Stirred Up to Rest

daring to trust in Jesus

ON MY TRAVELS, I developed a fascination with chairs found in unexpected places. A paint chipped stool outside a workshop. A velvetbacked seat at the edge of an apartment block. A child’s plastic chair enclosed inside a wire fence. All of these chairs seemed to beckon rest, right in the middle of life. I’ve been thinking a lot about these chairs and about church life. Do our churches likewise offer ample places of rest, dotted in daily places? What’s more, do we offer ample encouragement for people to take a seat and rest a while? When I was in seminary, one course admonished students to build in regular times of drawing near to God. This was a rather foreign concept. After accepting Jesus as a child, the loudest instruction I heard was to find a place to serve in the church, not to carve out a rhythm of rest and activity with God. from the start, I was taught to bear fruit for Christ. As a doer, this is not hard at all. There are many activities to fill my time—leading a small group, volunteering at the local drop-in centre, even attending multiple prayer meetings each week. Regular calls would be made from the pulpit to serve in Sunday school, at a hospital outreach, at the summer camp. Active participation is the norm in church life. As a result, when I listen to God’s quieter voice asking me to sit still with Him, I in fact cannot sit very still! My fretful mind questions why I should be taking a break when the to-do list lays frightfully undone. Rest is, at best, a reward for hard work done, and at worst, it feels like wrongdoing. In contrast, in a busy scene where the disciples were so inundated with the needs of the crowd that they didn’t even get to eat, Jesus doesn’t

by Victoria Mok

Victoria is in the midst of learning the art of slowing down. She worships at Mississauga Chinese Baptist Church. Chairs on Victoria’s travels Top: Sai Kung, Hong Kong Middle: Coloane, Macau Bottom: Taipa, Macau