Work or Play?

One of the interesting things about ministry is that sometimes the line between work and play can become very fuzzy, if there is a line at all I wonder sometimes. For example, each week we play volleyball at the local school. Generally it is all people from church who play. Now the question I ask is: "Is this work, or is this play?" One that I have no real answer for.

Another example in ministry is our monthly gatherings of local pastors and spouses, (if they can make it, since a lot have other jobs.) We meet once a month on a Monday at someone's house, and then go for lunch. Usually it is a nice time of talking and also a time of prayer with each other. So, is this work or is this play? Monday's are usually my day off, so should I attend this on my day off, or is this outside of work?

Another little example is going to the Christian school spring program. Is that work or play? The reason I ask that is, would I go if I wasnt the pastor and there are 8-10 kids from church in it?

Another example is playing basketball on Wednesday nights. I go and play pick up ball with a bunch of random people, generally the same crowd. For the most part they dont know what I do. There is another pastor who organizes it each week. It is great to get to know these guys and talk with them about what is going on in their lives, but they dont go to our church, is it work or play? But if I take members from church, or meet people there from church, is it work or play?

And then another example from yesterday. I was supposed to go skiing with my wife and someone from church, but then I hurt my ankle and cant ski. So, I was going to get some more work done. My wife was going to play cards with somoene, and her husband asked what I was going to do. He called and asked if I wanted to go and shoot some gophers as he had to go to see his bees. We spent quite a bit of time shooting gophers in the field. Then went to his bees and we had to dig out some pallets of bees. There was a lot of snow around them and so we had to get at some of the pallets. I could only do a little since my ankle is hurt. I helped him with treating the bees and then we went back to shooting gophers on the way home. Is this work or play? Especially since we could talk all the way too and from the bees.

In general, I guess almost anything I do, could be considered work. The way I look at it, we are all called to be Christians at all times. Sure my job is a pastor, so then I should be who I am at all times. But those who call themselves Christians should also be who they are at all times. They should also represent Christ. For many people it is easy to distinguish between work and play. My job makes it a bit harder.