Base Pace. Push. All Out.
These are the words I hear in the mornings as a coach at the gym tells us the routine for the workouts. The terms refer to heart rate zones and how fast my heart is beating while I'm on the treadmill or rower. Up on the screen, the background color under my name tells me where I am: Gray - resting, Blue - Moderate Activity, Green - Base Pace, Orange - Push, Red - All Out. Since the gym is all about working out, we focus on the last three. The goal is to spend at least 12 minutes of the hour in the orange and red zones. I'm a bit of an over doer (really?) and my personal goal is to spend at least 24 minutes in that zone each time I work out.
That's fine for the gym and for an hour a day. It is not healthy to stay at that "Push" or "All Out" rate all day. It would be crazy to even try. Everyone and each body needs a time of rest and renewal, to re-tool and recharge.
The same is true for the Body of Christ. Most of the time, we often operate at blue zone of moderate activity: the weekly schedule of Sunday School, worship, and fellowship. We get into the green zone when we throw in choir and bell rehearsals, meetings, fellowship groups, book club, or Messy Church. We take it up a notch into the Push range when we join a ministry team or committee, or in the weeks when we have special activities - fund raisers, holiday additions of activity, work trips, fellowship events. And, in the last 3 years we've had a couple of All Outs: a flooded church basement twice in 3 weeks, last minute preparations for renters, a huge clean - out of space, a long term remodeling project. This is a healthy balance for a congregation.
When we factor in all the changes that have been made in the last 5 years at FCCLG, all the changes that continually happen in the community and world around us, and the adjustments we've made to adapt to these changes, we have spent a lot of time in the Push zone lately.
We need our "workouts" with the base pace, pushes and all outs. But we also need our gray and blue zones. We need to take intentional time to just let it rest. If we don't take time to "walk it out," we will burn out - or worse, we will get hurt. Rest while still moving is important to the Body of Christ.
Jesus did some intentional base pace time too. He took time to go off by himself and pray, to be alone with God, or just to get away from the crowds. In the blue and green zones, he regenerated himself, and retooled his mind for the coming challenges. Jesus' ultimate grey zone was between Good Friday and Easter morning. He did not just sit and do nothing in this time; he prepared for what was to come on Easter and following.
Traditionally at FCCLG, the summers are our when the church schedule operates in the gray and blue zones and members recharge and retool. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, our Sunday attendance drops in half as many in our congregation spend weekends at summer homes, or doing activities that take them away from church activities. This is healthy and normal so long as we continue to feed our spirits, keep our souls in shape, and be ready for the Push that comes in late August.
So what will you do to stay in good Spiritual shape this summer? Will you worship in churches near your weekend destinations? Make a goal of reading the Bible every day? Pray for each of the people on our Touch list each day? Will you look for the face of God in the faces and hearts of the strangers you meet in your travels? Will you do random acts of kindness for people who least deserve them? Or maybe you will make peace with a long time enemy.
Where ever the travels of your base pace take you, I wish you Godspeed.
