Skip to main content

Life in Greencastle - Work, Play, Worship

I remember sitting in class on the third floor of an older building in Pasadena about five years ago. The windows were open behind me and the sun’s perpetual rays fell on my shoulders. Outside were the sounds of the city: the garbage trucks and whir of traffic. But, my attention was neither on the traffic nor endless summer. I was focused on my professor as he talked about living well.

"There are three rhythms of life. Play, work and worship. And when we are living well, we do all three things well: we play at our play, we work at our work, and we worship God."

I think that is true for individuals just as it is for whole communities. Individually, it is important to find rhythms of recreation, just as it is important to find time for good work and time to honor something bigger than just "I". I think that's also true for us as a community, as a church. We need a balance of work, play and worship because we become less than human when we lose any of those three - a teetering stool that cannot stand.

However, what I often see occur in myself and in others is not so much a loss of one of those rhythms as misdirection. That same professor I had went on to say to us, "The problems we have occur when we worship our work, we work at our play, and we cease to worship God."

Let there be a warning for us: avoid worshiping our work (demanding fulfillment and meaning from it) and working at our play (demanding success and possession rather than joy and release). Let us be wary when our world becomes very horizontal and human, losing the depth and richness of God.

And, let us take hold of some of these great opportunities before us this summer - starting with this Sunday. We are set to have our annual church picnic out at Doug and Pat Miller's this Sunday following worship, a perfect opportunity for us to move from the rhythm of worship to the rhythm of recreation.

And, if you can't wait until then ... then, yes, you are most welcome to come tomorrow night for the closing of Vacation Bible School. There will be plenty of fun to be had ... and one pastor to dunk.

Blessings,

Wes

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Acts 2:42-47 - Questions for Reflection & Study

This past Sunday, we took a look at Luke's first summary passage in the story of Acts:  chapter 2, verses 42-47.  Here, Luke is presenting a billboard of what the Church looks like at its best.  He is trying to convince Theophilus that Christianity is worth his attention.  The early Church captures what all of us are looking for, whether we know it or not.  This is a close community that truly cares for one another, where everyone truly is seen as a brother and sister, and where no one person is considered more or less important as the other.  Needs are being met.  There is joy in their fellowship.  Take a moment to think about a time in your life when you experienced the joy and blessing of a deep, loving community?  Where was it, and what made this community so different?  What role did you play in this community? Luke tells us the disciples "devoted themselves" to four essential practices.  The Greek word for "devoted" ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Touchdown Jesus

For the second consecutive year, I traveled up US 31 to South Bend, Indiana on a beautiful fall day. I traveled with Curtis Lawrence, and we went for the sole purpose of watching the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team take the field. Now, I must note that it was my childhood dream to attend Notre Dame. Even loftier, it was also my dream - like many young boys growing up in Indiana - to suit up for the Fighting Irish. Surprisingly - even with such hopes - I had never actually visited the campus. For the first thirty years of my life, I never set foot on one of the more storied and celebrated college campus and football meccas in America. That absence was broken, though, when I made that first trip up to South Bend last year. Let me tell you: even after all those years of waiting, the campus and football stadium at Notre Dame lived up to all the out-sized expectations I had. Like most places of prominence, Notre Dame Stadium really cannot be described through words. It is so...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Gifts of Austerity

I’ve had it.   The Canadian Geese finally pushed me over the edge.   That was my tipping point.   I was driving back to the church after running a few errands on my lunch hour, and there they were flying through the sky.   Steadily flying south in packs of ten and four and six. They were escaping what was feeling more and more like an existential play.   No Exit .   Waiting for Godot .     That sort of thing.   The sort of tale where you never really emerge.   You.   Just.   Wait. It’s been almost a year now since this whole COVID journey began, which seems both ridiculous and unreal.   There’s no possible way it hasn’t been a full year.   There’s no possible way we haven’t come up on the one-year anniversary of when they shut down the schools and we fumbled our way through our first on-line service.   There’s a word that captures where we are right now.   It’s not a fun word.   It’s a winter wor...
Post a Comment
Read more