And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. Genesis 2:2
I have a confession. This week while setting up my office at my new call, (Nativity Lutheran Church, Palm Beach Gardens FL...woot woot) I had a Pinterest moment of inspiration. Yes, I said Pinterest. Fellas, before you think it necessary to revoke my man card, allow me to explain. While unpacking my professional library, I thought it would be "aesthetically pleasing to the eye" for my books to be arranged on the shelves by color. See picture above. Thanks to the efforts of my daughter Lydia I have ROYGBIV going on. Looks good, right?
Now part of my reasoning for going against my typical ordering of books by topic (theology, pastoral care, leadership etc.) was that I really don't use my books all that much. They have almost come to be a ruse of sort. I haven't read half of those books, and the appearance of them gracing my office feels a little inauthentic. Quite honestly, I feel like the ones I haven't read, and may never read, stare at me wondering when my hands will touch their spine, and eyes grace their pages. I wonder if they know I opted for them to be arranged by color? Does the stoic Book of Concord know its spooning with earthy Soul Types? Of course not. And it doesn't matter, it looks good.
So about this book order. Yeah...um...two days later and the order of the churchy books is driving me crazy. A personal mantra of mine has always been function over form. This little book experiment obviously flies in the face of that. I look at the shelves of wealth, of knowledge and resource, and wonder how I will ever find a book on say, sabbath (the seventh day of rest), when I am not familiar with what it looks like to begin with. I have no starting point. What if the Library of Congress was arranged by color? Holy crap, that would be a fiasco. Given the state of our nations current political landscape maybe it is?! Ahem...I digress. Thank you Dewey of the Decimal for giving us the system.
Function over form, function over form, function over form...Ugh. I need a better system. I need a better starting point. You know, you can put lipstick on a pig, but in the end, its still a pig. And you can paint a turd, but in the end, it still a turd. If I cannot get to what I need, then why have it?
As I start this call to Nativity Lutheran, I am trying my best to rest in faith more deliberately. Daily devotions, this blog, intentional prayer and practices of the like, are all ways in which I am getting the Holy Spirit in on the act of ordering my life to not just look good, but to be good as well. In order for me to have good orderly function as a child of God, pastor, husband, father and friend, the form of all aspects of my life needs to rest in God's presence. It is all too easy to get run over by life and loose sight of what is essential to a life in Christ.
I don't know about you, but here I am Lord, distracted, broken, and in need of a gracious restart. Once again, trying to employ a better system, so that more often than not, you God are my starting point. Guide us all, so that in the midst of all the busy and messy of life we rest in you. Have us make the time during days 1 through 6 to find rest in you. Make our lives to be formed in the image of, and function as, your son Jesus Christ. Have us start and function from there.
I'll just go and rearrange those books now, and maybe just start a book on keeping/practicing the sabbath. I think I saw one keeping company with Bonhoeffer's Creation and Fall - Temptation. Hmmm, how appropriate, perhaps divine? And oh yeah... function over form prevails. You're welcome fellas.
His function and form be in you all...
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