Hello,
“Slow down, you move too fast. You’ve got to make the morning last. Just kickin’ down the cobblestones. Lookin’ for fun, and feeling groovy.” So sang Simon and Garfunkel.
I used to often listen to Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel when I was a kid. We had a pool table in our basement, and as I shot pool I would stack six records on the turntable stand of my technologically snappy stereo that would drop a record onto the turntable, move the stylus over to play the first song, and then when it had played the album through, the stylus would move out of the way for the next record to be dropped and repeat the process. (Ah….the good old days!) Almost always, Simon and Garfunkel was included in that stack.
Looking back on things from where we are now, it seems odd that Simon and Garfunkel thought that the world, and we who were on it, was moving too fast. “Slow down, you move too fast.” That, of course, was before cell phones that picked up the pace of communication, before T.V. remotes and hundreds of stations sped up our attention spans, and before the internet set us racing around the world without even getting out of our chairs. If it seemed like the world was spinning rapidly in the 60’s, today’s world spins at a rate that makes the 60’s seem like a snail’s pace.
I wonder. Is it possible to slow down?
If you slow down, will you get run over? If you slow down, will you fall so far behind that you are all alone? If you slow down, will people yell and scream at you to get out of the way? If you slow down, will you be constantly late for everything or miss everything?
As I think about it, it is hard to slow down, and it may even be dangerous. But when the sidewalks and streets are icy, it is far more dangerous if you don’t slow down. For those of us who live in the northern tier of states, I would bet that every one of us has felt the fear that comes when you’ve hit the ice and you’re going too fast.
So, when the sidewalks and streets of your life are icy…when you are tired and worn out from the pace of life that you are running….when you are feeling like you are on an ever accelerating hamster wheel…..when you afraid of being rear ended by everyone who is honking behind you, Jesus has a word for you, “I am with you always.” (Matthew 28:20)
You see, in this fast paced world where you have to get somewhere to get something, there is one thing that you don’t have to move an inch for to get, and that is Jesus, because Jesus comes to us….no matter where we are….always. So, get out of the way of the world’s traffic, go ahead and pull off the side of the road at a rest stop….(that is what Sunday morning worship is meant to be)…and rest in the grace of God. Grace that brings peace that the world cannot give. Grace that wraps you in hope that the chill of the world cannot break through. Joy that fills your life that the fast-food joy of the world cannot provide. And grace that fuels you with love to sustain you as you get back on the road of life.
I suspect that Jesus, who loves you more than you can imagine and who is with you always, is singing along with Simon and Garfunkel, “Slow down, you move too fast.”
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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