The Flow of the Notes of Rest Experience
Rivers, Banks, Wellsprings
Rivers: private contemplation
Banks: communal contemplation
Wellsprings: creative response
Taken together, Rivers, Banks, and Wellsprings is the logic of the retreat that I recommend you use in your daily life to bring about fuller rest.
Rivers: submerge yourself in the text, the music, the questions, the Spirit
In order to think about rest and restlessness, we need time to submerge ourselves in the practices of contemplation, the act of paying careful attention. In a world where there is so much vying to destroy our focus, we need to practice beholding what’s in us, what’s around us, and who has created us. A way to focus is by engaging creativity. My playing can help you focus down. You’re invited to let the music wash over you as you pay attention to the text and the questions. Receive.
Contemplating helps us be aware of God’s grace. We don’t earn God’s presence. God is always here already. So as you submerge yourself in this passage, receive the gift of God’s presence already here. And in God’s presence there is rest. Jesus offers rest for our souls, if we but come to him. Let the text, questions, and music point you to Jesus, who stepped into our din of restlessness to offer us notes of rest.
And as you contemplate the rest that has been freely given, you are then able to give from that same place, and thus extend that rest to others.
Banks: come out of the waters and engage in communal contemplation
After we engage in solitary practices of contemplation, we need space for group reflection. Having space in your life where you process the grace of God you’ve received is vital for healthy spiritual life. I hope that you can live as one in community with others such that powerful encounters and experiences of contemplating yourself, the world, God, and your neighbor aren’t just kept to yourselves. There is so much beauty that comes from processing the world together, of hearing insights from one another. Yet how often do we just move past each other and never really hear from one another about how they are experiencing the world? We need to practice deep conversation so that our contemplation is influenced by the gift of those around us who help us be who we are supposed to be.
And don’t limit your discussion to living humans! Talk with nature - let God speak back to you about what you’re experiencing through the trees. Talk with your ancestors, with dead writers, with musicians, with future generations. Let them speak to you through the records they left behind and through your imagination. We have all kinds of conversation partners out there if we’re willing to listen.
Wellsprings: creative response
After submerging into the Rivers and then discussing on the Banks, we come to the time of response. What is bubbling up in you that needs to be addressed now? Perhaps you are realizing that you need to be still and breathe, that the restlessness of the world is wearing you out. Perhaps you need to create something in response to what you’ve discussed with others. Perhaps you need to pray. Whatever it is, God’s abundance in you wells up when you rest, reminding you that God is yet here. Let this time of response cement the insight of Rivers and Banks such that you can practice Notes of Rest wherever you go. Even when physical rest isn’t possible, rest in our souls always is.