All Work and All Play

09Jan
Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

-1 John 3: 18


Besides, Trinity, I am active in a church in Northwest New Jersey, where we live a good part of the year. In our New Jersey church, there is no sexton and no cleaning staff. Three men, known by the congregation as ‘the three amigos’ serve as the Building and Grounds committee, and they do everything. By everything, I mean re-stocking paper products in bathrooms, repairing leaks, setting up tables, shoveling snow off the rectory driveway, resetting all the clocks, overseeing conversion of the church heating system from oil to gas, the list is mind-numbingly long. Rare is the day when one or more of the amigos is not at church performing some unheralded, but deeply necessary function. Under their care, the entire physical plant has never looked better, nor performed so reliably.


The three amigos earned their name because their love for each other, and their delight in the work they do together is so obvious that it demanded recognition by the congregation. Image three men talking and laughing with each other as they dig up the rectory septic cover before 8 AM on a blustery, cold morning. Even the news that the entire septic system would need to be replaced (another project for them to budget for and to oversee) was met not with groans, but with determination and an optimistic plan. The three amigos walked away with their shovels over their shoulders, laughing and cheerfully talking of what other chores they might as well do while they were together.


I bring up the amigos because it was their shared work on the building and grounds committee at a church they each dearly loved when they became such close friends. Many people, it seems, fall in love at work. Years and years ago my husband and I met and fell in love at work. The same thing happened to the amigos as they worked at church. I am on a shared text group with the three of them and I constantly see the ways they support each other, proudly exchanging pics of accomplished tasks, sharing personal accomplishments, concerns, and losses, sending sympathy, thanking each other, encouraging each other, making each other laugh. The amigos always gladden my heart; but more than that, they show that a challenging ministry can be done not just with great proficiency, but with a love and joy that is positively contagious. 


In preparing this meditation, I was reminded of an old Fraggle Rock episode, called All Work and All Play, where the ever-busy Doozers are commissioning 3 Doozers to be Doozer miners. In watching the video for the first time in years, I was stunned to see how much the scene looked like a church service! 


Musical Reflection - All Work and All Play - The Jim Henson Company


Dear God, help us see that serving you and serving others is an opportunity to fall deeply and joyfully in love over and over again. Amen.

SacrificeJoyLove

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