May Book of the month: The rest is worship

Reviewer: John Griffiths

Book: The Rest Is Worship by Sara and Sam Hargreaves
(Music and Worship Foundation, 2023)

This book is connected to a project about rest by the worship collective Engage Worship who have a webpage devoted to the project. It is an exploration about rest and the sabbath which you can read as a standalone. Which is how I read it on a sabbath of my own travelling last summer on a narrowboat around the canals of Northwest England. 

If your conception of the Jewish Sabbath was the beginning and end of what rest means in scripture this book is a well-paced review of rest in many different aspects: fun, stillness, taking a break from the internet. It covers the biblical teaching on sabbath and rest and illustrates these with examples and stories. 

So it can be used as a personal resource but it also looks at how we use stillness in gathered worship. The book could be used as a study guide for small groups or Lent.  But this is more than something to read. There are links in the book to songs written by Engage musicians or those associated with Engage from whom they have commissioned songs which you can find on YouTube or on the Engage site. 

I found it helpful to explore rest by reading a chapter a day and exploring the resources This is a book to be read slowly which any Christian will benefit from but if you are a leader you will welcome the wealth of resources it offers. I recommend it and will be dipping into it again for refreshment but also for teaching about this neglected topic. 

Reviewer: John Griffiths is a Reader in the church of England