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

by Kate H Rademacher

Stillness. Prayer. Sabbath. In a restless world, what do those words even mean? Public health expert Kate H. Rademacher grew up thinking it was up to humans to bring healing and justice to earth. Saving the world meant working long hours, answering emails day or night, and competing for professional awards and funding. In an era of pandemic, racial injustice, and deepening inequality, who's got time for a nap? Stressed out and frazzled, Rademacher landed on the Christian story, in which a sought-after Savior retreats to solitary places and prays alone in the wilderness. In the pages of Reclaiming Rest, Rademacher tells the story of a year of monthly Sabbath retreats, during which she withdraws from family and work obligations for periods of solitude. She also experiments with disciplines like walking, praying, taking a break from social media, and finding a Sabbath buddy. In lyrical and astute prose, Rademacher teases out answers to questions What does rest in a restless world look like? How is Sabbath connected to issues of justice? Vocation? Parenting? Simplicity? Ultimately, Rademacher claims, Sabbath pierces our illusions of self-reliance and control, and that's good news. What if keeping the Sabbath is not only a commandment to obey but a freedom to reclaim?

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Christian

213 pages, Paperback

Published June 22, 2021

Reviews

[Rachael Stoldt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book. It wasn’t a bad read, but I wanted so much to shake the author. This book is about sabbath and there frankly is very little Jesus in the book. Jesus is the lord of the sabbath. The author spend a lot of time reading articles and studies and books searching for sabbath. I felt strongly that she just needed more Jesus to answer her sabbath questions. There is nothing wrong with articles or studies or books that aren’t scripture, but I felt she was searching and striving hard for answers in the wrong places and with the wrong frame of reference. If sabbath begins and ends with Jesus and scripture, then reading books and articles and studies from that worldview is helpful, but if you take Jesus out of the equation, you just end up unfulfilled and acting like a Pharisee. I did enjoy some of the practice stuff in the book and the author had some really good questions she was asking and did cause me to examine and ask those same questions. But overall, it needs more Jesus.

[Kandace · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of this book drew it to me at the library. I've been on a journey of my own trying to figure out how to incorporate more purposeful rest into my life, especially as someone whose work is more on the freelance side, self-scheduled, and broad in terms of what I even consider to be "working." I am not good at rest, nor do I purport to be well balanced when it comes to work/life so this book was illuminating on some tips and theories on reframing these very concepts. Rademacher is coming to this question of reclaiming rest from a Christian perspective. While this might work for those who identify as Christian it does leave a bit of room to wonder if this kind of sabbath keeping can only work for those who also have a corresponding Christian faith practice. While other faith traditions are mentioned (Judaism and Buddhism and Unitarian) I would have personally benefitted from a much broader book to answer my personal questions. However, this does not detract from the gifts of this book, I do think the author is on to some very important questions for us all regardless of our faith backgrounds.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read lots of books on the Sabbath but this one was radically different as it is written by a working mom who just became a Christian in the last few years and is desperate for finding someone to keep Sabbath with. She’s quite strong on the importance of Sabbath keeping even as she deals with all the challenges of it.

[Grace Foley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book came at the perfect time in my life; I had just finished an intensely busy period and was left feeling out of sorts and unlike myself. This book provided a way forward that feels sustainable and powerful. Not to mention, the book was a delight to read. It's full of interesting stories and telling anecdotes that resonate with my own experiences. Thank goodness for Kate Rademacher!

Can't recommend this enough.

[DT · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book from a Christian website and it is categorized as Christian Living/Personal Growth. This couldn’t be more inaccurate.

Calling this a Christian book is a bit misleading. While the author may have been baptized, her faith is almost tertiary in the book. Jesus isn’t even mentioned until at least thirty pages in. She talks a lot about rest but doesn’t always connect this back to the biblical concept of Sabbath. While she does mention it later on, the connections aren’t very theologically strong.

The book is more of a memoir about her personal experiences with trying to make time to rest than it is about encouraging others to grow in their walk with God.

[Amy Julia Becker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written, compelling, full of wisdom and insight about rest, burnout, solitude, and the practice of Sabbath.

[Michelle L · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this author’s perspective and research on the sabbath.

Reading it made me appreciate the religious culture I was raised & (to a lesser degree) currently live in. Having a dominant religion means businesses & customs easily allow & almost mandate a weekly day of rest. In the smallish town where I was raised, stores were legally obligated to be closed on Sunday.

Things have loosened up over the decades, but there is still a strong culture of Sabbath keeping. Many people don’t appreciate this; it tends to come with some rubber necking neighbors evaluating your every move. But this book made me realize there’s some upside. Most kid’s sports aren’t offered on Sunday. Work events aren’t scheduled then. In some ways, it’s almost taboo to demand time of people on the sabbath - unless it’s a church meeting; those get piled on.

Because this culture of sabbath rest is already in place, I sought this book out for different reasons. I don’t need a break from 24/7 demands of work (and family, and housekeeping, and every other demand). My Sunday routine is very restful & almost lazy. It’s also the day I plan my week, from scheduling and grocery shopping to evaluating my goals & to do lists.

But I want to set aside time to focus on what matters most: my relationship with God; my relationship with my kids; my relationship with my husband. I want to be spiritually fed & buoyed up for the week ahead.

Even though I’m not in exactly the same quandary as the author, I’m grateful for the insights & suggestions in the book, because it’s been the impetus to evaluating how I want to spend my sabbath and what things I should consider eliminating or shifting away from Sunday.

[Sharon McCloskey · Rating 5 out of 5]

For more than 25 years I lived the 24/7 hustle – racing to catch trains, commuting hours each day, practicing law at high-power firms, raising three children with my husband and rarely if ever contemplating the concept of rest – or better stated, the concept of deserving rest. The loss of friends and colleagues and friends in the 9/11 tragedy cracked open a door to reflection, as did a near-miss collision, my car sliding on ice through an intersection on the way to the train station, leaving me sobbing on the side of the road. What on earth was I doing?

In the years that followed I changed pace, switched careers and found myself with more time to create, reflect and share time. And yet still I felt the hustle nipping at my heels, always nagging me to do more each day, even as the pandemic practically begged for a slowdown.

Along comes Reclaiming Rest, Kate Rademacher’s tribute to the possibilities found in solitude and stillness, giving us historical, theological, and practical reasons and tools needed to embark on a new path, starting with the tacit acknowledgement that yes, we all deserve to rest. Offering personal anecdotes, conversations with social justice and global health professionals and a quick-step guide to getting started, Reclaiming Rest will help all readers create their own regular rest retreat.

“Whatever you can’t rest from, you’re a slave to,” writes Rademacher, quoting Rev. Howard John Wesley of the Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia. Indeed. Part entreaty, part how-to book, Reclaiming Rest offers a much-needed balm for these exhausting times.

[Elizabeth Futrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read this book, I was feeling depleted from more than a year of juggling full-time work with full-time parenting as my two elementary-school-age kids learned remotely during the pandemic. In a sense, this book felt like a life preserver. Rademacher writes about why and how we might prioritize rest in a style that is practical and accessible but does not fail to address complexities like the intersection of race, class, privilege, power, and the right to rest. As someone who works in global health and is involved in local social justice causes, I particularly appreciated the author's gentle reminder that we are not God and that the world will not fall apart if we rest. Quite the opposite. 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 living—through the sacred, revolutionary act of rest.

[April Williams · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let me save you time if you are a conservative Christian. Just don’t. This is progressive Christianity at its very highest level. The whole beginning talks about social justice, names a bunch of names relating to the Black Lives Matter movement, and talks about racial inequality. My issue is not with any of those things though I don’t subscribe to any of that. My issue is that is just really doesn’t have a place in a sabbath book. I wanted to read about sabbath and sabbath practices, not be told that of if I have a day off I’m “Privileged”. Considering this I also have an issue with the fact that she calls out modern day Christians who don’t practice Sabbath. So which one is it? 60 pages in DNF. I’ll read books by Christians that aren’t judgmental and hypocritical.

[Lynn Holbein · Rating 5 out of 5]

One Sunday I was visiting my adult daughter. She said, "I only have one personal goal for today: to watch this half hour TV show with you before bedtime at 11." After helping with homework, making dinner, cleaning the kitchen, folding the laundry, and putting the kids to bed, we settled down at 10:30 to watch the show. At 10:40, her laptop binged. She glanced at the incoming email. "I'm sorry," she sighed. "My boss wants me to research something. Maybe another night."

In the 24/7 world we live in, Rademacher has a time-tested solution: 24/6. Whether from a religious or secular perspective, this book couldn't be more relevant.

[Siv · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve toted this delicious book along on our month-long road trip. It’s a timely bit of serendipity that this book on rest & my husband’s pastoral sabbatical coincide.

You’d think that it’d be easy to rest during a month “off” from regular life, but the daily challenges we all face persist. Reclaiming Rest has nudged me to put my phone down, look up, be here now, stop hurrying to the next whatever, & rest.

Kate’s story of learning to rest, learning to keep sabbath in practical & theologically-informed ways, compels me to consider how I can thoughtfully & actually implement a healthier rhythm in my own life.

[Erica Witsell · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Reclaiming Rest, Kate Rademacher makes an impassioned and convincing argument for the redemptive power of observing a Sabbath day of rest. 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. Written against the backdrop of a global pandemic and a nation roiling from racial injustice, Reclaiming Rest is truly a Sabbath book of— and for— our time.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm always searching for Sabbath ideas and this book is fairly simple and straightforward-- tied to our current day. As a working professional with young kids, it taps into Kate's own ways of trying to find Sabbath in a busy, nonstop, connected world. Her critical reflection about her own professional ambition, and how it conflicts with her ideas about being a Christian, resonated, especially for those in progressive churches. She also has some practical tips about how to reflect on Sabbath practices in a post-industrial world.

[Kali Cawthon-Freels · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was skeptical about this book because I was afraid that it was going to be another suburban white woman talking about the importance of "mindfulness" and rest from a position of privilege, but I was pleasantly surprised. Rademacher provides honest, on-point observations about how the world we've constructed makes rest impossible for most of us, especially those already disadvantaged by the US economic structure. She also discusses how rest fuels our resistance to those unjust systems. I'm glad I moved past my skepticism and picked it up.

[audrey wells · Rating 3 out of 5]

i didn’t agree with all of her theology (hence 3 stars) but this book was actually SO helpful to me in that the author is a global public health worker and so her words about taking rest when there’s still work to be done resonated so much with me!! and i just loved the global health perspective mixed with the Christian perspective. 3.75 ⭐️, i need to go back through and write down all my quotes!!!

[Allysha Maragh-Bass · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great read!! As a self-proclaimed queen of multitasking, the idea of rest as an intentional act was foreign to me. Rest always seemed like the absence of doing *something.* Not a conscious choice and necessary thing to prioritize. The author makes a clear case for why it is and where to start with humor and honesty. HIGHLY recommend!

[Caroline Pence · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, and I bought 4 copies to give to friends and family. Most relevant for Christian readers but includes questions and information that everyone can benefit from, including how to incorporate rest into our busy lives and who gets to rest given the inequities in our economic and social systems. Highly recommend!

[C Holbein · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compelling argument for a weekly sabbath. While the author comes at it from a Christian perspective, anyone who could use more rest, reflection and centering in their life will find this book useful. Easy-to-read and entertaining.

[Laura Gallaher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and found it both challenging and very relatable. Keeping a sabbath practice has been a goal of mine for years but I have struggled to keep it as a priority. This book left me feeling inspired and rejuvenated in my commitment to practice sabbath-keeping.

[Bonnie Fournier · Rating 5 out of 5]

It started out a little slow but stick to it it is worth the read. She struggled between humanism and Christianity. The main point is we need to get back To honoring a day of rest like we did and the past. I really enjoyed this small but important book.

[Lucy Oneno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply honest and beautifully written, a timely book exploring the possibility of finding some rest in our crazy world. Useful for anyone seeking balance in their life.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource and very readable (mostly read in the spring, just finished up the last bit)

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about rest. Ready to re-read

[Brandi Diamond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong start, soft finish.

[Alex Benfield · Rating 1 out of 5]

A few good points brutally murdered by the sheer amount of anti-Scriptural undertones and in some places blatant rejection of biblical teachings.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

She had some interesting ideas. The Sabbath is really important to me, so it was nice to read how her life changed as she began to keep the Sabbath.

[John Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since it is one of the Ten Commandments, observing the sabbath has always seemed to me daunting and severe. Broadly framing of the sabbath in both theological as well as societal contexts, Kate Rademacher argues the sabbath is a human right, healthy and important for everyone, regardless of religious commitment. Certainly "disconnecting" is increasingly important in our overly wired, 24-7 world of information overflow. We all need the break that observing a sabbath can give us, and Rademacher provides a context. Great book and very satisfying-I felt as if I'd been on sabbath.