March 9, 2025
Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus
“Radical Sabbatical"
by Rev. Trip Porch
March 9, 2025 Based on Genesis 1:26-2:3
Without going into too much detail, I was sick all last week and spent most of every day sleeping or feeling exhausted in bed. I noticed a funny trend though in spite of a week of sickness, every person I exchanged messages with—family, friends, and my colleagues here at the church—all had the same parting message for me: "Take care of yourself," "Don't work too hard," "Be sure to get lots of rest." Of course incredibly necessary encouragement since rest is one of the best things you can do when you're sick.
But hearing the message over and over again this week got me thinking... why is sickness the only time we hear a message like this? Why is it only when we are knocked out in bed that it's okay to tell one another, "Get Rest" and "Take care of yourself." I thought about it, and imagined being told this in other scenarios:
A colleague who is doing amazing work. "Hey, get some rest"
A student pulling an all-nighter before a big exam. "Hey, get some rest."
There are no awards given at the academy awards for film that took the most breaks in production. We live in a society that doesn't reward rest, in fact most of the time we celebrate people who work to the bone and sacrifice everything for the sake of production. We have a destructively high work ethic in this country, and in this context, rest is a revolution.
It's something Tricia Hersey came to understand deeply. As a seminary student at Emory, she was overwhelmed by the pressures of academia, racial injustice, personal loss, and the relentless demand to produce. She wanted to quit. Instead, she started napping—napping in the chapel, in the library, wherever she could. And in those moments of rest, something holy happened. She felt restored. She realized that in a world of grind culture, rest is a way to reclaim one's humanity and assert one's inherent worth. That by prioritizing resting, she discovered a radical act of defiance against systems of oppression like capitalism and white supremacy.
These systems which, she argues, exploit and dehumanize people by demanding constant productivity. And so she founded The Nap Ministry, a movement that preaches rest as an act of resistance, as reparations for a world that has commodified bodies and labor.
Denying ourselves rest is like denying our core identity. Because rest is something we are designed for—woven into the rhythm of creation itself. This is not just about taking more naps—it’s about reclaiming our God-given right to rest. It’s about remembering that we are not machines, that our worth is not tied to what we produce. It’s about remembering that rest is woven into the fabric of creation itself.
In Genesis, we see a God who creates with intention. Light, sky, earth, life—each step is spoken into being with care. But what is the final act of creation? Not more doing. Not more making. The final act of creation is stopping. "On the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done" (Genesis 2:2).
On the final day. God creates rests. On the seventh day, God rests... Not out of exhaustion, but because rest is holy space. It's part of the created order — not just for God, but for all of us made in God's image.
God made all things good and then God rested in beauty and glory of it all. We would come to call this holy rest sabbath. And it would become for God's people intentional time set aside. Time not to work, not to produce, not to buy our purchase, but time for rest, time for prayer, time to just be.
Abraham Joshua Heschel, a rabbi who literally wrote a book on the sabbath, said this about it: "The work on weekdays and the rest on the seventh day are correlated. The Sabbath is 'the inspirer,' the other days ...'the inspired.'"
and “[to keep a sabbath practice is] to set apart one day a week for freedom, a day on which we would not use the instruments which have been so easily turned into weapons of destruction, a day for being with ourselves, a day of detachment from the vulgar, of independence of external obligations, a day on which we stop worshipping the idols of technical civilization, a day on which we use no money, a day of armistice in the economic struggle with our fellow [humans] and the forces of nature—is there any institution that holds out a greater hope for [humanity’s] progress than the Sabbath?” –
Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath
The Sabbath isn't a luxury or an add-on for when you finally get your to-do list finished. Sabbath is the pause that shapes everything else. It’s an intentional stop that says, "My worth isn’t tied to what I produce." It’s a reminder that we are human beings, not human doings.
Presbyterian Pastor and author of the book "sabbath in the suburbs" Mary Ann McKibben Dana tells a story in her book of her own family’s attempt to practice Sabbath in the midst of their hectic lives. With two careers, three kids, and an endless to-do list, they committed to fully setting aside one day a week for sabbath rest. No chores. No email. No errands. She writes about the difficulty of this practice—the piles of laundry left undone, the unanswered messages—but also the immense gift it became. The gift of being present to her children, of taking walks, of lingering over a meal. Sabbath reminded her that life isn’t something to be managed—it’s something to be received.
In her book she references E.B. White's quote: "I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world." She suggests that the two are not opposites. Enjoying the world—resting in the goodness of creation—is a way of improving it. When we rest, we show that our value isn’t measured by our productivity but by the simple fact that we are beloved children of God.
So what would it look like if we followed the command... "Remember the sabbath and keep it holy?" What if we took our own sabbath keeping seriously? What if Sabbath rest wasn’t an afterthought, but a practice we built our lives around? What if we believed rest wasn’t something to feel guilty about but something holy, something revolutionary? What if we didn’t check our emails one day a week? What if we let the laundry pile up and the dishes sit in the sink as a spiritual practice?
Because rest isn’t just for the moments when we're forced to stop. Rest is the gift God built into the foundation of the world. And it’s a gift God invites us to receive.
Sabbath is an invitation. It’s a reminder that you are enough—not because of what you do, but because you are beloved creature in God’s creation. It’s a call to trust that the world will keep turning even when we stop. It’s a call to remember that God—who could have kept going—chose to rest.
Closing: A Call to Hush
So as we continue in this season of Lent, a season of fasting and reflection, I wonder if we might fast from doing. I wonder if we might take the risk of stopping. I wonder if we might embrace the hush, the quiet, the sacred stillness of Sabbath.
Because we are not machines. We are not commodities. We are beloved. And beloved ones deserve to rest. Amen.
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE “Prelude for Lent” arr. Stephen DeCesare
INTROIT “"Lord, Who throughout These Forty Days” Day’s Psalter
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
One: This is the day that the Lord has made
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
*CALL TO WORSHIP
One: God calls us to rest, not as reward, but as gift.
Many: We come, weary from the week, longing for renewal.
One: In the beginning, even God paused to breathe and delight.
Many: We come to worship, to practice the holy gift of Sabbath.
One: Let us rest in the presence of our Creator.
Many: Let us worship God.
*HYMN see insert “Come Away from Rush and Hurry” (vs 1,2,3,1) PROMISE
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION Mary Rebekah Fortman
God of Creation and Rest, we confess that we have forgotten how to stop. We fill our days with busyness, striving for worth in our doing rather than in our being. We confess that we have ignored Your invitation to Sabbath, believing the world’s demands are greater than Your design. Forgive us for resisting the rest You declared holy. Teach us to trust You enough to pause, to breathe, and to delight in the gift of simply being. In Your mercy, renew us in the peace of Your presence. Amen.
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
*RESPONSE OF PARDON 626 “As the Deer” AS THE DEER
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
ANTHEM “Hush! Somebody’s Callin’ My Name” African American Spiritual
arr. Brazeal W. Dennard
CHILDREN’S RECESSIONAL 188 “Jesus Loves Me” vs. 1
Children: May God be with you here
Congregation: May God be with you there
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
SCRIPTURE Genesis 1:26-2:3 The Message & The Voice
God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature.
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”
God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God’s nature.
He created them male and female. God blessed them:
“Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.”
Then God said, “I’ve given you every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth.
And every kind of fruit-bearing tree, given them to you for food.
To all animals and all birds, everything that moves and breathes,
I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.”
And there it was.
God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good!
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Six.
So now you see how the Creator swept into being the spangled heavens, the earth, and all their hosts in six days. On the seventh day—with the canvas of the cosmos completed—God paused from His labor and rested. Thus God blessed day seven and made it special—an open time for pause and restoration, a sacred zone of Sabbath-keeping, because God rested from all the work He had done in creation that day.
Holy Wisdom, Holy Word
Thanks be to God
SERMON Rev. Trip Porch
WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD
*HYMN 393 “O Day of Rest and Gladness” ES FLOG EIN KLEINS WALDVÖGELEIN
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
TIME OF OFFERING online giving is available at www. indianolapres.org/give
On Sundays where uncredited African American Spirituals are sung, any loose offering will go to support the Columbus Cultural Orchestra, whose mission is to advance a collective of multi-generational musicians of color by performing high-quality jazz, classical, and hip-hop music.
OFFERTORY “Trio for Organ, Op. 49 No. 1” Josef Rheinberger
*OFFERTORY RESPONSE 710 “We Lift Our Voices” OFFERING
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
God of abundance, You have given us everything we need—time to work, time to rest, and time to give. Bless these gifts that we offer today. May they be used to create places of refuge, renewal, and hope in Your world. Amen.
*HYMN 814 “In God Alone” (Mon âme se repose) MON ÂME SE REPOSE
TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING
CHARGE & BENEDICTION
CHORAL RESPONSE “Lord, Who throughout These Forty Days” Day’s Psalter
POSTLUDE “Hush! Somebody's Callin' My Name” arr. John Lehrack
Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452