Below is a post off of my blog on dmJuice.com. I included it here because I think it could prove valuable for discussion.

I have been thinking about writing a book lately. I would call the book, “No More Sundays” (a play off of the hugely popular “No More Mondays” by Dan Miller).

“What’s behind the title?” you ask. Well, it seems that in my life I tend to segregate what happens on Sunday mornings as “church” and the rest of the week is “not church.” I don’t make these distinctions intentionally, but years of cultural conditioning have programmed compartments in my brain to better categorize this experience called “life”:

Work = Monday – Friday; 9-5pm.
Drive = Right side of the road.
Eat = Three meals per day.
Church = Sometime on Sunday morning.

I have been really challenged lately by some words I read regarding what “going to church” should look like. The author I’m reading says this to some of his friends about what “church” is all about, “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. This, my friends, is your spiritual act of worship.” Simple words if I’ve ever heard them.

So back to my book, “No More Sundays”. I am certainly not saying that we should all stop going to church on Sundays. That would be missing the point. Or, as a mentor of mine likes to say it, “throwing the baby out with the bath water.” What Iamsaying is that we need to re-evaluate what we consider “church.” Is “the church” a place that I go to or is the church an identity that I have whether I am in a church building or not? An identity that follows me around in my “everyday, ordinary life”?

I say “No More Sundays” because I am becoming increasingly more fond of resting on Sundays. As in “sleeping in until noon” rest. As in not going to church. As followers of Jesus, we do need to be in communication with other believers; reading God’s word together, worshiping together through music and prayer and the sacraments. This much is true. But does this have to happen on a Sunday morning? What about a Saturday night? A Tuesday night? Or, I don’t know – just throwing this out there – a Thursday night?

I don’t have all the answers so in the meantime, my wife and I are really enjoying our Sunday mornings together. Not to sound trite, but it’s in those moments – resting next to her, making scrambled eggs for her, having a hot cup of coffee in between – that my soul, my spirit, is most at rest. After all, isn’t that what the Sabbath is all about?

And that, my friends, is what you call a Greek @$$-kicking. If you’ll remember, I did not fare so well on the last Greek quiz that I took. This, I’m afraid, feels good… Maybe even “very good!”

From Robert Kegan’s The Mental Demands of Modern Life:

“When burnout occurs, it is almost always an indication that the person’s goals have been externally imposed. Somehow he embarked on his present course because it was expected of him… He was never the authentic source of his choices and consequently they afford little real satisfaction.”

I thought that was pretty great.

Status: Stuck in a small, 4×4 room. Studying for Greek quiz. Needed a break. Took picture of self from ceiling of said small room. Back to the salt mines.

Studying Greek this week, I needed a pick me up of sorts.

This is a hard language to learn – very analytical, mathematical, precise. I got a jolt from my wife via e-mail, but then our professor handed an article out by none other than Martin Luther. He talks about the importance of learning the languages of the Scriptures – Greek and Hebrew. I needed a reminder as to why I’m doing this, Luther provided me with one:

“We should not be led astray because some boast of the Spirit and consider Scripture of little worth, and others… think the languages are unnecessary. Dear friend, say what you will about the Spirit, I too have been in the Spirit and have seen the Spirit, perhaps even more of it than those fellows with all their boasting will see in a year. Moreover, my spirit has given some account of itself, while theirs sits quietly in its corner and does little more than brag about itself. I know full well that while it is the Spirit alone who accomplishes everything, I would surely have never flushed a covey if the languages had not helped me and given me a sure and certain knowledge of Scripture. I too could have lived uprightly and preached the truth in seclusion; but then I should have left undisturbed the pope, the sophists, and the whole anti-Christian regime.“

Beautiful. Basically, Luther is saying the Holy Spirit is in the languages of the Scriptures – not removed from them. Luther is blasting the anti-intellectualism of his day (and ours), the pope, sophists (modern-day secular humanists), and atheism (aggressive atheism, not passive atheism).

Simply put, Luther is encouraging Christians to adopt the reality that our minds are connected to our spirits – our minds are not our enemies, they are our friends.

So trudge on Christian. Exercise that mind and take heart!

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A live look at what’s going on in my classroom. I’m up at Bethel Seminary for the next two weeks… I’m in Greek this week and then a Spiritual Formation class next week. Stay tuned to the “Bethel Cam” for all the in-class shenanigans.

This is a great article, all around.

Partly because I’m an idealist.
Partly because I haven’t the first clue about how to run a thrift store (or any store, for that matter).