The need for slowness

We were recently visit ing f r iends in Bandera where there is a wonderful restaurant, The Old Forge. Whoa, so scrumptious! A large sign within read, “It’s Worth The Wait.” What does waiting entail? Patience—a quality sadly lacking in American culture that tends more to move at near the speed of light. There is a saying that has gone around over the past, recent years: “Wait for it…” Love takes patience. Albert Einstein once said that time is relative. It’s short for a man who has his hands on a hot oven; it’s long for a fellow waiting for a kiss. Love and hurry are incompatible. When Paul describes love in the beloved thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, the first thing he says is (wait for it)— “Love is patient.” He goes on to write what that means—love bears all things; love endures all things.

Reading the Bible takes patience. If the Bible is worth reading, it’s worth reading slowly.

I hope most readers will remember the Sunday comic strip Peanuts, drawn and captioned by Charles Schulz. For years I have kept an original clipping that appeared in Sunday papers on July 27, 1986.

Linus is getting dressed for church when his sister, Lucy, asks, “Have you studied your Sunday school lesson?” Putting on his shirt, Linus answers, “I’m working on it...I’m practicing doing three things at once... all it takes is balance and coordination of which I happen to have plenty of both!” As he reads his lesson that is propped open on a table, he continues, “See? I can read the lesson, button my shirt and slip my feet into my shoes all at the same time...”

In that moment, Linus’ foot slips on the floor, he f lips upside down as his shoes go flying and his lesson sails through the air. Lucy picks up the lesson and reads: (wait for it) “Lesson for today…Second Samuel… first chapter…verse 19…‘How the mighty have fallen.’ ” I remember a barbeque get-together that was once held in my hometown, Temple. There were all kinds of contests. One was a moseying contest. Not a race to see who could get to a finish line the fastest, but a contest in which the most leisurely, meandering, stopping-andlooking- at-the-ground, foot dragging, turtle-slow walk would win.

I recently heard Dr. Russ Peterman of University Christian Church in Fort Worth mention a book now on the market: Three Mile an Hour God. In it, theologian Kosuke Koyama reflects beautifully on a theme lost to western theology and western culture in general—the need for slowness.

He writes: “Love has its speed. It is a spiritual speed. It is a different kind of speed from the technological speed to which we are accustomed. It goes on in the depth of our life, whether we notice or not, at three miles an hour. It is the speed we walk and therefore the speed the love of God walks.” The point: God walks with us. Do you remember the words of the hymn? “Take time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide; And run not before Him, whatever betide.”

In Acts 20, Luke tells about Paul’s third journey. They had concluded their ministry in Troas and eight of the nine missionaries set sail for Assos, about twenty- five miles away around a cape. Instead of sailing in the boat, Luke records that Paul decided, instead, to walk—at three miles an hour, I bet. Which reminds me of lyrics of another hymn: (wait for it)— “and He walks with me, and He talks with me, and he tells me I am his own.”