The time is now - Pastor's Pen for 30th March 2025

Native Tree Cafe, Mangatarata

Apostle Paul in the first letter to the church at Corinth writes; "So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall." (1 Cor 10:12) It speaks of a faithful vigilance in matters of cultivating Christian life.

I'm pretty vigilant about coffee and loo stops on a road trip. I'm pretty sure there's no good cafes North of Matamata until you get to Mangatarata just before Highway 27 joins Highway 2. Sometimes you need a coffee break and the time is now. No one wants an un-caffeinated grumpy driver. The need for sufficient breaks and rests is programmed into the human body and mind. We ignore the need at our peril.

I'm just listening to the Walter Brueggemann audio book Sabbath as Resistance. Our culture conditions us to want more and better, and with urgency. It's the same culture that drives Pharaoh to insist the Hebrews build more bricks with less resources. But God provides a way out. In the wilderness, when the manna comes, there is no need to gather on the sabbath. The people need faith that God will provide.

Sunday is a busy day for me, then following that, the Korean Church ensures home is a noisy, bustling place to be. So I build sabbath into my life in other ways. I need to be vigilant as it's easy to let it slip. Sabbath, taking rest and taking time for God, is the difference between spiritual life and death, though sometimes we don't realise it. "So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall." (1 Cor 10:12) Shalom