Saturday, July 30, 2011

Bowling with Calvin!

... God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy (1 Tim 6:17)

We are prayerfully preparing for the rest and remembrance of the Lord with the church tomorrow, on the Lord's Day. In our congregation, we will also be ending our evening prayer meeting with... ice cream and games?

Of course. Just ask Calvin:
There is an old story, which may be apocryphal, that when John Knox came to Geneva to visit John Calvin at his home on the Sabbath, he was shocked to find Calvin engaged in lawn bowling. If the story is true, it may indicate that the theologian most devoted to Sabbath-keeping in history, Calvin, did not see recreation as a violation of the Lord’s Day, but as a part of the rest-taking or recreation that is to be part of this day. Recreation would never have been acceptable to Calvin if it had interrupted or supplanted the time devoted to worship on the Sabbath.

- R.C. Sproul, Defining the Debate, Tabletalk (June 2011)
It's good to remember that we are not Stoics or Ascetics. Our God has given us all good (and tasty!) things to enjoy, with thanks to Him.

And it's good to enjoy those things together.


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1 comment:

  1. Soo... Now the real question is: Will we be engaging ourselves with lawn bowling tomorrow? :)

    ReplyDelete