re-creation as a spiritual reality

I've been off (on vacation) since Sunday afternoon and I'm off until Monday. It's been hard. It's been my first "real" vacation is a while and the first time in six years the whole family went away for a vacation. Two days ago I said to Jennifer, "It's hard to not talk about church life." "But if you do," she said, "you'll feel like you never got away, and then your time off will be over and you'll wish you had time to not think and talk about church."

I read these words at the Holidome, while I was kicking it at the pool.

"What keeps many of us from growing is not sin but speed.

Most of us are like Johnny. We are going as fast as we can, living life at dizzying speed, and God is nowhere to be found. We're not rejecting God; we just don't have time for [God]. We've lost [God] in the blurred landscape as we rush to church. We don't struggle with the Bible, but with the clock. It's not that we're too decadent; we're too busy...Most of us don't come come at night staggering drunk. Instead we come home staggering tired, worn out, exhausted, and drained because we live too fast.

Speed is not neutral. Fast living used to mean a life of debauchery; now it just means fast, but the consequences are even more serious. Speeding through life endangers our relationships and our souls...
Jesus came to give us rest.

We know we're ready for God to work in our lives when we're tired. When our lives begin to weigh us down, God is present in the heaviness. It turns out that it's weariness that's next to godliness, because when our souls are tired, we are able to hear his voice...

The ugly truth, however, is that many of us do not know how to rest!
Actually we do know how to rest; we simply refuse to rest. Rest is a decision we make rest is choosing to do nothing when we have too much to do, slowing down when we feel pressure to go faster, stopping instead of starting. Rest is listening to our weariness and responding to our tiredness, not to what is making us tired. Rest is what happens when we say one simple word: "no!" Rest is the ultimate humiliation because in order to rest, we must admit we are not necessary, that the world can get along without us, that God's work does not depend on us (emphasis mine). Once we understand how unnecessary we are, only then might we find the right reasons to be with Jesus instead of working for him. Only then might we have the courage to take a nap with Jesus." (Messy Spirituality by Michael Yaconelli pages 124-127)

Unfortunately, I think pastors are the worst at slowing down, are the worst at stopping, are the worst at just saying "NO!"

So I'm going to go back to my Star Trek T.O.S. DVD's and my not thinking about church (even though I've become even more convinced that a sermon series on the Top 10 would be a good idea simply so that I can preach on Sabbath.)