Practicing Rest at Ronora
"My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places." — Isaiah 32:18
“The times are urgent, let us all slow down.” - Bayo Akomolafe
Last week, ten of our middle and high schoolers took a pause from their busy summer schedules to gather for a few days of intentional rest at Ronora Lodge in Watervliet, Michigan. Our theme was rest- what is it and how do we practice it?
Once we arrived and settled in (thanks to the careful driving and navigation of Pastor Brent and Amber Johnson), we opened our time asking students to name what they associate with “rest.” We asked students to bring one item from home that reminded them of rest and invited them to place it on our “rest altar” as a physical reminder of our retreat purposes.
Dr. Bayo Akomolafe writes, “in ‘hurrying up’ all the time, we often lose sight of the abundance of resources that might help us meet today’s most challenging crises.” Our youth know about crises- they have seen the pandemic, the effects of climate change, they face mental health challenges, and an increasingly militarized world to name a few. My aim for the retreat was to make sure students slowed down and familiarized themselves with how rest feels in their bodies.
During our rest sessions, we invited students to turn-in their phones while we practiced various forms of “slowing down” together, including a silent walk, journaling, water coloring, and quiet conversation on the meaning and importance of true rest. Students were asked to identify messages they’ve absorbed about rest from school, sports, social media, and even church. Students shared about how between the demands of school, extra-curricular activities, and our devices, it can be hard to know how and where to put our attention.
Between the rest sessions we played games and snacked a lot. We hiked, swam, and played charades around a bonfire. We shared good meals, too, which for me, is an important part of cultivating rest. Our menu, devised and cooked by our high schoolers, included chana masala, pesto pasta salad, and a build-your-own pizza bar (impressive, right?).
At our closing circle I shared how Isaiah was written for God’s people during a time when they were under intense political threat. And yet, God promised them “peaceful habitation” and “quiet resting places.” While our kids and youth are not exactly in political exile at the moment, they do know what it’s like to navigate social exclusion and separation from familiar situations. My prayer as a church body is that our faith models such access to “peaceful habitation” and “quiet resting places,” that we model how in God we have the ability to slow down and notice the abundance of resources available to us to help us navigate times of crises.