"Now you wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but I could run like the wind blows. From that day on, if I was ever going somewhere, I was run-ning!"

-Forrest Gump

We are fascinated by motion. Beginning with the ancient Greek philosophers, the concept of movement has puzzled us. How do objects get from one place to another by way of space and time? Really. The philosopher Zeno of Elea made famous his paradox on the concept of motion: Suppose a runner needs to travel from a start S to a finish F. To do this he must first travel to the midpoint, M, and then onward to F. But if N is the midpoint of SM, he must first travel to N, and so on ad finitum. In order to get to F, the runner must complete an infinite number of tasks in a finite amount of time. How is this possible?

Of course, these ideas may seem like silly philosophic parlor tricks. We know it is possible to set a course for a certain point. We are, in fact, able to reach this point without the universe collapsing. Maybe. Albert Einstein was not too quick to dismiss Zeno’s ideas. Einstein’s theory of time/space relativity is a reflection of Zeno’s own ponderings. As we move faster, does time actually slow down? And if we were to travel past the speed of life would space itself bend? I’m no physicist; but these complex ideas of motion have shaped the world we experience. Sir Isaac Newton also did not dismiss Zeno’s paradox. Newton’s greatest contributions to science dealt with concepts of motion and rest. These basic laws sent men to the moon and back.

The Apostle Paul did not dismiss Zeno either. He responded to the philosophers at Mars Hill with this insight on the nature of God: "For in Him we live and MOVE and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’ " (Acts 17:28) Paul realized the only way anything could exist in a time/space reality would be if an infinite Being were able to live and move and exist as a reference point for all other creatures.

Motion is the basic unit of life

Within your body, so much activity is taking place—even with you just sitting, reading this article! Your heart is beating in order to move life-blood through your veins. Neurons speed through your nerves from points of stimulation to processing centers in your brain. Air is continually moving in and out of your lunges. We could not live in a motionless world. In fact, the medical definition for death is when an organism ceases to be in motion.

How could we communicate without motion? In order to interact, we must be in proximity with a receiver for the message. They must be standing near us, or connected by a telephone line, or other mode of transaction. Then we must move sound waves to their ears by speaking. Their ears must receive the sound waves and move the waves to their brain.

All of this motion requires energy to be utilized. We know that everything, all matter, at its smallest indivisible level is some kind of energy. Energy truly is nothing but an interconnection, or an interval. As the painter Cézanne said, "The relationship between objects is more important than the objects themselves." Once again, we are back with Zeno: the relationship between point S and F, the distance between the two, and how we span that distance. Everything is motion. God is the mover. And what would the Church, the body of Christ, be without motion?

The 1999 German film Run Lola Run (winner of the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award) illustrates well this connection between life and motion. Lola (actress Franka Potentehas) has twenty minutes to save her boyfriend Manni (actor Moritz Bleibtreu) by acquiring $100,000 to pay off the thugs Manni owes money to. Lola’s run is a run to save and preserve life. Lola’s run not only is to save life; but the run itself is life! Throughout the film, all symbols of death are associated with no motion. When something is still, it is dead. If it is alive, it runs. Lola sets her world in motion and determines it numerous outcomes.

Lola’s run is not too unlike Saivite Hinduism’s "dance of Shiva." Followers believe that in Shiva’s cosmic dance is hidden a deep understanding of how our universe works. Shiva's unending dance of creation, preservation and destruction is art, science and religion merged as one. When beholding his dance, the world is seen as sacred. His motion sets the world in motion.

The Gospel in an accelerated culture

A postmodern world has no problem understanding a world of motion. Virtually everything we create exists to slow down time by moving faster. E-mail makes the mail move faster. Cell phones make the phone calls move faster. Microwaves make the meals move faster. Cars make our trips move faster. And airplanes do the job even better. Calculators make us do the math faster. What do we do with this extra time? I don’t know. But "rest" is surely not the honest response. And even if we do "rest," it is usually an active event. Play golf. Watch TV. Read a book. The idea of rest as a ceasing of motion seems so foreign to us. Maybe "rest" should be re-defined, not as a ceasing of motion, but as one aspect of keeping pace with the world God created.

I would suggest that true Gospel ministry is the ability for disciples of Christ to maintain equilibrium with our culture. Peace, shalom, is an established equilibrium between two parties. When waves are at peace, they have found their level. We bring peace to culture, when we can keep pace and still the waves of a person’s heart with two worlds connecting—divinity and humanity in Jesus Christ. We bring peace when the demands of a holy God find their level with unholy people through a righteous sacrifice of Jesus. I am not suggesting we make peace with the world (the world hates us); but we bring peace to the world found in the motion of YahWeh. (God’s holiest name even suggests a motion: I was, I am, I will be.)

Peace and rest have been associated with each other in the concept of the Sabbath. In our culture, the Sabbath has lost all meaning. Should the truth of the Sabbath be re-contextualized for a new culture? If rest was re-defined as a different dimension of motion, it should affect how we understand the Sabbath.

If you want to slow down, then I would suggest ministering in a country with different standard of motion. The Amish know this lesson well. They rejected the world America made and instead opted to exist in a different culture—by creating it. They’ve agreed to keep pace with the world they’ve created. If we wish to stay in ours, we must agree to our pace.

Jesus instructed His followers "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27) Maybe God made this day of rest as a way to establish a better work-ethic, not a better rest-ethic. I’m not saying there is no place for solitude and meditation. There certainly is a place for it. However, we need to change our mindset that compares this practice to doing nothing! Meditation certainly is something quite active. It may even be the best activity we can take part in; but it is active.

Worship is motion

The Pharaoh refused Moses’ request to let the people go into the desert for worship. The Pharaoh believed this worship was a sign of laziness. "They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ " (Exodus 5:8) Pharaoh responded by making the work harder. Little did Pharaoh know the effort made to permit the people of Israel a time of worship. An effort so arduous, even the Israelites would beg to return to Egypt.

When we are worn out like the Israelites in the desert, what do we do? The worse thing we could do is stop, to cease our motion. Unfortunately, we teach this inaction as a virtue. Our churches say, "If the work is too overwhelming, just stop and give it to God." This motto has become code jargon for "just quit—it’s not your fault, it’s God’s." We convince ourselves this motto is "good therapy" in coping with a God who makes us the victim of His unreasonable demands. However, instead of stopping, we should put our faith in God and run.

Isaiah 40:29-31 reminds us: "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." The sign of a rested believer should not be "slack," but flight. Songwriter Rich Mullins once had a friend confront him saying, "Rich, you look tired. Let me pray for you." Rich responded, "You should pray for me if I don’t look tired." Rich worked hard. He put his faith in God and the rest the Lord promises in Him. The writer of Hebrews also encourages us to "run with perseverance" (12:1). We do so only by "fixing our eyes on Jesus" (12:2). Paul, near the end of his life, comments, "I have finished the race." (II Timothy 4:7) What a wonderful statement! But for those of us still alive, we still have a long stretch ahead of us.

The Great Commission says, "Go!" (Matthew 28:19) Go into world and make disciples. Not to be workaholics with nothing to do, but to keep a good pace with the world God made for us to minister in. And if our culture has no plans on slowing down, neither should we.

Does the word "go" and does keeping pace ignore such biblical concepts as "be still and know that I am Lord"? I don’t believe so. If our culture moves towards a frantic pace, we must be creative in our attempts to be "up to speed" and yet still fixing our eyes on Jesus. Easier said than done. If ministry is about keeping pace, how do we establish our work ethic around an accelerated culture? I believe part of the answer may lay in being able to run faster, and not necessarily learning how to stop.

We must run the race. This is ministry.

Continue to the second part of this article published in the July 2000 issue of Next-Wave, click here:

Running To Stand Still, Part 2