In leisure, man oversteps the frontiers of the everyday workaday world, not in external effort and strain, but as though lifted above it in ecstasy.
- "Leisure: The Basis of Culture" by Joseph Peiper
"So why are you here?" was the first question asked in class. Answers were as varied as each individual: For the adventure. Just to do it. To go with friends. To see new things.
My answer: Because my husband and daughter want me to.
Though, while true, it wasn't a fully satisfying answer. While I was sitting in that classroom because they had enrolled me, there was something deeper and bigger tugging on my heart. It was about 4 weeks later, and 50 ft under sea level that the answer came to me - worship. I was there not for the adventure, or to share experiences with friends and family, or to see new things - I was there for worship.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism states it perfectly: What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
We were made for one thing - Worship. And Worship is the root of schole- leisure.
In the first third of his book "Leisure: The Basis of Culture" Joseph Peiper lays out that the fall of Western Civilization will come not from a lack of work, but because of the cult of work. Work for completely utilitarian purposes. Work that is done to fill our stomachs, clothe our bodies, and to give life purpose. Western civilization works for the sake of work. It even rests for the sake of work - which really isn't true rest at all. We work so that we can take a break from work, so that we can be more productive at our work.
We have been groomed and indoctrinated to think leisure is a lack of work. It is the weekends on a beach, an evening of Settlers of Catan, Saturday morning donuts and cartoons. When the term for leisure is used in scripture, and through other ancient works, it has a very different meaning. Schole, the Greek word from which we get "school", implies not a lack of work, but an active pursuit of what is means to be human. The classical understanding of education is working to find the what it true, what is good, and what is beautiful. It is working toward understanding something bigger than ourselves. It is a pursuit in and of itself - not a quest toward more knowledge, more opportunity, more meaning, more experiences - but to simply be. It is hard work, but it is not burdensome. It takes a lot of energy, but it isn't wearisome. It is actually a work that invigorates us toward more work.
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me,....and you will find rest for your souls." Matthew 11: 28-29
Jesus reiterates this idea of true rest in Matthew 11. He doesn't say "Come to me and sit under your beach umbrella". He says to "Take my yoke and learn". His rest is active. It is a pursuit of Him, not an escape from toil. It provides "rest for your souls" - at that deepest level of who we were created to be.
On this Monday morning, after a weekend of 3 underwater dives, I am sore. The journey there was not easy - at one point it left me vomiting from over-exertion. My body is weary, yet my soul is looking forward to the next dive. This morning, my spirit has a new sense of vigor. Because, for a few brief moments, 50 feet underwater, surrounded by walls of coral and schools of fish, with only the sound of my own breathing, relieved of even the weight of my own body and the apparatuses keeping me alive, I was free to worship and understand my Creator in a whole new light and at an entirely new depth. It is going to take a lot more work to more fully worship in this manner, I still have much to learn and many skills to refine, yet the "yoke" of worship is leisure to the soul.
It is a pursuit of understanding and knowing my Creator, and thus who I am.
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