Spiritual Velocity

This is the first of an intermittent series of notes on sermons I hear.

Why intermittent? I don't always get to be at my home church every week, some sermons don't seem to lend themselves to my note-taking, and sometimes, I confess, I "drift". What do I mean by "notes"?  Summaries, a few bullet points, or whatever else strikes my fancy.

These will not be complete sermon outlines -- I'd have to pay way too much attention for that. As it is, I worry about missing a good point as I jot down my notes. My hope is that as I force myself to take sermon notes, not only will I pay better attention, but I'll also have more "take home" nuggets of spiritual wisdom. I post them here for both you and me.

Velocity

Many people think of velocity as how fast you are going.  But that's speed. Velocity is both the speed of an object plus the direction in which it's headed.

 

Spiritual velocity

A few related thoughts:

• Where are you on the line from Sinner to Saint?
• Are you headed in the right direction?
• How fast are you progressing?
• Are you even moving?

Mark Twain once said, "Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just stand there."

Saul was not headed in the right direction, but when he experienced the "intervention" on the road to Damascus, he "saw the light". He made strong change in spiritual velocity. He was blinded but he finally "saw". Physically he was still heading to Damascus, but spiritually he had done a "180" and would rush onward in the right direction, changing both his name and his outlook. The fervor he once spent in persecuting followers of Jesus he now channeled into boldly proclaiming the good news of Christ's resurrection.

Looking at the ministry of Jesus, his Passion, his crucifixion, and the resurrection, we can see his high spiritual velocity ... moving strongly and in the right direction.

Rushing on the Day of Rest

"Hurry" sickness. Most of us have it. And it's not good. A recent sermon at our church was about rushing around on the Sabbath and the need for a true day of rest.

Rev. Dave referred to Blue Laws, child labor, and the impact of our computerized world. Some points he made:

• Blue Laws "protected" Sundays for Christians, but now that most State legislatures allow businesses to be open on Sundays, guess who's patronizing them? Christians.
• Sunday school started as education of children on their only non-work day.
• Computers were supposed to give us more free time. Instead, they we have let them get us to do even more work in the same period of time. We are busier than ever, even on Sundays.
• We have increased the amount of business work we do, even taking more of it home.
• We need to find the courage to "Just say no" to added work.
• Learn to accept God's gift of rest.
• Slow down, stop, and let your cup fill with true inner peace -- Shalom.

Americans are the most productive workers in world, but it's because we work long and hard, even taking it home. (Mea Cupla!) That's great for a business' bottom line, but we need to take a hard look at work vs. rest.

When asked by a rabbi why he was rushing by, a man replied, "I'm running to work to make a living."

"Are you sure", asked the rabbi, "that your livelihood is running away from you and you have to rush to catch it up? Perhaps it's rushing toward you and all you have to do is stand still and let it catch up with you." [link]

On the seventh day, God rested. Do we think He was a slacker? Do we think we're better than God? Is it even really restful to try to rush around and squeeze in as many non-business activities as we can on a weekend, even Sunday? Do we incorrectly consider resting to be "doing nothing"?

Related links

• Are you missing out on a blessing from God? (Good News Magazine)
• Child Labor
• Child labor in America, 1908-1912
• Blue Law (Wikipedia)
• Keeping the Sunday Sabbath - Does such a Thing Still Exist? (UMC.org)
• The origin of Sunday School
• Report: U.S. Workers Are Most Productive (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Robert Raikes and Sunday Schools
• Sabbath-keeping is a discipline and a blessing (Interpreter magazine)
• sleep. sabbath. surrender.
• Take back your Sabbath (Christianity Today)
• What religious groups say about the Sabbath
• When it's Rush Hour all Day Long: Finding Peace in a Hurry-Sick World (book)

Listen to Sermon Cloud

Sermon Cloud is an unusual and cool site. It stores sermons, which you can listen to online, download or listen as an MP3 type file, or download as a Podcast.
Good ways to wade in the water of Sermon Cloud is to check out the most popular sermons today, "Most amens for the week", month, or best sermons ever. Scroll to the bottom of the home page to see a category listing.
The Sermon Cloud "swicki" on the right shows which search terms (tags) are most popular on the site.
Pastors can syndicate, podcast, and publish sermons online - assuming that they are courageous and confident enough.