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Come fish with me!
August, the lazy, hazy days of summer. Time to sit back and
enjoy a little “time-off” from the pressures of life and spend “time-with”
the people we love.
“But Oh,” I hear many say: “I have so many things to do and so little time
to do them! “The kids have so much on their schedule; softball, soccer, band
camp – my spouse has golf league and class reunion; and if all that’s to
happen it’s up to me to fit it in the day! “Now, I’m pretty good at
scheduling, but in all my prowess there is something that keeps happening to
completely frustrate my limited time – standing in line and waiting rooms!”
Is there any more annoying, exasperating experience in “civilized” life than
being at the wrong end of an interminable, serpentine line of humanity?
That’s right – standing in line again …. Of course, the slowest and most
frustrating lines always seem to occur at all our very favorite places and
at the most inopportune times.
Fax machines, microwaves, overnight deliveries, express check-out lanes,
email and cell phones – all these conveniences testify to the fact that we
all hate to wait – for anything. We have so many demands on our time, so
many things going on, such busy, busy, busy lives that we consider any time
spent waiting as time hopelessly lost.
One of the most (dare I say humorous?) illustrations of this fact is the
number of people who now choose everything from coffee shops to health care
practitioners by determining which waiting rooms are “hot-spots.” Waiting
rooms that are wired for internet access so work on the lap-top can be
completed while waiting for service. We no longer “wait” in waiting rooms,
we work in waiting rooms, so we want our waiting rooms to be “wired!” Wired,
a pretty good descriptive word for our society today, we’re even wired as we
wait.
Jesus didn’t know any waiting rooms – he knew only living rooms. While we
might complain that we spend all our time living in waiting rooms, Jesus
spent his ministry waiting in living rooms. He stood in the midst of the
common everyday mundanities that kept first-century men and women as busy
and pressed for time as their 21st-century counterparts. Jesus
hung around with Martha and Mary while they cooked and cleaned, he arrived
early for dinner parties and stayed late, he walked in the midst of crowds
when he might have ridden or sailed to his destinations. Jesus spent time
with people, talking, listening, loving … one must slow down and take time
to be able to love.
Take a little extra time this month on Sunday the 12th to share a
little more love and have a lot of fun. Gather the family and come to St.
John’s UCC Annual Church Picnic. This year our sister in Christ, Louann
Nellis, has graciously invited us to her country home for our church picnic.
Louann has a private lake for swimming and fishing, a pavilion in case of
rain or too much sun, lots of room for games of softball, horseshoes,
frisbee; a beautiful place to sit-back, relax, enjoy good food, good
company, and live a little with people you love.
You will find more details about the picnic in this month’s issue of
The Voice. On Sunday, August 12th you’ll find me laid
back on a hill, straw hat on head, grass between teeth, cane-pole in hand
with a number 10 hook and bobber on line.
Slowing down a little for life with people I love ~
pastor john
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