebody and when you meet them, they are like, oh, hi,

what do you do?

That is your society defining you by your work.

Or have you ever heard somebody the highest praise it feels like somebody can get is,

oh, they are a really hard worker.

They are a really hard worker.

Somebody gets praise for resting in a healthy way because our society does not value that.

But you are not your work and you need rest in life to separate you from your work to

remind you of that.

Because we often turn into our work.

You are also not a machine.

You are not a machine.

You need a break.

And it is not virtuous to be a machine because you are human.

You can't.

So you need a break.

Working the longest or the most is not an award we are giving out.

I have even worked in a Christian setting where someone in upper leadership noted in

a group, a group meeting that they didn't see people working as late as them.

I agree, sweetie.

It is appalling.

The culture there was to work the longest or the hardest or the most.

That was the sign of you being the most virtuous.

Also about work, the work at times will be left unfinished.

And that is okay.

I say that with caution.

Because if you are working on a project and you just decide you are done, please do not

tell your client that your pastor said it didn't have to be finished.

I would appreciate not fielding that.

But there are times when you do have to recognize that pause is important.

I have great trouble with this.

My work, I work a few different jobs.

They are kind of all over the place with schedule and how they function.

There's seasonal highs and lows.

I've had to set some parameters.

And that has required great intention with how I do that.

So I close my computer at 5 p.m.

I do my best to complete tasks before the weekend.

And I order things in a way that helps me prioritize my week, both for the work I get

paid for and the work I don't.

I no longer work and eat my lunch or a meal.

Whereas it's been very easy in the past to just like randomly, oh, it's 2 o'clock.

I guess I'm hungry.

Well, I'm still working on this thing.

I'll just eat something and just keep working.

I try to separate those things now.

And I also use a meal time as a rest time or even life with others during a day and

not one where I just pick up my phone and disassociate for 30 minutes because that's

not rest, y'all.

But I choose something that will refresh or renew me.

And lastly, rest and live and work is meant to be both large and small scale.

So we talk about rest, live and work as a pattern.

But it is not just meant to be like in the course of a year, take a vacation for one

week and then work on and live at the table.

That needs to be happening at macro and micro level, big and in your day.

Not just working an eight hour day without a break.

Structure within your day.

A break for rest, a break for life.

You need within your day and not just at the end of an eight hour work day, within it.

These things need to cycle regularly.

It's like water running through a stream.

It needs to be moving, moving, moving, moving for it to be not only just a healthy pattern

for you but also so that you don't become a slave to one thing.

Because again, the thing you spend the most time doing is the thing you believe you are.

And so keep it in regular rotation.

I know that we don't work in a perfect system and we certainly don't live in a perfect world.

So sometimes things do need to be adjusted but working with the intention of a pattern

is so critical.

So how we see the work we have done before us, how we see that work and how we are to

do it matters.

So as you go into this week, think about how you see your work or the things you believe

to be true about your work.

Do you see your work as an appointment, as something that God has placed you in?

If not, and that may be true, maybe things need to change.

Maybe it also doesn't but it's something to consider.

Has God called you forward into the work that you're doing?

And if you are feeling like this needs to change, and I know that some of us have felt

that way before, things need to change.

This isn't sustainable.

This doesn't work for me.

How can the community help?

So let us know how to be praying.

Let us also know how we can have our ears open to things that we are broadly networked

to that you could be linked to.

As you go into this week, consider how you might steward the things that you are responsible

for right now.

How are you caring for them?

And as you go into this week, consider how you might be of service to others through

the work you do, how you might consider how the work affects others.

Because we are certainly a bit more like the Hanseatic League, brought it back, than the

monastic house, right?

We are not cloistered away.

Yes, our work is locally rooted here, but there is meant to be a ripple effect, a reaching

outward as well.

Our work is networked onto a larger map, a work because it's not just for our own benefit,

but also for the caring of others, caring for things that will move from our care to

others, remembering that we are interconnected.

Our work affects others.

Our work has these effects, and we need to remember that.

Because not just our community, but the kingdom of God is interconnected.

And not just in time here, but time forward as well.

The work we do here today can also reach forward for the benefit and building up of others

in the kingdom future going, whatever it is.

I think about our kids here at this church a lot.

Our young people are always watching us and taking notes.

They'll remember how their parents or their aunties and uncles or how their church family

led them, either intentionally or by association, and they will carry our patterns of rest and

live and work forward.

And so when we steward things here, we are often caring for those things that we are

going to pass on down to them too.

If you feel like you would find value in creating your own rule of life or rule for work, then

I do have that guide up here that I referred to earlier.

There's also a QR code on it that you can just use your phone to get to the link to

the PDF.

There is a section, there's a broad rule of life here, but there's also specifically

a section on work at the end.

But really a great place to start with and one that you already know is really being

intentional about this rest, live, work pattern in your life, protecting it, caring for it,

being intentional about it.

So as we close this very little, this little tiny series out, let's pray that God will

transform how we see rest, how we view life, and how we view work together.

Let's pray.

Start with today's cap on this series.

We know that the way we talk about these things here at the house are, one doesn't, the cycle

doesn't end, it moves back into the first thing, which is rest.

And we move from a place of rest into a place of life, which leads us to meaningful work.

And so we need your transformation on all of that, not just a part of it, but all of

it.

And so as we go into this week, help us build and set a healthy and strong cared for trellis

for which our life of faith is built on.

Would you lead us in this, speak to us, and make your heart clear to us on these things.

And help us lean into you and into the community you've given us as a community of faith to

share in these conversations about that and to help each other protect what rest and life

and work look like in each other's lives.

Help us be a network of help to each other if somebody is needing a new job or needing

a new perspective on how to healthy, in a healthy way, move forward with these things.

And so we're asking for your leading, we're asking for your guidance.

And yeah, God, thank you for who you are and how you lead us into these healthy rhythms

of life.

Pray all this in your name.

Amen.

Amen.