Events Changes Preaching

Below is the sermon that I wrote on Thursday - it is not the sermon I preached yesterday.  I didn't preach it because I woke up on Friday and heard the news about Aurora, Colorado.  This shooting has struck closer to home for me that pretty much any mass shooting since Columbine, primarily because I would have been at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises if I hadn't promised Bob I would see it with him next week when he returns to the States.  


So instead of this sermon, based on the gospel - Mark 6:30-34, 53-56, well specifically verse 31 when Jesus says: "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." - I spoke from the heart - that on Friday, just like on Good Friday, it was hard to see God but I know that Jesus was there. But on Good Friday we know that Sunday is coming, that God will reign gloriously, and even on some days it is much harder to see God but we know Sunday is on coming and God will reign gloriously.  


Enjoy my original sermon.

We live in a busy society.  We are constantly on the go.  It is almost a badge of honor to be so busy that you have to schedule time with family and friends 2 to 3 weeks outs.  It is completely normal today that families eat in shifts, that couples can go days without seeing each other more than a few minutes before they fall asleep at night. And when we do have time to rest, to relax, we spend that time in front of a television or a computer, not wanting to think for ourselves, and we still check our email and facebook accounts a few times to make sure we aren’t missing anything too important.  We are constantly on the go.  We are working hard in order to achieve the American dream, but unfortunately we often work so hard to achieve the dream, that we aren’t able to actually spend much time enjoying it. 

I’m as guilty of this as anyone else.  I’m constantly on facebook, I check my email multiple times a day, including on my days off and would not consider getting a phone that does not have the ability to check both those plus text messaging capabilities.

But overall this is a hard way to live.  We as a society are burned out and we need to here Jesus’ words from today’s gospel: Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest awhile. 

Come and rest!  This is what Jesus wanted for his disciples and this is what Jesus wants for us.  Rest is a wonderful thing – it allows us to be rejuvenated, it allows us to fill our cups, our soul, so that we can then go and serve and give freely to others.  And there are many ways we can find rest – we can unplug, we can disconnect, we can go run into the woods for a day or a week, we can go on vacation. 

And just coming back from a two week vacation, I have many stories to tell you about the places Bob and I went, the wonderful food that we ate, and the people we encountered, but above all that, I cannot thank you, the people of Bethlehem enough for gifting me the ability to get away for two weeks during which time I checked my email only 3 times – basically to clean out junk mail – because I read only 2 emails and wrote only 1.  And I’m excited to be back.  I’m excited to start really planning for the fall, I’m excited to spend more time with you all as we continue to grow in our faith and figure out what God’s purpose is for this congregation. 

But you don’t need to go on a 2 week vacation in order to get rest.  You just need to take a Sabbath. The 3^rd commandment is: Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, but that does not mean go to worship – it means take time to rest, take time for yourself and to spend that time listening to God.  It is so hard for us to unplug for a full day – but hopefully we can help one another rest for an hour or so each Sunday because that is what we are able to do when we come to worship.  During worship we have an hour to silence our cell phones, to avoid emails, to listen to God and give up to God our daily cares and concerns.  During worship we have an hour to sit with our families, to sing with them and pray with them and for them.  During worship we have an hour to rest. 

But we need more than an hour a week or every other week to rest.  So let’s spend some time brainstorming together.  What is one thing you can give up to help you rest? – one thing you can do less often, one thing you can do away with this week in order to have time to rest. 

And what is one thing you can do in order to rest?  One way you can spend time by yourself, or with family or friends  in order to realized that you are blessed by God in so many ways and you can go to bed at night content and grateful. 

And one more question, what is one thing you can do to help someone else rest – that single mom that you know who is constantly running around being superwoman, your co-worker who is always there before you, leave after you and never eats lunch, the older woman that you know that is a fulltime caretaker of her ailing husband – what can you do to help them rest, to help them take a Sabbath, even if only for an hour.

See Jesus did not just say – hey I need to get away for awhile, but he invited others into that rest.  So yes take a Sabbath, enjoy some time to just be, either by yourself or with those whom you love most, but also invite others to take rest too.