The First Law of Motion

Sir Isaac Newton discovered, and later published, two Laws of Motion.  His first Law of Motion states that “a body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it, and a body in motion at a constant velocity will remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force.”  We all know that physical law, we can probably recite it, or at least paraphrase it.  We all know that an object in motion tends to stay in motion, and a body at rest tends to stay at rest.

 If you’ve seen a rock on the ground, you’ve seen an example of this physical law.  If you watch it, you’ll notice that it will stay right where it is.  It is an object at rest and will stay that way until something acts on it, till something moves it.  If you kick it, you’ll see it will tend to go a long way, until friction and gravity bring it to a stop.  That’s a real basic example, but I think you get the basic premise.

 That law applies to people, as well.  Those that seem to be really busy, will tend to stay really busy, finding things to do until something happens to force them to slow down.  Those who aren’t really busy, tend to take it easy until something happens to force them to get busy.

 This has some implications for the church.  Because now, in our post Covid-19 era, assuming the worst is over and this blip in the Delta variant will be short lived, our churches have seen more people staying home, and those who do go out, seem to be more content with just Sunday morning attendance than before.  Numbers are down, and this law seems to suggest they’ll stay slowed down until something happens to “get them in motion again.” 

 We saw the inverse when this pandemic started.  We were an active church, with a number of ministries going on, and a lot of participation.  We were a church in motion.  And the law states that we could expect to more or less stay in motion until something happened.  The something that happened was the pandemic.  We were forced to stay home for a few months.  We were forced to stop our activity, or at least dramatically reduce it, in the name of safety. 

 Now, we are a body at rest, and we need to start moving again.  Because if we don’t make the effort, the principal suggests that we will stay at rest until something happens.  What can be the motivator?  How can we begin to rebuild?  We can start by meeting together for dish-to-pass dinners.  Some don’t like the dish-to-pass format, so maybe we could have someone offer to do the main course, then someone to do sides, alternating among the people who come, at least for a while.  I don’t expect the number coming together would be too great, at least not as we get started.

 Or we could come together for game nights, or movies, or going out to a restaurant together.  Anything that gets us out of the house, bringing us together as a church family, and promoting fellowship within that family, will do the trick. 

 So what do you think?  Are we ready to “get in motion” again?  What would you like to do?  What do you get excited about?  Let me know?