Whenever I go on vacation, it takes me a couple days to truly relax. I may stop working when vacation begins, but my mind is still racing. I'm questioning whether I did everything I needed to do before I left the office. I'm worrying about things that could go wrong while I'm away. I'm thinking of things I should do as soon as I return. Then, eventually, all that noise in my head comes to a merciful stop. Usually, what stops the noise is seeing the work of someone else's hands ... the work of our Creator. Earlier today, that moment came as I saw this sunset over Shelter Cove on Hilton Head Island, SC.
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| Sunset over Shelter Cove |
My father struggled mightily to find a balance between work and leisure. He admitted as much in a sermon he preached entitled "Take Time." Here's what he had to say:
"I first confronted this issue within myself when I realized that whenever I wasn't working I literally didn't know what else to do. It is scary to realize that there is nothing more to you than your work. It was then that I realized that I needed a conversion. ...
"I find it interesting to remember that the God in whom I place my trust is a God who took a day off, the seventh day, the Sabbath. The Sabbath has always been at the center of the Jewish religious experience, and for very good reason. It is the weekly reminder to the Jew of the grace of God. There is one day when all human labor and striving and worry can cease. We can sit idle and see firsthand that life goes on without our effort. God does it all. We exist by God's grace. Then, when the Sabbath is over and we return to work, we see it in a new light -- not as life insurance, but as an expression of faith that God will provide. We Christians have exchanged the Sabbath for Sunday, but the meaning is still the same. And a more faithful observance of this day -- using it to take time -- would be a conversion experience for many of us.
"The conversion we need is a conversion from egotism, a new recognition that God is God and we are human. It is a recognition that the universe, even the immediate universe, does not swirl around me and is not dependent upon me. It means embracing the kind of humility Paul described when he warned 'not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.'" Romans 12:3 (NRSV).
My dad also pointed out that Paul had written that "it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith -- and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV). "In other words," Dad said, "we are given value and worth as human beings, not by what we have accomplished, not by how busy we are, not by how hard we work. We are saved, we are valued, we are given worth by the sheer unmitigated grace of God. Paul discovered what we need to discover: we are saved, we are valuable, we are given worth because we are loved by God unconditionally; 'not because of works,' Paul writes, 'lest any man should boast.'"
If I continue struggling to relax on this vacation, I'm going to try not to take myself too seriously. The world isn't going to stop spinning because I'm not answering the phone or checking my email. This is my Sabbath, my chance to rest, my chance to remember once again that it is God's grace, not my effort, that carries me and my family from day to day. Thanks be to God!
From: "Take Time"
Ephesians 2:4-10
Preached 8/2/1987 at Paoli UMC
My dad also pointed out that Paul had written that "it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith -- and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV). "In other words," Dad said, "we are given value and worth as human beings, not by what we have accomplished, not by how busy we are, not by how hard we work. We are saved, we are valued, we are given worth by the sheer unmitigated grace of God. Paul discovered what we need to discover: we are saved, we are valuable, we are given worth because we are loved by God unconditionally; 'not because of works,' Paul writes, 'lest any man should boast.'"
If I continue struggling to relax on this vacation, I'm going to try not to take myself too seriously. The world isn't going to stop spinning because I'm not answering the phone or checking my email. This is my Sabbath, my chance to rest, my chance to remember once again that it is God's grace, not my effort, that carries me and my family from day to day. Thanks be to God!
From: "Take Time"
Ephesians 2:4-10
Preached 8/2/1987 at Paoli UMC
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