Yesterday afternoon, June 12, our church headed out to York Redoubt Park for our annual Sunday School Picnic. If you've never been a part of a Sunday School Picnic (or any church picnic for that matter) and wonder what it's all about, my dad included an excerpt from John Piper's excellent article ("Toward a Theology of Church Picnics") in our bulletin. I thought I'd share it with you.
1. Meeting as a church out-of-doors is an affirmation and celebration of God as creator of the world. (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 19:1). It is fitting that the people of God gather corporately beneath the heavens to hear the proclamation of the firmament. Surely, the sky should join us in worship once a year. The admiration we feel for the Maker of the world is doubled when we exult in it together.
2. Informal togetherness, especially involving recreation, cultivates the unity of God’s people, which we are commanded to maintain (Ephesians 4:3). It does this in three ways.
3. A leisurely afternoon together affirms the need for rest and re-creation. “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while,” Jesus said to the weary twelve (Mark 6:31). We are not God. And he invented the Sabbath to remind us of that. It is theologically appropriate that now and then lawn chairs replace church pews.
1. Meeting as a church out-of-doors is an affirmation and celebration of God as creator of the world. (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 19:1). It is fitting that the people of God gather corporately beneath the heavens to hear the proclamation of the firmament. Surely, the sky should join us in worship once a year. The admiration we feel for the Maker of the world is doubled when we exult in it together.
2. Informal togetherness, especially involving recreation, cultivates the unity of God’s people, which we are commanded to maintain (Ephesians 4:3). It does this in three ways.
- There is unpressured time for natural, extended conversation—and significant relationships take time.
- We are thrown together with people we don’t otherwise talk to. And some of the inevitable walls of separation between groups are penetrated.
- We feel a new kinship with people when we see them dressed differently and involved in recreation. For example, some people probably think the pastor is a real dud. But did you know that Noël and I almost won the three-legged couples’ race last year? And I wasn’t wearing a suit! It was like the time I first learned in college that my philosophy teacher cut his own grass—with jeans and a T-shirt!!
3. A leisurely afternoon together affirms the need for rest and re-creation. “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while,” Jesus said to the weary twelve (Mark 6:31). We are not God. And he invented the Sabbath to remind us of that. It is theologically appropriate that now and then lawn chairs replace church pews.