Rest
Stories
These Will Preach!
Stories and Metaphors for the Pulpit
Object:
During a four-hour ordination service in the Batak Church in Medan, Sumatra, I saw the assistant to the Bishop, who had been working to pull it all together, go and squat on his haunches behind the altar to rest. There he was, in long black preaching gown with white tabs, squatted on the floor, resting like men do in their villages of origin back in the bush. Rest at God's altar. Perhaps we ought to preach more about the holy rest God gives at the table of the Lord. It's an important part of the gospel: a deeper shalom, a divine pause for rest.
