From the Rector…
Steve and I spent last week at the beach enjoying a wonderful vacation filled with family, friends, blue skies, comets, porpoises, and plenty of reading. The Frazer family has a vacation home in Orange Beach—built in the 1940’s and later rebuilt after Hurricane Ivan destroyed it. It offers solace and peace, beautiful views of the bay, and the soothing sounds of the water and osprey—a truly wonderful place to rest and rejuvenate.
Our next-door neighbors at the beach have been there for as long as I can remember. While we were there last week, the youngest of their three daughters temporarily moved in with her husband and two children. They live in Ashville and were under a “boil water” alert so, they decided to stay at the beach until the “all clear” is issued back home.
Though life at the beach is quite different from the daily grind we often experience at home, it was clear that the mother of these two small children was trying to maintain a schedule. Every morning at dawn, they walked down to the pier to watch the sunrise. At 3pm, like clockwork, the children came outside to play in the front yard. At sunset, it was time for another trip to the pier to watch the sun go down. Routine is important, and this little family, whose life had been so disrupted by natural disaster, was coping by establishing a new daily routine.
Children crave structure and thrive in it. The looser the structure around their lives, the more chaotic and reactive they tend to become. When boundaries are set around their behavior, they begin to act more positively. The challenge lies in finding the right balance of structure that each child needs, specifc to their situation. Parents can spend their entire lives fine-tuning this structure to help their children find positive expressions of who they are and grow into good humans. It’s hard work, but when done well, it brings purpose, meaning, and fulfillment to both parents and children alike.
Adults are no different; we need structure. We can easily become overwhelmed when faced with too many choices. This may partly explain why Chick-Fil-A is so successful. We think we want unlimited choices, but we truly crave boundaries and guidance in decision-making and behavior. When we allow ourselves the luxury of good structure with fewer choices and clearer focus, we find that we thrive.
Structure doesn’t have to be rigid—this is the essence of Jesus’ mission and ministry. When we impose a structure that is too inflexible to allow for some bending of the rules, we risk breaking relationships. Jesus comes as the fulfillment of the law and the prophets; he embodies the fulfillment of relationships. He doesn’t merely tell people what to do and judge them when they fall short; he shows them how to live and loves them into being. His life is loosely structured around praying, teaching, and miracles. He feeds people and then withdraws to pray. He heals people and then goes off by himself to pray. He teaches the crowds and then prays. Unlike our next-door beach neighbors, his structure isn’t bound by hours or specific times; it is grounded in ways of being—act and pray, act and pray. (Though we might do better to pray first and then act. Indeed, you could argue that Jesus prays before he feeds, heals, or teaches. You might even go so far as to say he prays, acts, prays.) The routine is important, regardless of whether it is built on a schedule or a way of being in the world.
One of the lessons of the pandemic is the value of routine. Family life shifted during those years to accommodate changes in work, school, and home routines. Unfortunately, one of the casualties of that shift was the church. While we are beginning to recover our church attendance habits, we have suffered from being out of the routine of going to church. As you reflect on the routines in your life, consider the importance of regular church attendance for worship and praise, anchoring your life to the things that matter most. The church is not meant to be a rigid structure, but a place of relationships—with God and with one another.
Light and Life,
Candice+