“Tried to run fast enough
Tried to fly high enough
Thought that I could dive deep enough
To lose your hold on me
The end of the road the bottom of the glass
The grip of fear that holds you fast
Lost in the valley no song to sing
When you're brushed by an angel's wings
And you're Still in One Peace
Still in One Peace
We are blessed we are broken
Given one more chance to be
Found in you we are In One Peace”
www.petermayer.com/songs/still-in-one-peace
On Sunday we begin our week contemplating The Blessing of Being Un-Plugged. Our “big idea” is “Unplug in order to Re-Charge!” As we divided up the preaching responsibilities for our Lenten journey it was unanimous among Pastor Ruth Ann, Intern Jess and Joni that I be the one speaking about this particular topic. My sense is that it was for reasons which are prescriptive and also descriptive. For as some of you know, I have four twitter accounts, three blogs, at least a couple of e-mail addresses, my Blackberry and then also a family cell phone and an I-pod or two. So, in some ways it was like a technological duel presented by them. “Hey, RTG can you walk the talk, besides talking the walk?”
And I know that I’m hyper connected and “wired” in so many different ways. So, I’m hoping and praying that Peter words are a prayer,
“Given one more chance to be
Found in you we are In One Peace.”
I want the angel of “Stillness” to brush her wings against me this day.
I recently read that four out of ten people admit to texting while going to the bathroom. I am not saying “as they are walking to the bathroom” but as they do what they do in a bathroom. I believe this is taking the concept of “multi-tasking” just a little too seriously.
There is a group that sponsors a National Day of Unplugging. You can learn more about them by checking out :
www.sabbathmanifesto.org/unplug/
They have put together ten principles to guide people like me through the maze and daze of technology. Avoid technology
01. Avoid technology
02. Connect with loved ones
03. Nurture your health
04. Get outside
05. Avoid commerce
06. Light candles
07. Drink wine
08. Eat bread
09. Find Silence
10. Give back
I’d be interested in hearing how you feel about these ideas. Drop me a note at h2odevos@earthlink.net
Judith Shulevitz has written in her NY Times article, “Bring Back the Sabbath”
http://bit.ly/fcpEGx “Religious rituals do not exist simply to promote togetherness. They're theater. They are designed to convey to us a certain story about who we are without our even quite noticing that they are doing so. (One defining feature of religious rituals, in fact, is that we often perform them for years before we come to understand what they mean; this is why ministers and rabbis are famously unsympathetic when congregants complain that worship services or holiday rites feel meaningless.) The story told by the Sabbath is that of creation: we rest because God rested on the seventh day. What leads from God to humankind is the notion of imitatio Dei: the imitation of God. In other words, we rest in order to honor the divine in us, to remind ourselves that there is more to us than just what we do during the week”.
She wrote that article in 2003. She now has a book out entitled The Sabbath World- Glimpses of a Different Order of Time.
I really like what she is saying.
I’m interested in hearing from you, how do you “Unplug in order to Re-Charge!”
Peace,
rtg
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