From the Pastor

June 2010

Remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy.

"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it." – Shrug in The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Barb and I had a wonderful trip to Peru. Thanks so much to all of you who stepped up while I was gone to make sure the ministries and worship of St. Ansgar Lutheran Church continued unabated.

Our trip was a wonderful combination of activity and rest. From hiking the Inca Trail as it led to the famed Machu Picchu City ruins, to resting beside the Huacachina oasis sipping Pisco Sours, sometimes we were run off our feet while at other times we had nothing to do but stop, sit, and watch Peruvian life go by.

This is a far cry from how we used to do vacations. In the past we would rent a car and plan every minute of our vacation time to within an inch of its life. If, by some little bit of bad planning, we found ourselves with an hour or two with nothing to do, we would hop in the car and drive off to squeeze in one more site.

But not this time. This time we signed up to see the south west part of Peru as brought to us by Gap Adventure Tours. This meant that we were on their schedule, not ours. And we had no car to drive us off to any sites the tour company chose to skip over. This also meant that we would often have hours, maybe even a whole afternoon and evening, of unscheduled time with nothing to do but stroll through the city streets or sit in the immaculately kept but packed and lively town squares.

While on the Inca Trail, we would sometimes arrive at our camping site in the early afternoon. The porters would already have the tents all set up leaving us nothing to do but sit and enjoy the beauty of the Andes mountains until 5:00 tea time (yes, there in the wilds of the Andes mountains, the porters served hot tea everyday at 5:00 sharp!).

Barb and I came to call these times “forced relaxation.” It was quite new to us. We’re used to being busy. In our lives, busy-ness is rewarded as a virtue, so much so that even while on vacation every instinct tells us to go, go, go lest we miss something interesting or fail to experience something exciting.

Biblically, the Sabbath was instituted, not as a legally mandated day off, but as a reminder that busy-ness is not a virtue. Busy-ness is nothing more than a life-sucking black hole that only has the appearance of virtue. Sabbath, on the other hand, is a life-giving rest that only has the appearance of wasted time.

It’s not always easy to find Sabbath rest in our society. But fortunately, Summer is just around the corner. I pray that God will grant you time and space this Summer to do absolutely nothing but find rest and, maybe, notice the colour purple in your life.

Peace,
Pastor Brian