Finding the Balance in a World Gone Mad

Thinking Through How to Be Fed and Feed Where Busyness Rules the Day

Good Morning,

Since we are spending time in the Proverbs this summer I thought it good to continue here in our Tuesday prayer and worship help to think through the purposes of God in providing this book in His Bible. Aphorisms and peaky words of wisdom are a part of every culture under heaven. We could repeat old wives’ tales about hanging the husband’s ring over a pregnant wife’s belly to figure out the sex of the baby, or old farmer ideas like an upturned leaf pointing to rain. Received understandings populate our general knowledge more than we often realize. Much of the work we do as parents is born of the inherited experience of those who have raised children before. It is worth remembering that what Solomon provided for his son was not anything different than I am sure he heard from his father David, or that David was taught by Jesse, who learned from Obed, brought up at the knee of Boaz, and you get the idea.

There is a witness to this same hypothesis of the importance of fathers and mothers in the work of passing down the wisdom of God from generation-to-generation in the New Testament. It is true whether you are speaking about men or women. Husbands and wives as they enter into the responsibility of bringing up godly children are reminded that other people have done that same labor (no pun intended) before. Titus 2, 1 Timothy 5, Ephesians 6, 1 Peter 5, 1 John 2, etc... all have words to say on this point. It would be good for older people to be willing to help train and provide comforting words to ensure the same old wives tales and farmer’s almanac wisdom is not lost as the younger folk grow and older folk pass away. I often think about how much could be and is being lost because on one hand the generations which we are losing have not taken care of their calling to ensure the unwritten testimonies are continued, but on the other the younger folks are not seeking that out and making themselves avail the opportunities which are certainly there for the taking to learn at the feet of the veterans. Why doesn’t this happen as much now?

Part of the reason I think for it is that a lot of our trust forms in twenty-first century American culture are broken. We don’t fellowship like we used to, so we don’t know each other like we used to. It’s somewhat ironic that in an era where we have more machines doing more of the labor-intensive activities of the past: dishwashers, washers/dryers, robot vacuums, etc . . . all taking the time suck out of the needful chores of life, that we have never been busier. We are three or four generations into the normalcy of dual-income households and have never had more to do and less schedule available to do it. Even those of us with SAHM’s don’t seem to be able to squeeze one more activity into everything that is going on. I sometimes sit and think where all this busyness came from when the promise of the future has always been that we would have the kind of leisure time only kings could dream of back in the day. How we use it is largely the issue.

Just from a ministry perspective finding opportunities to do home visits and visitation in general with the non-homebound gets increasingly more difficult as the days roll on. We have to rely on texts, FB or Insta messenger, and/or fly-by conversations in the moment to find out what is going on in people’s lives. Everyone is super busy. Same can be said for Sabbath worship and other means of grace moments during the week. Whenever I ask someone why they can’t make it to a Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting for example the reason given back is almost always because something else is going on, or that even 6:30pm is a hard time to meet. And to be fair my family is no exception when it comes to the way our experience with Middle School (and soon to be High School) sports has seen Wednesday no longer be a kind of “mid-week Sabbath” in the South. We’ll see this almost double up in the Fall when my youngest son begins playing football.

There are no simple solutions, and frankly it is unrealistic to just tell our youth that they cannot be involved in anything if it conflicts with stuff during the week. While we all understand (should at least) that the Sabbath is a different animal in accordance with the Fourth Command it still can be frustrating to wonder how we can improve religious fellowship when it is so hard to find a place to fit it in. It is also not just a young or older family problem. Every time I speak with folks in the retired era of life they also report being super busy, seeing not as much retiring as they expected. With all this being the case what can we do then to try and figure out how to not lose the community of faith in which the wisdom of Biblical truth can be passed on?

In the ARP Form of Government two of the responsibilities of the elders are that they, “Develop and supervise religious and educational programs of the congregation.” and, “Devise and encourage suitable measures for the spiritual advancement of the congregation and of the Church.” It may be time for the session to be considering how best to accomplish these parts of their calling in ways to encourage and organize the people of God into corporate times of worship and fellowship that might not fit the patterns of former generations. Change is hard, but rather than sit and hope that our whole culture would return to the way of the past it might be time to reconsider some non-Sabbath activities. However, one thing from a personal perspective that stilts conversation on my end is that while you can build something in the hopes people will come, you need to hear from folks that they are actually interested in seeing it come to pass.

In closing, that is the harder conversation to have in the midst of wondering how to mature the flock of God in the faith passed down from the saints who came before. Christ is pretty clear that we are weak and weary because we lack a hunger for righteousness. One of the more arresting parables of Jesus is the feast prepared in which no one wants to come and eat thereof. We have a bounty available at Bethany. Whether it’s 10am Sabbath School, 11am and 5:30pm worship on the Lord’s Day, or 6:30pm Wednesday Nights (not to mention these Tuesday/Thursday helps) there are modes available to meet the spiritual needs that we have. Show a desire, and answers may come closer to the surface than you thought possible before.

Here’s some tough love:

https://gospelreformation.net/its-a-hunger-problem/?print=print

Blessings in Christ,

Rev. Benjamin Glaser

Pastor, Bethany ARP Church