ReCreate
We take time to
rest, play, create and restore beauty in ways that reflect God to others.
After powerfully and
joyfully creating the universe, God rested. We were created in his image and
therefore were made to joyfully create and rest as well. We regularly take time
to rest, play, create and restore beauty in ways that reflect what God is like
to our community.
When I was a kid, I liked getting by myself. I would put on my headphones and skate through Venice, CA. Once, I stopped and looked up at a man painting on a wall. He said, "If you come back tomorrow, I'll give you a job." To get paid to paint? That was like a dream. The man and I completed that mural, and that job lead to another mural job that was 50 feet long and 30 feet high. I stuck through it from the beginning to the end, and suddenly I had this skill. Soon, I was with a friend at St. Anne's Home for Unwed Mothers. My friend said to one of the ladies that worked there, "This guy paints murals, so why don't you let him put something on the Nursery wall?" I realized then that I had something to give back, even if I just painted flowers on a wall. Since then, I've seen people all around the world suffering in different capacities, and I've spent time with them, eaten with them, lived life with them, and created art with them.
Once, I ended up at a soup kitchen in Anchorage. I wondered, "What can I offer?" So, I settled in. I just listened and observed for a week even before I painted. People were sitting there with time to burn. Some of them had gotten good at things like chess. As I played chess with them, I was starting to get to know them, even in silence and just having fun, listening to their stories. And sometimes there was plenty of pain in their stories. Then, as I was painting there, in the same room where people sit all day when they get meals and other resources, they would let me know if they didn't like what I was doing. I had confidence in the process, so I said, "Be patient with me, please." They got to see me as a work in progress, too. I feel like God has something special for each one of us to do and even if we have to do it slowly or gradually we just need to do it. For me, that has been so rewarding.
Dimitri - Downtown Tacoma
I once heard a speaker share, "Don't ask yourself what the world needs, or what's the best way I can sacrifice and serve others. Ask: What makes me come alive?" I get to travel all along the West, go out for a week with people on their vacations, and lead them through beautiful national parks on cycling tours. Then I connect with others, and we can be amazed and be inspired together. I try to help them remember what it is that makes them come alive and what it is to rest. Some of us need more help than others to rest, like the people who were booking their return flight on their Blackberry on the side of the road instead of taking in the day's beauty.
When I started doing bike tours, I had transitioned from doing family counseling. Before, I would go to a family's home and talk with them about what they needed to do to be healthier. I always thought, "Go hiking and we'll solve all your problems! I want to be outside with you, and we'll figure things out together." Going on these bike trips, I get to be out in nature with people and do a little of that. The first trip I took included a woman and her daughter. The woman had lost her husband a couple months prior, so she wanted to create new memories with her daughter. During the week, all the adults were talking and started sharing stories about how they met their spouse. This woman trying to listen and smile, but she started tearing up and left. I followed her and said I was really sorry it was so awkward. She cried, and we had a time to just pause. Just to be there with her in that moment, to love her and care for her was significant. That's my job! I get to listen to others, do this thing that I love, and in the meantime I feel like I'm going to fall off my bike because it's so beautiful all around me.
Tracy - Tacoma
Rest and play. Well, what does that look like? Putting a hammer down and spending some time with our daughters, taking time out as a couple to go to dinner, calling a friend, going camping or to a Rainier's game, heading to the park with neighbors and their children, even working in the yard. God wants us to strive for him and work hard, but also to enter into time with people with focus on him. We are now official members of the Tacoma Lawn Bowling Club. How that sport every got popular in England and here where it rains all the time is a mystery to us! We really did that to rest with each other, and we've met really interesting people that we wouldn't have met any other way.
Drew & Janet - Proctor District, Tacoma
Our missional community rocked out every Friday night last summer and celebrated with some tunes and micro brews. The score was 9 - 10. My partner and I had not lost a Boccie Ball game in the last couple weeks. Our opponents could smell victory and we had the vague taste of defeat in our mouth. Willie threw the first ball high and hit within inches of the widget. Six tosses later I was left with the ball in my hand and defeat at my doorstep. One toss, a slow roll, balls collide and my ball ends so close... but not close enough.
The onlookers went wild! We laughed in defeat and high-fived the team who beat us. Hanging with friends is great regardless of the outcome of the game. When I do things like this with my Soma family I think this is what God meant when he calls us to Sabbath rest.
Gary - Proctor District, Tacoma
