Redeemer West Side | WS Update: Slowing Down

WS Update: Slowing Down

March 13, 2023

One of Bob Dylan’s songs, “Hard Times in New York Town”, include the lyrics:

There’s a-mighty many people all millin’ all around,
They’ll kick you when you’re up and knock you when you’re down.
It’s hard times in the city,
Livin’ down in New York town.

It’s a reminder that life in a place like NYC can be hard. And, as we reflected upon yesterday, one of the gifts given to us by God in order to mitigate our “hard times” is Sabbath. As Barbara Brown Taylor wrote:

Sabbath was the day when Israel celebrated its freedom from compulsion… on that one day every week they remembered their worth lay not in their own productivity but in God’s love for them.

Lent is a time to remember that ‘time’ is ultimately defined by God. He rested on the seventh day, not because he was tired, but to take in the beauty of the world He created and that he deemed ‘good’. Yesterday we changed the clocks and now have a bit more daylight at the end of the day, a sign that spring is near, as is resurrection. So, as another week gets under way, let us listen and respond to Jesus’ invitation, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30

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David Bisgrove

David has a M.B.A. and Master's in Public Health from Columbia University and previously worked in healthcare finance and administration. He began working at Redeemer as the director of finance and operations in 1998, while also pursuing his M.Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary. He was ordained in 2005 as an assistant pastor who oversaw worship and evangelism, counseling, stewardship and family ministries. Now as Senior Pastor, David loves standing at the door on Sundays talking to people on their way in and out of worship.