Day 17 in the Wilderness- Finding a Safe Place to Rest

"Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true." These first words in the song "Sanctuary" provide a wonderful challenge for living in the wilderness today. Our world is so busy and "productive" and "crazy" (as my brother so often says) that we need to intentionally seek out those places that are sanctuary for us so that we can find peace within ourselves.

Margaret Wheatley makes this point in an article "Reclaiming Time to Think" in her book Finding Our Way: Leadership For an Uncertain Time. She says "As the world speeds up, we're forfeiting these wonderful human capacities. Do you have as much time to think as you did a year ago?...But don't expect anyone to give you this time. You need to claim it for yourself." (pg. 214-215) She is challenging us to take time, find a place to rest, so that we can think and feel and care.

As I write this devotion, I am at one of my favorite sanctuary places, "The Daily Grind". It is a quiet coffee shop near my home. I know the proprietor. His family in Pratt is connected to the church where my son Adam is youth director. It is a quiet comfortable place...to have a cup of coffee, to feel welcomed and to think.

I was at an Association of Presbyterian Church Educatiors Conference in Vancouver several years ago and the keynote speaker and author Leonard Sweet, challenged us to think of the church after the model of Starbucks. It is a place where hospitality is central, where community is provided and where people learn the language (tall skinny late' !?)in order to participate fully in community and hospitality and refreshment. He argued that the church is such a place. I resisted the image because of the crassly commercial nature of Starbucks. But as I sit in my own coffee shop "The Daily Grind" I resonate with the idea that our churches are sanctuaries, where we come in from the wilderness, find community, hospitality and a connection in Christ. As I listened to new members sharing the warmth of community they felt at Covenant, I was encouraged that sometimes we are that safe place to rest, think, and center ourselves on Christ as we prepare to face the wilderness that is all around us.