The world we live in, with wars, violence, polarization, and exploitation, tests our faith and challenges our spirit. The course teaches tangible skills to participants so they can cultivate a spirituality of resilience amid the restlessness of our present age. This vision of God’s rest is core to the liberatory gospel of Jesus Christ. This course will be based on “Notes of Rest,” developed by Reid from his contemplative experience with Scripture and Black music, which invites the weary into the rest of God. Kwok will draw from her decades of experience teaching spirituality of the contemporary world and healing. Together, they will discuss music, sabbath, simplicity, sleep, sanctuary, silence, solitude, stillness, and slowness.
Each session will provide extensive time for personal reflection, group discussion, and engagement with music, both Reid’s body of original work and the broader tradition of Black American music. No prior musical training is required.
Course Objectives:
- Introduce rest as an important dimension of spiritual life and as a form of resistance to modern life driven by busyness, competition, productivity, and the attention economy.
- Learn from leading spiritual and religious teachers as well as musicians on sabbath, simplicity, sleep, stillness, and slowness.
- Develop a plan to include rest, sabbath, and contemplation into a wholistic life.
- Explore the implications of this course for leadership and ministries.
Cost structure:
Three tiers, pay what you can: $300, $150, $75. Financial aid is available - inquire by emailing [email protected].
Course Schedule:
Week 1 | March 10: Introduction: Notes of Rest, Sabbath, and Simplicity
An introduction to Notes of Rest as a concept, looking at its theological, musical, and cultural implications. We'll also look at Sabbath as a consecrated practice of weekly rest, and Simplicity as an invitation to reduce what we take through this life.
Week 2 | March 17: Sleep and Sanctuary
Sleep and sanctuary are mutually beneficial in our life of faith. God talks to us through sleep to help us practice sanctuary for ourselves and others. Who is God calling us to offer particular sanctuary to in these days of promise and peril?
Week 3 | March 24: Solitude and Silence
Solitude and silence are connected but distinct forms of rest. We practice solitude by spending intentional time alone with God. We practice silence by quieting ourselves. Silence has often been seen as a White practice within contemplative spirituality, but we'll look at how it also shows up in Black life, particularly in Black music and Asian contemplative and Zen practices.
Week 4 | March 31: Stillness and Slowness
Stillness is the practice of not resting from movement, and slowness the practice of resting from speed. In our manic age of constant move, God invites us to resist the restlessness of this present evil age by holding these together.
Week 5 | April 7: Performance of Notes of Rest Hymns with vocalist Tramaine Parker
In this final session we'll summarize the whole Notes of Rest experience through a concert featuring Julian's music around each note of rest, Notes of Rest Hymns Vol. 1. Julian will be joined by vocalist and bandmate Tramaine Parker. You're invited to sing along!
Course Invitations:
- Actively participate in a two-hour weekly Zoom course, engaging in discussion and activities
- Readings and videos will be recommended but not required, and participants can choose what is helpful to them
- Develop a plan to put into practice what participants have learned, such as journaling, meditation, sleep, and simplified living
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Julian Davis Reid
Julian Davis Reid (M.Div., Candler School of Theology) is a Black artist-theologian from Chicago whose work invites us to rejoice, lament, and hope together. A pianist, composer, producer, speaker, and writer, Reid is the founder of the ministry Notes of Rest®, a contemplative-musical experience that invites the weary to practice God’s transforming rest. A member of Emory University’s Alumni Class of 2025 40 under 40, Reid steadily releases and performs new music, most recently having released Vocation, Notes of Rest Hymns Vol.1, and BEHOLD (with The JuJu Exchange). Reid is also the Artistic Director for Testify!, a project from Christian Theological Seminary that strengthens Christian witness in Black churches by reviving testimony traditions for contemporary practice.
Reid has toured in Asia, Europe, and across North America, having performed at the Montreal Jazz Fest, Lollapalooza, and the Berlin Jazz Fest. He has created with Jennifer Hudson, Chance the Rapper, Tank and the Bangas, Andrew Bird, Jamila Woods, Derrick Hodge, Ken Medema, Peter CottonTale, Keyon Harrold, Kenneth Whalum, Isaiah Collier, and Abiodun Oyewole from The Last Poets.
An award-winning writer, Reid writes about his journey as an artist-theologian on his Substack “Julian’s Note.” He has published essays on Notes of Rest in several books, including Naming the Spirit: Pneumatology through the Arts, At This Time: Dialogues in Theological Education, and Light for the Way. His work has been covered in Chicago Sun Times, The New York Times, Forbes, Sojourners, Billboard, and Downbeat. Reid lives in Chicago with his wife Carmen and their daughter Lydia and they are members of Lawndale Christian Community Church.
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Dr. Kwok Pui Lan
Dr. Kwok Pui Lan is an internationally recognized theologian in postcolonial theology and Asian and Asian American feminist theology, currently serving as EDS' Distinguished Scholar.
Dr. Kwok has shaped a generation of theological scholarship and formed countless students. Most recently, she was Dean’s Professor of Systematic Theology at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, and a past president of the American Academy of Religion. Before that, she was William F. Cole Professor of Christian Theology and Spirituality at EDS, where she taught for twenty-five years.
She has authored and edited numerous books on Asian and Asian American feminist theology, biblical interpretation, and postcolonial criticism. She is the author of The Anglican Tradition from a Postcolonial Perspective and co-editor of Living Postcolonial Anglicanism. She received the Lanfranc Award for Education and Scholarship from the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2021.