Kate H. Rademacher - Reclaiming Rest: The Promise of Sabbath, Solitude, and Stillness in a Restless World

Praise for Reclaiming Rest by Kate H. Rademacher

With great effectiveness Kate Rademacher shows us both why the practice of keeping Sabbath is so crucial and how it can become a reality. A much-needed read for anyone who takes seriously the way of Love to which Jesus calls uswhich includes the call to rest.

Rev. Michael Curry, presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church and author of Love Is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

If you do not recognize yourself in the first few pages of this compelling, sage, and down-to-earth book, trust me: Rademacher is going to call your name before she is through. At the moment, I cannot think of another book that makes a better case for wedding faithful activism to equally faithful rest.

Barbara Brown Taylor, author of Always a Guest and An Altar in the World

What a refreshing invitation, as timely as a cool drink of water on an overheated day. In these exhausting, driven, and shattered times, may we heed her call to honor ourselves and God by humbly retreating to good Sabbath rest.

Patricia Raybon, author of I Told the Mountain to Move: Learning to Pray So Things Change and The One Year Gods Great Blessings Devotional

Here, we have prose that snaps, practical suggestions coupled with deep wisdom, spirituality connected to politics, and, finally, not just an invitation to a single practice called Sabbath-keeping, but rather an invitation to a more faithful way of life.

Lauren F. Winner, author of The Dangers of Christian Practice and Wearing God

Kate Rademachers writing is a delight, and she brings science, spirituality, and common sense together in just the way people like me most relate to and enjoy. This book could be what saves your sanity in these stressful times.

Brian D. McLaren, author of Faith after Doubt

In Reclaiming Rest, Kate H. Rademacher both inspires and challenges us to restore the deep freedom that we receive in keeping a Sabbath day. She is an eloquent writer and a natural storyteller, which makes this book as delightful to read as it is spiritually nourishing.

Carl McColman, author of Unteachable Lessons and Eternal Heart

In an era of exhaustion, Kate Rademacher has written the book we all need to read. By seamlessly weaving theology, history, and personal narrative, Rademacher creates a compelling case for the original intent of the Sabbath: not only to restore our week but to restore our lives.

Kathy Izard, author of The Hundred Story Home and founder of Women | Faith & Story

The church so desperately needs the Sabbath. But so does the world. And creation. Rademacher has picked up something of the ways of Jesus here that the global church so desperately needs to hear.

A.J. Swoboda, PhD, assistant professor of Bible, Theology, and World Christianity at Bushnell University and author of Subversive Sabbath and After Doubt

In Reclaiming Rest, Rademacher not only shares important insights drawn from her own personal stories of struggle for Sabbath, but also offers practical situations, examples, and advice that others can learn from and follow.

Brian Allain, founder of Writing for Your Life, Publishing in Color, and Compassionate Christianity

In candid and relatable prose, Rademacher describes her own journey to a Sabbath practice, while deftly exploring an array of rest-related themes, from theologies of social justice to strategies for abstaining from our screens.

Erica C. Witsell, author of the award-winning novel Give

In sharing the roots and evolution of her Sabbath practice, Rademacher offers a compelling rationale and road map for restoration at a time when it is desperately needed. She extends a warm invitation to join her in a more faithful and authentic way of livingthrough the sacred, revolutionary act of rest.

Elizabeth Futrell, coauthor of Roar: True Tales of Women Warriors

On almost every page, Reclaiming Rest made me reflect on who I am, what I do, why I do it, and where my work and life are taking me. Now as I intentionally work toward my own Sabbath practice, my new mantra is: Work. Reflect. Rest. Reflect. Repeat.

Dr. Funmilola OlaOlorun, Womens Health Researcher, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

Kate H. Rademacher

Broadleaf Books

Minneapolis

RECLAIMING REST

The Promise of Sabbath, Solitude, and Stillness in a Restless World

Copyright 2021 Kate H. Rademacher. Printed by Broadleaf Books, an imprint of 1517 Media. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Email or write to Permissions, Broadleaf Books, PO Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440-1209.

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are from the King James Version.

Some names have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals, and several incidents have been collapsed from the true chronology of events into single scenes.

Cover design: Emily Weigle

Print ISBN: 978-1-5064-6599-9

eBook ISBN: 978-1-5064-6600-2

While the author and 1517 Media have confirmed that all references to website addresses (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing, URLs may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.

To my brothers, Chris and Andrew, with admiration, love, and gratitude

And to my Sabbath buddy, Carol

F OR THE LAST TEN YEARS, I have been jotting down comments friends and colleagues make about how exhausted they feel in their everyday lives. I note them in my journal or on scraps of paper on my desk. The comments have been made by women and men, people who are single and married, people without children and people with one or more kids. As anecdotal data points, they reveal a troubling pattern:

• I just dont think I can keep doing this for another twenty or thirty years.
• I think working on that last grant proposal nearly broke me.
• I have to get out of this job. Maybe if they offered a sabbatical or something, I could stay.
• When I was unemployed and looking for work, I felt like I just didnt deserve to rest.
• Living outside of the United States for a year made me realize I cant live like this anymore. I need more tranquilidad in my life.
• Maybe our daughters generation will figure out how to balance it all. We certainly havent.

My colleague Maya made that last comment as we were standing in the hallway at work. She was leaning against the wall, resting the side of her head against it. Maya and I work at a large international nonprofit organization that focuses on global development and public health. As I faced Maya that day in the hall, we both complained that the pace of our lives felt unsustainable. It was incredibly difficult to juggle all of our responsibilities and even more difficult to do it all well. And she was fed up. Our generation had been trying for decades to figure out how to achieve work-life balance, she said, but we had failed. In that moment, she was ready to acknowledge defeat and hand the problem over to the next generation to solve.