Sermon for October 1, 2017

The Demands of Discipleship

After Jesus left the synagogue with James and John, they went to Simon and Andrew’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. They told Jesus about her right away. So he went to her bedside, took her by the hand, and helped her sit up. Then the fever left her, and she prepared a meal for them. That evening after sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. The whole town gathered at the door to watch. So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons. But because the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak. Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. Later Simon and the others went out to find him. When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.” But Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.” So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons. Mark 1:29-39

One thing I notice about living in the D.C. area: Everyone is busy. Ask anyone, “How are you?” I get the usual answers like, “I’m fine.” But I also hear a lot of people say, “I’m busy.” If you stop and ask, “How are you really doing, you might also hear this confession: “I’m tired.” Busy easily becomes overloaded, overburdened, and overboard. It’s almost as if being busy a status symbol, a clear sign that we measure up, we fit in with the culture, and that we’re worthy and important. I've often thought to myself that life would be great if there was an app on my phone that has a fast forward button to get me through unproductive meetings so I can get back to work, and pause buttons for those times I’m in the flow and getting lots of good work done. There is also a clone button so two of me can get more done and never have to sit back and wait for anything. It’s too hard to find time to rest and still accomplish all I want in my day.If I hit that clone button, then two of me would have to admit, being too busy can distract us from the most important things in our lives.

Last week, if you were in worship you heard me talk about the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. Did you hear ‘busy’ on that list? I learn more about my relationship with God when my heart, soul, and mind all unite to seek God. The early church had a word for busyness that distracts us from God: acedia. Acedia is as, "a state of restlessness and inability either to work or to pray,” and it was always on the list of the seven deadliest sins. In other words, being busy in not a spiritual gift.

I think Jesus struggled with busyness. At least Mark’s Gospel leads us to think so. The previous day had been demanding on Jesus. First, he taught in the town synagogue. Then he healed Peter’s mother-in-law. Then he called the demons out of a possessed man, with the whole town looking on. Now the people will not leave him alone. News about him spread over the whole region of Galilee. People pressed him with their problems to find some healing. He must have been exhausted. Yes, the previous day had been demanding on Jesus. The new day promises to be the same.

It was for this reason that Jesus came to us. His mission was to show how God meets the needs of humankind. But, we are soooo needy! How could Jesus them all? Given his own humanity, how could he summon the strength to keep up the pace, to face the crowd, the offer the fresh teaching they needed. How could he keep showing them how to resist the Empire with a loving, healing touch? How could he keep on giving himself in limitless ways? The answer is, he couldn’t. Jesus needed help.

If Jesus needed help, what about you and me? Given the daily demands on our time, the endless strain on our supplies, the onslaught on our oomph, how can we manage to also be peacemakers, and justice workers, and servants of God? Everyday there are needs to be met, decisions to be made, business to be attended to. Everyday there are people to relate to, conflicts to be resolved, actions that require more than we achieve in our own strength alone. Then there’s the email inbox; the never ending, full-to-capacity-with-more-emails-in-queue-and-I-want-an-immediate-answer inbox.
Here’s how Jesus did it, “Before daybreak Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.”
Jesus knew he could not live in this world without God. Jesus knew it was not humanly possible to accomplish all that he needed to complete every day of his life by his own strength alone. He also knew that he didn't have to, not when God’s loving Spirit was ever present, ready to provide.
Jesus didn't leave his time in prayer to chance and random opportunities. It appears he had a fixed routine. His favorite time for his meeting with God was early morning. It takes discipline to get up in the morning. Some of us wouldn’t think of starting our day without a cup of coffee, but we start the day without connecting with God. We wouldn’t dare leave the house without a shower, but we leave without a reminder of the Spirit’s presence. We already know today will be a busy day. And tomorrow will be a busy day. The demands put upon us will drain our energy and put our knowledge and talents to use. How can we meet the needs around us without being filled with the energy and authority that only God can give?

That’s why we pray. Prayer is coming to God. Prayer is seeking God. Prayer is standing before God as “an empty pitcher before a full fountain.” Prayer is connecting with God who is the power source. Prayer is opening to God for nourishment, as the flowers and trees open to their environment: the air, the sunlight, and the rain. It’s what we do on Sunday, and what we do on Monday. Prayer is life. Prayer is an inner journey, and a relationship with a lover or friend. Prayer is practice and reflection. Prayer is silence and sound. Prayer is union and communion. Prayer is protest and passion. Prayer is intimacy and obedience. Prayer is everything.

For many of us, most of our meetings with God are not planned. Our prayers are occasional, spontaneous, spur of the moment prayers. If we meet with God, it’s usually an emergency or a crisis. Our backs are up against the wall, bills are due, a child is sick, it’s the end of the semester and there are exams to take, too many papers to write, too many proposals to get in, we need help. “I know what I’ll do,” we say, “I’ll ask God for help.” If the truth be told, we have tried everything else, now we will try God.

In the Christian mystic tradition, there is a spiritual discipline called “practicing the presence of God.” The term was used by aa monk named Brother Lawrence who was a dishwasher at a monastery. Even he was too busy, but he was able to flip the story and turn his busyness into prayer. He wrote, “The time of business does not differ with me from the time of prayer. And in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were on my knees.”

Practicing the presence of God means we look for those small, constant reminders that God is always with us; God always loves us; God always helps us even when we don’t understand what God is doing. God is doing something new, even when we fear that God is doing nothing at all. Practicing the presence of God means there’s not a single moment in time when God is not with us. There’s not a single experience in which God is absent.Prayer grows out of the awareness that God is everywhere and in everything we do. Mary Oliver expresses this awareness in her poem “The Summer Day”:

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass,
how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

We practice the presence of God as we go about our daily tasks. Routine chores take on a sacred dimension when we practice the presence of God while doing them. Something as simple as eating has the power to awaken us to God’s presence. This form of praying is one of the easiest ways to pray. All in requires is that you accept the reality of God’s presence with you. Because of God’s presence, all we do, every movement we make, has a sacred dimension to it.

I think that some of us have a hard time with this because we don’t know what to say. We want to pray, but our minds go blank. If that’s you, try one of these prayers and see what happens:
God, keep me humble.
God, bring me into contact with someone who needs to experience love.
God, give me a desire to spend time with someone who is different than me.
God, use me to make life better for someone who is poor, or hungry, or naked, or thirsty, or sick, or in prison, or an enemy.
God, give us the ability to see human inequality and justice, and make me bold enough to do something about it.

Imagine what will happen inside of you, within your family, within our church, within our nation, if we began to pray like this. We will experience new life. We will look at the poor, the marginalized, and the outcasts of society and see none other than the very image of God.

At first, praying like this may seem like we are asking for more to do. The point is not to add more to your chore list. The point is to resent our priorities … to remember that not all of our bustling and busyness is life giving. Prayer is a chance to refocus our priorities and spend our energy on what matters.

When we practice the presence of God, life itself is prayer. The automatic act of breathing becomes a prayer. Exhaling is the invitation to a divine conversation. God is no farther away than the bowing of our heads in prayer or bowing our heads over a sink full of dishes that need to be cleaned. Both can be a holy moment. God is no farther away than raising of our voices in song or raising a song of justice on a march in DC. God is no farther away than gathering for public worship, or gathering your thoughts in the midst of the day’s breathlessness; taking the bread and cup of Table Fellowship, or being the bread and cup to nourish our hungry world. When we face an overwhelmed life, we don’t have to have underwhelmed souls. We will engage the demands on us with energy, intelligence, creativity, imagination and love.