Sunny Notes: 05.28.26 - Rest is Radical

"I believe rest, sleep, naps, daydreaming, and slowing down can help us all wake up to see the truth of ourselves. Rest is a healing portal to our deepest selves. Rest is care. Rest is radical." — “Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto” by Tricia Hersey,founder of The Nap Ministry'

I spent Memorial Day weekend in Seattle. This was the first full weekend I've spent in Seattle with my partner, Chase, since mid-March, and I took a couple vacation days to kick it all off. We hung out with dear friends. There were long walks at Lake Washington with our German Shepherd, Movy. There was lots of lazy couch time with our tabby cat, Action Jackson.

Rest is not something that comes easy for me, and disconnecting for short periods is a growing edge. Even when I do slow my body down, my mind chatter often speeds up, whirling through options of work I could or should be doing. Perhaps you can relate?

This past weekend, however, I practiced rest (I say “practiced,” because fighting the urge to check email became its own form of spiritual practice). Returning to work this week, I am feeling refreshed and recharged as we go into the home stretch of this congregational year. I also was reminded that, when we take some downtime and rest, we (as Tricia Hersey puts it so beautifully) enter “a healing portal to our deepest selves.” It is that deep self I depend on in my ministry; and I know I need rest to access it.

In a culture that celebrates busyness and productivity, may you radically rest in the ways most nourishing to you. In a world where news feeds and social media platforms provide near-constant distraction, may you find the healing portal to your innermost self. May you give yourself permission to rest.

— Rev. Sunny, minister