As we move from the busiest months to the vacation months, as we move from the height of the pandemic to a less viral mess, it is good to be reminded of the power of recreation. In the United States of America we have the fewest guaranteed vacation time then any other country in the industrialized world, so when we do take our time off from work we really do need to make the most of it!
The root word “create” denotes a sense of artistry and newness, a making of something that has not been seen or experienced before. “Creation” then is something inherently new. God created the heavens and the earth. Something that had never been seen or experienced before. God promises us that God will make us a new creation through our baptisms. We then are someone new, someone no one else has experienced before.
So, what does it mean to re-create? What does it mean to
take what was and try to make it again? When we take or vacations is the hope
that we re-create who we once were? Did we become something that we did not
like and therefore we desire to go back to who we were? Or, is there something
else about re-creation, a nuance that is more than just redoing what has
already been done?
My thesis is this – taking vacation is not about recapturing
something that “was” as much as it is about taking what we were and
molding ourselves into something more. We go to re-create, to add to and
take away from, so that we are more of what God wants us to be. I think it is a
time to allow the Holy Spirit space to work on us.
I think the same way about remembering. I think of this word
as the work of reassembling thoughts and memory and people. Reconnecting to the
world and the community around. Jesus said “Do this in remembrance of me.” I
believe that Holy Communion is not so much “the Great Thanksgiving” as it is
the “Great Re-membering” of the community of Christ.
This summer I pray that you take your vacation time to
re-create yourself, your family, and your relationship with God. I pray also
that when we do get to worship in our sanctuary that it is a similar experience
and that we re-member, that is we recreate the Body of Christ.
Peace be with you in all your endeavors.
