Recreation

Preached on 04-22-01

RECREATION

A Sermon by the Rev. Patrick A. Rose

"And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of God Most High." (Gen. 14:18)

LOT, THE NEPHEW OF ABRAM, had been taken prisoner by the army of King Chedorlaomer and three other kings. When Abram heard about this, he took 318 men with him, and, under cover of night, he launched an attack, and rescued his nephew. Then, as Abram returned with Lot, he was greeted by Melchizedek, the king of Salem, a king who was also a priest. Melchizedek brought Abram bread and wine and blessed him. Abram then gave Melchizedek a tithe, a tenth, of what he had captured.

This meeting of Abram and Melchizedek is mentioned only very briefly in the Book of Genesis -- the entire incident is recounted in only three verses, and the story then goes on to talk of other things. It seems an almost insignificant incident. And yet this briefest of episodes is recorded in the Word because, in the internal sense, it does represent something of great importance. The bread and wine brought out by the King of Salem signify, we are told, spiritual recreation.

The 18th Chapter of Genesis, from which our text is taken, is, mostly, a story of war. Huge armies clashed as a confederation of four kings put down a rebellion by five other kings. This was the war in which Lot ended up becoming a prisoner of war. And this war, as is generally the case in the Word, represents temptation -- conflicts and combats between what is of hell and what is of heaven in the human mind.

But then the fighting ceases. After Lot is rescued, the King of Salem comes forth to greet Abram. It is a peaceful episode -- a quiet though brief interlude. And indeed it represents a state of peace -- by which a person is refreshed and recreated between the combats of temptation. "When a man is in the combats of temptation," we read, "he is by turns gifted by the Lord with a state of peace, and is thus refreshed" (AC 1726).

Salem, moreover, is a name which in Hebrew means "peace," or "perfection." During the course of regeneration, while a person struggles against what is evil and false within himself, he experiences internal anxiety, pain and torment. But, mercifully, there are other times when he feels peace within himself. There are those times -- almost perfect times -- when he is, as it were, given a taste of what heaven itself must be like. He is happy; he is at rest; he is content. The Lord is close, very close, and he feels the peace which comes when the Lord and His angels draw near.

The person is then given bread and wine. Heavenly love and wisdom, celestial and spiritual things, flow in. And in this way he is blessed, and he is refreshed.

It has to be this way. The path that leads to heaven is not always easy. There are, inevitably, times when we have to struggle and fight and do bitter combat with the evils within ourselves. There are times when evil spirits surround us, and bring us misery and even despair. But if this were constantly the case -- if there were no respite from the trials of temptation -- then we would succumb.

By ourselves we are weak. By ourselves we have no power against the hells. We might -- indeed we have to -- make the effort for ourselves. But it is really the Lord who gives us the strength to fight. One of the primary ways He does this is by giving us a sense of hope (cf. AC 6574). And lest our sense of hope should be lost, and lest our trust in His power and strength should begin to fail, He blesses us at intervals with states of peace, states in which our trust and hope in Him are renewed and refreshed.

Melchizedek was a king who was also a priest. A priest represents the Lord as to celestial things -- the things of love. A king represents Him as to spiritual things -- as to truths. And so it is that the Lord draws close to us with the celestial and spiritual things of heaven, with bread and wine, to renew and refresh our spirits. We are told in the Arcana that "a state of celestial and spiritual things in peace" is "refreshment itself" (AC 1726). The Latin word here can mean both refreshment and recreation. We therefore might also say that this state of celestial and spiritual things in peace is recreation itself.

We need recreation. We need it on the plane of the spirit as much as we do on the plane of the body. If a person should work for a long period, there will come a time when he needs to rest -- he needs some recreation -- if he is to keep going. So too with his spirit. If he is undergoing temptations -- fighting hard to avoid what is evil and wrong -- then in his spirit also he needs periods in which he can rest, be refreshed, and be recreated.

Both the spirit and the body of man are created finite vessels. His power and life come from the Lord alone. They are breathed continually into him by the Lord. This is why there have to be periods when this finite vessel which is man can rest, be renewed, refreshed, and, in a sense, created anew as the Lord breathes into him new power and new strength.

Here is a fundamental principle of human life. Man is by his very nature finite and limited, and therefore needs regular periods of rest. Should he ignore this need, should he try to act as if his power were unlimited, he will eventually succumb to exhaustion. He will learn the very finite limits of his own power. And this principle is a universal one. It has application on both the plane of the spirit and the plane of the body. It is a principle, though, which can be, and indeed often has been, misapplied.

When a person is undergoing the combats of temptation, then periods of spiritual recreation, represented by Melchizedek bringing forth bread and wine, are truly a taste of heaven. Surrounded so often by evil spirits, he is at times protected by a sphere of peace, and he can rest from his combats. This is the way it is in heaven. Once he has undergone the process of regeneration, and has entered into the Lord's kingdom, he enters permanently into a state of peace. When he enters heaven, he can no longer be infested by evil spirits. This is why heaven is sometimes compared to a state of rest. For example, we read in True Christian Religion that "[heavenly peace] may ... be compared, to recreations of mind and to rest after severe labor" (TCR 304).

This is why, in the Book of Revelation, it is said, as we read in our second lesson, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; . . . " (Rev. 14:13).

Some have misunderstood what is meant by this rest from labors. They have concluded, perhaps understandably, but nevertheless mistakenly, that in heaven people no longer have to perform useful work. They have thought that after a life of hard work in this world, they will get to rest forever and ever in the world to come. Such an idea, though, involves a fundamental misunderstanding of not only the nature of heaven, but also of the nature of recreation itself. Heaven is a rest in the sense that it is a rest from the work of temptation. It is not a never-ending cessation of useful work. Furthermore, to think that eternal rest from useful work -- to think that eternal recreation -- would be enjoyable, is to miss the whole reason why it is that recreation is enjoyable.

We are all familiar with that wonderful feeling that comes over us when, after working very hard, we take some time out to rest, relax and to have some fun. To do this is part of any normal healthy life. Indeed, the Writings themselves list many different kinds of activities which they call "diversions of charity" (C 189). They list such things as going for walks, listening to music, going to parties, playing games, and reading books and newspapers (ibid.). Recreation can be extremely enjoyable indeed. It is not surprising, then, that some have been attracted by the mistaken idea that heaven is the eternal enjoyment of such diversions. Neither is it surprising that many people in the world fall into the mistake of thinking that recreation is somehow enjoyable in and of itself, and is therefore an end in itself. All too often people can fall into the mistake of thinking that work is somehow a necessary evil, something that must be completed before a person can relax and enjoy himself.

It is really the other way around. It is through work, through useful activity, that we can receive happiness. We are blessed with happiness by the Lord only to the degree in which we love to be of use to others. And the reason, and the only reason, why recreational activities are enjoyable, is that they are the means by which we can be renewed, so as to return refreshed to a life of use.

If recreation be seen as an end in itself, if it be removed from the context of use, then it ceases to be enjoyable. Indeed, it soon leads to a feeling of loathing and disgust.

Recreation, as an end unto itself, is idleness, and the Writings have strong words about idleness. Man is created for the sake of use, and therefore, in the other world, a life of idleness is not permitted, even in hell. (HH 403). Those people who had believed that "heavenly joy consists in living an idle life and drawing breaths of eternal joy in idleness" (ibid.) are shown that such a life would be extremely sad. After a short while all enjoyment would disappear, and they would feel a strong sense of loathing and disgust for such inactivity (ibid.).

What is remarkable is that a life of constant recreation is tiring -- very tiring indeed. As it is said in the Spiritual Diary: "Idleness at length wearies everyone, no matter what joy they may be in" (SD 4773m).

People generally think of recreation as enjoyable, and as something that restores one's energy. When recreation becomes an end in itself, though, the very opposite happens. A continual emphasis on recreational activities leads to a loss of enjoyment, and also to a loss of energy and motivation.

What is missing is the emphasis on use. Recreation is to be a process of renewal -- a renewal of the love of use. Recreation itself, on both the spiritual and the natural planes, is to be, quite literally, a process of re-creation. It is, to quote the Arcana once again, "a state of celestial and spiritual things in peace" (AC 1726). When, in temptation, we are refreshed by the Lord, celestial and spiritual things flow in, giving us new energy, new power, new life. And a very similar thing happens, or can happen, when, during the course of a life of use, we stop to rest and relax.

When somebody is busy being useful, and enjoying being useful, there is, within his mind, an affection (C 190). He has an affection, a love, for what he is doing. From this affection he concentrates intently on the work before him. He is in the sphere of use, and, within his spirit, happiness flows in from the Lord. This is the very thing that we were created for -- to be happy in being of service to others.

But still we are only finite created vessels. And this means that our love of use, and from it the affection that we have for our work, are also finite and limited. We can only concentrate for so long. Eventually the affection of use will lose its desire, lose its power, just as a bended bow which is never relaxed, will lose its power of elasticity (ibid). Lest this happen, we need to rest. The affection of use itself needs to rest. And to do this, we are told, it descends into the body (C 191), and turns to recreational activities of one kind or another. And in this way the affection of use finds enjoyment, relaxation and rest, and is re-created and renewed by the Lord.

True recreation is not the recreational activities themselves. It is, rather, the renewal of the love of use which occurs while a person is relaxing and having fun.

It is an unconscious process. While we are having fun we are not supposed to reflect on how our love of use is being renewed. The whole point of such relaxation is that we then don't have to think too intently, or concentrate to the same degree required when we are working. Indeed, this renewal is not something that we do, but something that the Lord Himself does.

After working hard, we should relax, and we should enjoy ourselves. At that time, that is all we need to do. All we need to do is relax and have fun. And this is pleasurable. But though we are not aware of it, the pleasure we experience comes from within -- from the affection of use which is now resting and being refreshed and re-created. It is said that at such times the Lord flows in from heaven, renews our affection for use, and gives us, from within, an interior sense of pleasure for our work (C 193). And, when this process is complete, we then feel within ourselves a longing to get back to work once more -- a longing to once again occupy ourselves by doing something useful for others.

The Lord has renewed us. And for those who are in the love of use, this is a regular cycle, one that not only occurs every day here on earth, but one that will continue in heaven to all eternity. We are finite, we are weak, and we always will be. The power that we might have -- whether it be the power to fight against evil, or the power to be of service to others in a life of use -- this power is not from ourselves, but from the Lord. And the Lord knows this. He knows that we are weak. He knows that He can only expect so much of us. He knows that He must support us, gently, in His hands. And so it is that when we tire, He gives us rest, and while we are resting He renews and recreates our spirits.

Sometimes people are indeed too gentle on themselves. There are people who fail to make a sufficient effort to fight against what is evil within themselves. And there are people who fail to make a real effort when it comes to being useful to other people. Some people, in other words, are lazy. But sometimes people err in the other direction. They are never gentle with themselves. They expect instant victory in their fight against their evils. And in their everyday life they work themselves far harder than is useful. They forget their own limitations. They forget that often the Lord is far more gentle with us than we are with ourselves.

Where the proper balance lies is, probably, a matter of individual judgment. There are no clear-cut answers. Each individual is different. But all of us need to remember that we do have limitations. We are finite. We do need the Lord's help.

And so, this very brief episode in the Book of Genesis should not be overlooked. When Melchizedek came forth with bread and wine, Abram was refreshed after the battle. For a moment there was peace, and then it was that Melchizedek blessed Abram.

For all of us there are, and must be, times like this, times when the hectic rush of worldly life, and times when the inner anxieties of temptation, are hushed. In such a state of peace the Lord can then flow in from within, flow in with the bread and wine of heaven itself, to recreate and renew our failing spirits. He reaches down from heaven, and in this state of peace He gives us strength; He gives us comfort; He gives us rest.

Amen.