Pastor's Message for July/August, 2006
The Rhythm of the Saints
It has long seemed to me that the healthy spiritual life is one that has a sense of rhythm about it. My dictionary defines rhythm as "a regularity or flow of movement which groups by recurrent heavy and light accents." It's not just a matter of hitting different notes to avoid being a spiritual "Johnny one-note," but of living in the variety of pacing and cadence that marks the fullness of the life of faith. In other words - the spiritual life has a beat to it!
Sometimes our faith will find us deepening our personal relationship to Christ, nurturing the inner life; at other times, faith will call us to the spiritual life in community, interacting with brothers and sisters and growing from that mutual sharing as in a Bible study, a support group, or a Christian education class. Sometimes our faith will thrive as we say and sing words of praise and thanksgiving, as we "speak our faith" - and yet there are also times for quiet listening for the promptings of God in our lives, as we "receive the faith." There are occasions in the spiritual life that call us to be confrontational, to "make waves" on behalf of God's justice, and other times when our faith invites to be reconcilers, to build bridges of mutual understanding.
As we move into summer, with the hope of a slackened pace or at least some times away from the more intense velocity of life, I am always reminded of the spiritual rhythm of rest and work: the need to rest and the need to do...piety (in the best sense of the word) and activism.
The spiritual life definitely calls us to put our faith into action; the word that describes this part of the rhythm is "service." We are servants of a servant Lord. Jesus showed us the way in washing disciples' feet and told us in Matthew 25 that we are judged by the King and held accountable in relation to how we acted toward "the least of these": the hungry, the homeless, the sick, the imprisoned, the stranger. There is an urgency to our faith that impels us to be about the Lord's work. Jesus' first words in calling his disciples were: "Follow me!" - by which he meant not only follow his teachings, but to leave things behind to follow Jesus literally on the dusty roads of Galilee and Judea. The early followers of Jesus were called "people of the Way," that is, pilgrims, on the move.
One of the old hymns of the church keys on this service and action part of the rhythm:
Come, labor on, who dare stand idle on the harvest plain,
while all around us waves the golden grain.
And to each servant does the Master say, 'Go work today.'
(Presbyterian Hymnal, #415)
But work without rest leads to a seriously imbalanced faith. "Come unto me...and I will give you rest," says Jesus. Robert Whipple, in his youth sermon on Church School Sunday, spoke of the need for rest and relaxation, as indicated in the 23rd Psalm, in which we are invited to be led "in green pastures" and "beside still waters" in order that our souls may be restored. Resting in the Lord is what gives our work meaning and keeps it from becoming mere busyness. Good works can become, as the Reformers so rightly discerned, a frantic and frenzied effort to win God's approval rather than a grateful response to a God who loves us "just as we are."
Spiritual retreats, whether of a week, a day, an afternoon, or even ten quiet minutes, can help to keep us centered - a great medicine for the heart, which is restless until it rests in God. After six days (not literal days) of hard work in establishing Creation, even the Lord took the seventh day as a day of rest to stop doing and just "be."
I can easily conjure up a very literal picture of God sitting back and enjoying the blessings of his work: listening to the birds sing and the brooks babble, watching the wildlife cavort and the whales frolic in the sea, admiring the colors and patterns and fragrant smells of the plants and trees. No wonder God kept repeating the refrain, "This is very good!"
Jesus points to the need for the "rest" phase of the spiritual rhythm in his response to Martha and Mary in the familiar story found in Luke 10. Martha works to the point of distraction in preparing for Jesus' visit to their home and tending to the household chores, while Mary "rests" at Jesus' feet, listening and contemplating his words. Martha's work is necessary...she has simply allowed the work/service part of the rhythm to crowd out the time for spiritual renewal. Though Luke doesn't go there, I could imagine a point at which Jesus might suggest to Mary that, now well-rested in faith, it may be time to help Martha clean the pots and pans, which can also be spiritually enriching (as Brother Lawrence discovered in his kitchen duties in a 17th century French monastery).
Work without spiritual rest becomes empty and wearisome; duty alone can't nourish our souls. But rest without purposeful work can lead toward spiritual malaise as the self takes over life's center and there is a loss of a sense of working for the "common good" (or as faith has it, "the kingdom of God.").
Well, no doubt most of you have been working hard this past winter and spring, "doing what needs to be done" in the home, at work, in the church, and elsewhere. Now I wish for you a summer that gives you at least a measure of time to nourish the "rest" side of the rhythm. Enjoy!
Faithfully,
Rev. Dr. Floyd W. Churn,
Pastor
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