Renewing your Soul

In order to listen for the voice of God, we must engage in Sabbath, balancing work, rest, and play. During this retreat, we will use the words of Wayne Muller, Renita Weems, and Parker Palmer to frame and guide our time together. There will be time for personal reflection, attentive listening for the Spirit, and small group discussion.

Books

Journal prompts & Scriptures

Your ministry will take all you give it. Your church will take all you are wiling to give it. Ministry demands will always exceed your capacity.

-Lance Witt, Replenish: Leading from a Healthy Soul (p. 64) 

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Dawn gives “A Few Suggestions for Rituals to Begin and End the Sabbath,” and her thoughtfulness helps us to pray about our Sabbath….

You might also pray for the activities of your Sabbath day—that they might be restful and that you might cease from all work, worry, anxiety, productivity, needing to be God, striving to create your own future, and so forth. Pray also that your Sabbath might be a time of embracing people and Christian values, of feasting and intimacy, laughter and delight.

 

End the Sabbath welcoming with these words: “Blessed art Thou, O LORD our God, King of the Universe, that you have commanded us to observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

- Marva Dawn, Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting (P. 213)

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Podcasts

The Growing Edge podcast : with Carrie Newcomer and Parker Palmer, Oct 29, 2019
Episode 15: The Violence of Overactivity—The Wisdom of Living at the Speed of Soul

Reflection Activities

• Hymn for reflection
  UMH #534 “Be Still My Soul”
• Lance Witt asks us, “How has busyness impacted the health of you soul? Your relationships?” (P. 65)
• In what ways does Carrie and Palmer’s discussion of “multitasking” resonate with your soul? 
• Name some gifts from ceasing, resting, embracing, and feasting that can help you run more at “the speed of soul”?
• Write an opening prayer for your “Sabbath eve.”