The fall season is quickly setting in around us as the summer heat fades and the beings within creation begin their preparations for resting in the upcoming winter season. There is something intentional in this cycle. The seasons don't shift like a light switch from summer directly to winter and vice versa, but instead with an incremental, even methodical pace. Instead, the seasons ebb and flow like a proverbial dimmer switch, turning up the energy as summer approaches, then progressively turning down the energy as winter approaches.

Fall is built into not only creation's cycles but our own as humans, as beings, in direct relationship with the other beings of creation. The natural rhythms around us push and pull us with a momentum that, once perceived, is hard to miss. It is baked into all beings to desire rest and prepare for those moments with intention. Fall's underlying message is that to get the most out of our moments of rest in winter, we must ensure that we are emotionally, physically, and spiritually prepared for the long period of rest being gifted to us.

What periods of rest could be ahead for us at the land? How can we best prepare ourselves individually and as a community for the upcoming season of rest? How can we best take care of ourselves to come back in the spring with the energy necessary to use the foundation we have already built to grow something new, vibrant, and life-giving for our community?

This week, The Land, as a worshipping community, is invited to practice rest. Use this time however the winds of creation move you, seeking moments with the divine in your own ways. Worship and commune with the divine in your own ways over the next week, coming back stronger on October 7th for our town hall meeting conversation, where we will come together as a community to best plan how we can use this season of rest to prepare for the future the universe has in store for the ministry alive, but in waiting at The Land.