Weekly Seeds: Rest Made Holy
Sunday, May 31, 2026
Trinity Sunday | Year A
Focus Theme:
“Rest Made Holy”
Focus Prayer:
Creator, let us rest in the goodness of your creation as we participate in it. Amen.
Focus Scripture:
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
1 When God began to create the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. 8 God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” 21 So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind and the cattle of every kind and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
27 So God created humans in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” 29 God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all their multitude. 2 On the sixth day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
All readings for this Sunday:
Genesis 1:1-2:4a and Psalm 8 • 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 • Matthew 28:16-20
Focus Questions:
What is rest?
Why is rest important individually and collectively?
What tools or strategies to you employ to facilitate rest?
What causes us to struggle with rest?
How does our approach to rest change if we consider it to be holy?
Reflection
By Cheryl A. Lindsay
You need your rest. How many times have you heard this or directed these words to someone else? When asking someone how they are doing, how often does the response reflect the lack of rest when the person feels less than optimal. Rest is essential to the human body. Our biological functions depend on us taking roughly a third of our time in a state of rest. During that time, much of the body still operates. Hearts keep beating, lungs keep breathing, and brains keep the system going. Still, even vital operations and processes slow down and enter their version of rest.
Humanity does not hold a unique position among living creatures in needing rests. The rest of the animal kindom lives unfold in a similar way. Plant life also has their systems of alternating growth and renewal. The seasons of the year may be categorized according to what species go into a period of rest or a period of activity. Even the Earth reflects the need for rest. If rest, then, has been built so prolifically into the created order, should it surprise anyone that even Creator found space and significance for the routine practice of rest?
The first creation narrative frames the act of creation as a progression. Each creative action gives space for the next. While many declare, as I admittedly have in the past, that it culminates in the creation of humanity, that is the penultimate fruit. The pinnacle reached at the conclusion of the seven steps of creation takes the Holy One to rest for themselves. Ultimately, rest is also created as the completion of work. It is not the opposite, it is the conclusion.
The founding of the world, or the primordial history (chaps. 1–11), introduces the reader to God, the world, and humanity. It is from this section of the larger book that we first encounter the chief protagonist in the biblical narratives, God. God, introduced by several names (e.g., Elohim, YHWH Elohim, YHWH, El Shaddai, El Elyon) and described with various character traits, is shown to be at the center of this book and, indeed, the entire created order. It is God who alone is able to create, the sole subject of the Hebrew verb bārā’ (“create”) in the Hebrew Bible. As Creator, God stands alone in authority, autonomy, and in awesomeness; this quality is used in numerous instances in Scripture to authenticate God’s right to act in the world (see chaps. 37–40, where God’s creative power serves to legitimate his ability to act unabated by human consideration).
Rodney S. Sadler, Jr.
Sadler also notes that this creation narrative introduces a broader theme found throughout the First Testament: God’s provision. Through that lens, all of creation benefits from and demonstrates that the Holy One provides. Rest, then, offers an opportunity to receive and enjoy God’s abundance and to trust in God’s future provision. God can rest because Creator has done their work to build an ecosystem that enables flourishing for all creation. Humanity’s role is to be caretakers endowed with creative attributes modeled after the Holy One. These imagebearers, as noted above, have been crafted to require rest. This is not an optional role or characteristic of human life; it is essential to human functioning and flourishing.
Further, the Holy One’s evaluation of creation presents a world in which what is, or has come into being, is sufficient and satisfactory. There is, embedded in the text, a theology of enough. Creation does not unfold as a completed project; it is a continuous work that allow Creator to move through the progressive stages once a particular outcome has been declared good. The Holy One does not tinker endlessly until any aspect of it is perfect. Good is enough to move forward to the next day, and creation is good enough for the Worker to rest. In a society that often conveys messages encouraging the pursuit of unattainable perfectionism even to the point of devastating physical, mental, spiritual, financial, and relational consequences, the narrative breaks in to remind us that perfectionism is a human construct that the Holy One did not pursue.
At the end of this first creation story, the original audience could have seen the narrative’s overall purposes. It has confirmed that God is orderly and morally “good,” that the world is orderly and “good,” and that with the inclusion of humanity the overall schema is “very good.” This positive assessment of theology, cosmology, and anthropology marks this narrative in a way that would have been clear to its early audience. Perhaps finding its final form as an address to a community that experienced exile in the aftermath of the Babylonian captivity in the latter sixth to early fifth centuries BCE, this story was intended to contrast the creation narratives of the Babylonians (Brueggemann, 25), whose stories of creation posited that the world was the by-product of the slain corpse of Tiamat, the goddess of the sea, and that humans were crafted from the blood of Kingu, her illegitimate spouse, to be slaves to a host of spiteful deities. This narrative offers a distinct view of God, the world, and humanity that would have answered its initial audience’s questions quite well. Further, by cohering with the seven-day paradigm for a week that culminates in Sabbath, which would have already been known to the original audience, this narrative would have validated the world as they knew it.
Rodney S. Sadler, Jr.
The contrast with other creation accounts of the ancient world is significant and begins the biblical corpus. The Holy One creates not out of pettiness, spite, avarice, or violence. Creation brings order, diversity, and relationship. It flows out of the identity of the Creator. It is progressive from the beginning, and the stage of rest is yet another progressive step. Creation continues. Rest, by nature, is a pause from activity. Because the Holy One is Creator, creation never stops, it rests.
Finally, the Holy One made rest holy by participating in it. It is the one aspect of creation that God immediately enjoys for themselves. This is distinct from the second creation narrative and perhaps the most significant difference from a theological perspective. The first creation narrative does not place the Creator into the produced work of creation until God creates rest. Every other stage, or day, demonstrates Creator separating elements of creation from itself. In instituting rest, rather than separation, the Holy One chooses participation. Because God is holy, the rest that God creates, enjoys, and models has been made holy too.
Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent
The 33rd General Synod adopted a Resolution to Recognize the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024). As part of its implementation, Sermon and Weekly Seeds offers Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent related to the season or overall theme for additional consideration in sermon preparation and for individual and congregational study.
The church has largely settled on one way of naming God to our great poverty. The blessed, holy Trinity is one way and only one way of naming the God of many names, the God of Isaiah, the God of Jesus and our God. It is not the only way and it is not my way. If you know me you are not surprised by that. I once famously – or perhaps infamously – responded to a question during a job interview about the Trinity in the Hebrew Bible by saying I didn’t believe the Trinity. There’s a reason some preachers call Trinity Sunday Heresy Sunday.
Excerpt from “Naming and Numbering: God of Many Names on Trinity Sunday”
Sermon by Professor Wil Gafney
https://www.wilgafney.com/2016/05/17/naming-and-numbering-god-of-many-names-on-trinity-sunday/
God is beyond numbering and naming. The scriptures use many more than three names or images to describe God and do not limit us to any. And the scriptures do not mention the Trinity at all. Three names make a nice poetic flourish. But God is not bound or limited by our limitations. God is One, and Two – Incarnate and Incorporeal, and Three and Seven (the “seven spirits of God” in Rev 3:1; 4:5; 5:6) and God is Many and Ineffable.
But since today is Trinity Sunday, Let’s name God in Threes:
Author, Word and Translator;
Sovereign, Savior and Shelter;
Majesty, Mercy and Mystery;
Creator, Christ, and Compassion;
Parent, Partner, and Friend;
Earth-Maker, Pain-Bearer and Life-Giver;
Holy Incarnate Majesty, Holy Incarnate Word, Holy Abiding Spirit;
Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer;
God who brings us to life, calls us to freedom, and moves between us with love;
The God of Isaiah, the God of Jesus and our God.
The God of many names is our God, Isaiah’s God and the God of Jesus the Messiah. How do you name God?
warrior, king, mother, father, righteous judge,
shepherd, banner, rock, fortress, deliverer,
peace, light, salvation,
strength and shield,
devouring fire
abiding presence.
For Further Reflection
“There was both unity and diversity in the Trinity, the first cause of all life, and until we find that communion with God, we can have no real unity within ourselves or with our fellow human beings.” ― Ravi Zacharias,
“The greatest feat is the ability to cultivate all the attributes of the Divine Trinity in order to stay balanced, utilizing the Divine Power, Divine Love and Divine Intelligence to achieve enlightenment.” ― Master Del Pe
“Love is made up of three unconditional properties in equal measure:
- Acceptance
- Understanding
- Appreciation
Remove any one of the three and the triangle falls apart.
Which, by the way, is something highly inadvisable. Think about it — do you really want to live in a world of only two dimensions?
So, for the love of a triangle, please keep love whole.” ― Vera Nazarian
A preaching commentary on this text (with works cited) is at //ucc.org/SermonSeeds.
The Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, Minister for Worship and Theology (lindsayc@ucc.org), also serves a local church pastor, public theologian, and worship-practitioner with a particular interest in the proclamation of the word in gathered communities. You’re invited to share your reflections on this text in the comments below this post on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SermonSeeds.
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