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We welcomed Richard Gordon to the pulpit on April 7 to preach on The Way of Love: Rest.
Scripture in the bulletin:
/digital_faith/documents/3263162
Resting, to Remember & Restore
Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-10; Psalm 23; Mark 6:30-32; Hebrews 4:9-12
The Fifth Sunday of Lent
Sunday, April 7 2019
At the very outset of Scripture, it becomes unmistakably clear that God isn’t interested in just sitting around… Without hesitation, it’s as if we hear God say, “Ok, let’s get started! I’ve got work to do!” On day one, God creates light and separates it from darkness, forming day and night… On day two, God separates the waters and creates the sky… On the first part of day three, God separates dry land from the sea… All of this essential to the survival of what follows… On the remainder of day three, God creates plant life… On day four God creates the sun, the moon, and stars in the sky… On day five, God fills the water and the sky with fish and birds that couldn’t have survived without the plant life created earlier… On day six, God creates the animals and humanity… If the opening verses of Scripture tell us anything about God at all, they tell us that God values work and takes work seriously… In fact we might conclude that God values work more than anything else… And, if God has created us in God’s image, as we later discover, work therefore must be what we are to be about as well…
In verse after verse, throughout the entire project of creation, God is seen working, day in and day out, for what seems to be forever… Work appears to be God’s default characteristic…
And then, suddenly, without warning, out-of-the-blue, there’s this dramatic change… God says, “I’m going to take a break! I’m going to stop for a while now… I’m going to rest…” And so, the very first day after humanity has been created isn’t a day of work, but a day of rest… Humanity’s very first day of existence was a day of rest… God is saying something incredibly profound here, namely: our starting point, humanity’s foundational position, is a place ofrest, a place where we are given and receive our inherent worth and value… So, instead of engaging in a cycle of resting from our work – after our work is done, our work is to emanate out of that place of rest – that place where we are given and receive our inherent worth and value…
So, so different from how we seem to see things today… For it’s our work, we believe, that gives us our worth and value… Across the full spectrum of our ages, we seem to be programmed to be busy doing something all the time… It starts early… In addition to school, it isn’t unusual for our children to be involved in something comparable to multiple team sports, church activities, scouts, music lessons, etc., etc… And parents, whose schedules are also overfull are pressured to over-involve their children, because ‘everybody’s doing it’… Just listen to the adults you meet and you’ll quickly hear them say how busy they are… Even the retirees have calendars that are so full you can’t even find an agreeable date to schedule a dinner-party for six! And, take note of what happens when, because of age or infirmity, a person is no longer able to do anything… Because they’re no longer able to do anything, these persons no longer feel they’re worth anything… The late internationally renowned author and speaker, Wayne Dyer, said, "I am a human being, not a human doing. Don't equate your self-worth with how well you do things in life. You aren't what you do. If you are what you do, then when you don't... you aren't."
We need to routinely take a break – need to stop – to rest and to remember that there’s nothing we can do that will cause God to love us more – nothing more we can do that will give us a better chance of getting into God’s good favor… Our worth and value is inherent in our being, not in our doing…
Twenty-nine years ago (hard to imagine it’s been that long, but), twenty-nine years ago when my older son, Daniel, was a senior in high school, I was asked to preach the sermon at the Baccalaureate Service. Now of course I had to give my answer some weeks in advance, and I had to hesitate, because there was no certainty then that my son was going to graduate! In what was either a bold or foolish move, depending how you look at it, I decided to accept the invitation. And when the time came for the Baccalaureate Service, I was there and preached the Baccalaureate Sermon, but Daniel wasn’t there – because at that moment he didn’t have sufficient credits to graduate… The sermon title was “You All Get A” -- the sermon said, “I hope you know or will soon discover that value and self-worth come not by what we have achieved, but rather by virtue of who we are – I hope you know or will soon discover that you don’t need to do anything to prove or earn your goodness; your goodness comes by your having been created as a child of God and the everlasting universe – I hope you know or will soon discover that no lack of achievement whatsoever can ever alter the fact that in the very heart of Reality itself, you all get A!”
We need to routinely take a break – need to stop – to rest and to remember that our worth and value comes not from our work, not from our doing, not from our busyness, but comes from our having been created as a child of God and the everlasting universe…
Several years ago, John Ortberg, a well-known mega-church pastor, when considering taking a position at Willow Creek Community Church, sought out the guidance and wisdom of Dallas Willard, a person highly regarded for his writings on spiritual formation. John said, “Dallas, what’s your best wisdom and counsel for me as I am about to step into this daunting position?” Dallas said, “John, you must ruthlessly eliminate hurry.” It was quiet for several moments… And then John said, “Ok. What else?” “That’s all,” said Dallas. “That’s all… Ruthlessly eliminate hurry.”
In a culture where work and doing and busyness are the default mode, we need to routinely slow down and take a break – need to stop – need to remember who we are – need to remember who we’re created to be…
The story is told of a caravan of Englishmen traveling through the jungle… Those indigenous to the jungle were called upon to carry the heavy luggage. Day after day they made steady progress through the tangled roots and narrow paths of the rain forest. One morning, though, the Englishmen were up early and ready to begin but those indigenous to the jungle were sitting in a circle and wouldn’t budge. When asked what was wrong, the indigenous chief said, “We need to rest a while, we need to stop and wait for our souls to catch up with our bodies.”
In a culture where work and doing and busyness are the default mode, we need to routinely slow down and take a break – need to stop and remember who we are – need to restore our souls… Restoration of the soul brings us back to that foundational position – that very first day of humanity’s existence – that place where we are given and receive our inherent worth and value – that place from which our vocational work emanates… Let it be so. Amen.
