Holy Leisure (by Mark Yaconelli)
There is a way in which we in the West have relegated prayer to a type of service or religious duty that we perform--we pray for peace, we pray for courage, we pray for others. These prayers of intercession are important and intrinsic to the Christian life. Intercession is the way in which we companion God in spreading God’s healing love, and yet this is only one aspect of our relationship with God.
The foundation of prayer, the fundamental expression of our humanity, and the basic expression of our life in God is found in what the early monastics referred to as “holy leisure.” Holy leisure isn’t the idleness and laziness that Western society is so disdainful of, nor is it the opposite of work or activity. Leisure, in the spiritual sense of the word, is “a condition of the soul.” It is a receptivity and gratefulness to the mystery and wonder of being alive in the world. Leisure is a spiritual attitude that seeks to behold the mystery of God’s life and creation beneath the activities and roles we perform. It is an embodied trust in God.
It is this holy leisure that we see embodied in Jesus as he sleeps amidst a stormy sea, teaches amidst resentful and antagonistic authorities, leaves good and healing work in order to spend time in solitude and prayer. This holy leisure is the experience of faith. It is the way in which we allow ourselves to be enfolded by God’s life and presence in the world. It’s this kind of rest, that allows a person to be a person, rather than a function, a role, a resume’ of activities.
Leisure is experiencing the gift of being human; it is a willingness to take in God’s grace and mercy. Leisure is coming home to oneself—with all the goodness and brokenness that we contain. Leisure is stepping out from the limited boundaries of our work and relational roles, and entering into the wide mystery of what it means to be alive and in the world. Leisure is the relief and strange happiness and contentment that arises when we finally stop all our striving and bargaining and simply allow our real selves to come before the real God.
Youth and youth workers are desperately in need of holy leisure. How can our ministries invite youth into a culture that slows to God speeds? This is the question I hope to explore at the Shift 2008 conference. See you there.
Mark Yaconelli
The foundation of prayer, the fundamental expression of our humanity, and the basic expression of our life in God is found in what the early monastics referred to as “holy leisure.” Holy leisure isn’t the idleness and laziness that Western society is so disdainful of, nor is it the opposite of work or activity. Leisure, in the spiritual sense of the word, is “a condition of the soul.” It is a receptivity and gratefulness to the mystery and wonder of being alive in the world. Leisure is a spiritual attitude that seeks to behold the mystery of God’s life and creation beneath the activities and roles we perform. It is an embodied trust in God.
It is this holy leisure that we see embodied in Jesus as he sleeps amidst a stormy sea, teaches amidst resentful and antagonistic authorities, leaves good and healing work in order to spend time in solitude and prayer. This holy leisure is the experience of faith. It is the way in which we allow ourselves to be enfolded by God’s life and presence in the world. It’s this kind of rest, that allows a person to be a person, rather than a function, a role, a resume’ of activities.
Leisure is experiencing the gift of being human; it is a willingness to take in God’s grace and mercy. Leisure is coming home to oneself—with all the goodness and brokenness that we contain. Leisure is stepping out from the limited boundaries of our work and relational roles, and entering into the wide mystery of what it means to be alive and in the world. Leisure is the relief and strange happiness and contentment that arises when we finally stop all our striving and bargaining and simply allow our real selves to come before the real God.
Youth and youth workers are desperately in need of holy leisure. How can our ministries invite youth into a culture that slows to God speeds? This is the question I hope to explore at the Shift 2008 conference. See you there.
Mark Yaconelli
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