God of night,
God of peaceful darkness,
Creator of the crickets’ lullaby
and cool breezes through cracked windows,
we pray for your rest tonight–
for even you require
rest and replenishment,
and we are created in your image.
Genesis 2:2 By the seventh day God had finished his work. On the seventh day he rested from all his work. God blessed the seventh day. He made it a Holy Day, because on that day he rested from his work, all the creating God had done.
Sovereign God,
tender healer,
who offers to carry our burdens,
help me to rest in you–
for how often I get worn out
hustling day in and out
trying to please
and earn
and control,
thinking it all depends on me–
when in truth
it all depends on you,
the one who holds all things together
in vibrant harmony.
Matthew 11:28-30 Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
Colossians 1:17-20 We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body. He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so expansive, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.
God of peace,
God who created the world and then rested,
may you quiet all those
with anxious minds
and troubled hearts
tonight.
May you grant them rest–
restorative, replenishing, peaceful rest–
for you know how good rest is.
Genesis 2:2-4:
By the seventh day God finished his work. On the seventh day he rested from all his work. God blessed the seventh day. He made it a Holy day because on that day he rested from His work, all the creating God had done.
Creator of darkness and night,
of crickets and quiet,
of moon and stars and cool breezes through cracked windows,
God of rest and restoration,
we ask for your respite tonight.
We ask for rest for our bodies, hearts, minds and souls
we ask for your peace
because we need to know
that we are held in your goodness and grace–
because true rest is found in you.
Genesis 1: 16-19
God made two bight lights, the larger
to take charge of Day,
the smaller to be in charge of Night;
and he made the stars.
God placed them in the heavenly sky
to light up Earth
and oversee Day and Night,
to separate light and dark.
God saw that it was good.
It was evening, it was morning–
Day Four.
Our Master Gardener, 