Be Patient with my Rant (Post)
Patience - This is the one that gets me. We live in a world of haste and impatience. The way we have ordered the Christian life and the life of the church is impatient. I recall Robert Weber saying something profound at a worship conference: "We don't linger over the Lord's Supper."
Perhaps it was Weber or perhaps it was someone else (John Mark Hicks?) who mentioned that he had spoken to a church leader who bragged that they found a way to complete the service of the Lord's supper in 10 minutes. The response to this was, "But why would you?"
Worship is impatient. It must be knocked off in an hour. Our LIFE Groups will be impatient - they cannot linger over the word but must complete the lesson in the alotted time. We are Fed- Exxed out of our Air Mail chutes. When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight. Now! Now! Now! Now! What is the call word of the age? "Git-r-done"
How many of us have gone to another place where the pace of life is slower. Some adjust quickly to it (I do). Others may find it frustrating. I recall being on the Island of Arran just off the coast of Scotland years ago. There's one bus that runs around the perimeter of the island. And it is never on time. Hurry and busy are not welcome on Arran.
Of course, I wonder if the Margarita-ville attitude to life is really patience or is it just laziness? Maybe patience is the ability to resist the anxious viruses of our age. The ability to linger at the Lord's Table while the culture screams at us to "get back to work" or to "get worried about the next great threat" is more than passivity it seems. It is an active and bold decision worthy of any of the Biblical greats. It is the bold character of Christus Victor who takes up his cross when all the rest of the world is screaming their collective heads off - some want to fight, some want to crucify, some want to gamble, and some want to go back to the business or pleasure that was interrupted by the problem of the Nazarene rabbi. But Christ is ready to linger at the table of the Lord.
posted by Chris Benjamin @ 8:08 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Very nice, Chris. I especially like the way you differentiate between patience on the one hand, and laziness and passivity on the other. Patience is an active decision; a sign of strength, not weakness; an act of trust, not resignation.
With Hurricane Rita bearing down on East Texas, it looks like we are going to get hit with storms pretty bad, even as far north as Tyler. With everyone wanting to define why storms hit--punishment for sin is the one I keep hearing--I decided to do a tangential sermon this Sunday called "Somewhere Between Peace and Patience." It will be good to use some of your rant here, Chris, to help the conversation along. It strikes me that we have a hard time talking about patience if we do not first cultivate peace. I wonder if Paul had that in mind when he ordered this list?
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