Fermata Aug 20, 2021: Abundance Despite our Fatigue

Fermata is the weekly newsletter describing some of the past week’s highlights from Notes of Rest, which is my spiritual retreat ministry that interweaves text, music, and questions for the sake of cultivating stillness, introspection, and creativity in communities so that all may rest. I'd love to host a Notes of Rest for your church, seminary, or affinity group. Feel free to reply to this email to start the conversation!

Luke 5:1-11

This week's Fermata is on Notes of Rest for Educators, held in August. We discussed Jesus teaching at the water's edge, first to the pressing crowd on land, and then in the deep seas to the first disciples. Some of the educators, exhausted by COVID, related to how a beleaguered Peter told Jesus that the fishermen had been out all night and had caught nothing. But we also talked about how to be conduits of God's abundance with our students, just like Jesus showered an abundant catch on Peter, James & John, and the onlookers on shore. It was when the abundance came that the student saw God's glory.

As school starts back and variants multiply, how might we cast our COVID fatigue onto Jesus? Moreover, how might we be conduits of God's abundance so the students in our care may see The Lord?

May the Spirit who hovered over the waters at creation empower you to follow Jesus on land and on sea. To that end, here are two songs for the journey: Guide My Feet While I Run This Race and Oceans.

abundantly,
Julian