By Erin Matteson
Any piece of music is made up of notes and rests. We tend to assume the notes are most important. Yet good musicians know it is really the rests that matter most of all. Rests at the ends of phrases allow musicians to fill with fresh breath for expressing the next phrase of music well. Rests within a phrase also allow much needed refilling and refreshment so the next bit of music can be that much more accentuated, forward moving, life giving to all who receive it.
Please pray… For the “resting places” that offer respite and renewal to pastors and ministers who serve the church.
As we offer the music of our lives to the glory of God and for our neighbor’s good, rests play the same critical role. It is a rest, even brief, at the end of so many measures lived that allows us to fill with the goodness and mercy that follows us all the days of our lives and makes our next offering fresh and full of life. The music of our ministry with others can maintain a sense of freedom, lightness, and joy, when we consistently place intentional rests between pieces that make up the beauty and rhythm of the whole. There, in the resting places, God leads us to lie down in green pastures, leads us beside still waters. God restores our souls.
In the midst of the music of your ministry, the Part-time Pastor, Full-time Church program of the Office of Ministry invites pastors to come to “A Resting Place.” We invite you to make a choice, anywhere in your day, to stop and partake of a simple three-minute guided prayer time in the form of videos you can watch or listen to. The choice to come to “A Resting Place” is a choice to insert a rest, a place to take a breath, in your day. It is an opportunity to be filled with the Spirit of life for carrying forward the next measures of music you will bring out into the world.
Initial videos are presented by Erin Matteson, spiritual director and circuit rider of the program. Future videos will be offered by other Church of the Brethren spiritual directors, pastors, and congregational leaders. Look for this resource at the program’s social media pages: www.facebook.com/ptpftcbrethren/@ptpftcbrethren and www.instagram.com/ptpftcbrethren.
‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑
Find more Church of the Brethren news: