Busyness and Prayer

A sermon for the fifth Sunday after Epiphany given at the United Church of Acworth, Acworth, NH on February 5, 2012.

Isaiah 40:21-31

Psalm 147:1-11

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

Mark 1:29-39

Jesus had just finished a brutal workday.

After casting out an unclean spirit in a synagogue which we read about last week, he goes to Simon’s house.

“Simon's mother-in-law was sick in bed, burning up with fever….He went to her, took her hand, and raised her up.”

“they brought sick and evil-afflicted people to him, the whole city lined up at his door! He cured their sick bodies and tormented spirits.”

We live in a broken world in need of healing and Jesus was bringing forth the healing power of God’s kingdom and oppressions of the body and soul, disease and demon were being cast out as the redeemer went forth making all things new.

What a day!

And so Jesus, being exhausted, went to bed at Simon’s place and slept in.

No.

That’s what I would have done.

Rather, we read that “While it was still night, way before dawn, he got up and went out to a secluded spot and prayed.”

I think Mark is showing us the connection here between healing and prayer.

This brief picture of Jesus going out to a secluded spot to pray is sandwiched between two stories of Jesus going out healing all who came to him, casting out demons, and teaching about the kingdom of God.

Here is Jesus, no doubt tired, no doubt feeling the weight of the burdens of humanity, of the brokenness of human relationships, of the oppressions and ailments that beset human souls and bodies. Here is Jesus feeling the overwhelming sense of the need of this world.

What does Jesus do? Jesus prays, Jesus spends time, takes time to commune with God, to have real and authentic conversations with the one who desires for all things to be made new, for the creation to be made whole again and for all people to be restored and redeemed.

Who knows how Jesus prayed here? Who knows what Jesus prayed here?

All we know is that he prayed. That’s the point.

In Isaiah 40:28-31 we read:

He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.

Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;

but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Jesus prayed. Jesus communed with the Father. Jesus sought renewed strength from the posture of waiting.

Oh there is nothing worse than the word “wait” for us modern Americans.

We complain that the “kids these days” can’t sit still – but we do no better ourselves.

We fill our lives with schedules and tasks and if we don’t fill them they get filled by someone else, family, friends, employers…

And, honestly, there is nothing wrong with activity. But busyness will drain us, distract us, overtake us, consume us, stress us out if we aren’t relying on something more than ourselves to sustain us.

I think it’s safe to say that if Jesus took time to pray and I would argue, needed that time to renew strength – we need it all the more.

Oh, but Joel, I’m too busy to take time to pray. No, friend, you’re too busy not to pray.

Wish I could take credit for that catchy phrase. But alas, it’s the invention of Bill Hybels, the Pastor of the Chicago area megachurch Willow Creek Community Church who wrote a book called “Too Busy Not to Pray”

Too busy not to pray.

I found a few quotes from the book – which I’ve not read but by the bits that I’ve read would recommend it to anyone interested in getting encouragement in this part of your spiritual life.

Here are some of the quotes I found:

"Most of us are far too busy for our own spiritual good."

"Busyness is the unrivaled archenemy of spiritual authenticity."

"Prayerless people cut themselves off from God's peace and from his prevailing power, and a common result is that they feel overwhelmed, overrun, beaten down, pushed around, and defeated by a world operating with a take-no-prisoners approach.”

"Perfect peace comes only through relating with the Peacemaker himself."

"If your life is rushing in many directions at once, you are incapable of the kind of deep, unhurried prayer that is vital to the Christian walk."

"Prayer is a bridge from despair to hope."

I want everyone to understand that the primary audience of this sermon is myself.

I find myself perfectly described as a life “rushing in many directions at once” and I certainly can resonate with the inability to have “deep, unhurried prayer, vital to the Christian walk.”

But oh do I want this. I want to go to a secluded place, to wait on the Lord, to be renewed in strength. I know from experience that this place of prayer can be a great place of empowerment, of renewed faith.

Many look at Sunday morning as the one place in the week when they can pray or hear scripture. I am so glad that we can have Sunday mornings to pray and read scripture – but we need, personally and as a group, much more than Sunday morning. We need more.

I want to challenge us (especially myself) to let the picture of Jesus going off before dawn to a secluded place sit in our minds.

And let us see this as a kind of healing, too. Where healing means to make whole, we can here see the healer being healed, being renewed, connecting to the source of strength, of peace, of wholeness by whom he will continue to cast out evil and sickness and death.

In this world of instant communication and incessant internet activity, and in this place where there’s always work to do and driving seems to take up half the day, it is so easy to become overwhelmed by busyness.

But let us consider how much more peaceful the rest of daytime might be if we have connected with the Peacemaker.

We are far too busy for our own spiritual good.

If you already are in the practice of taking time to pray (morning, evening, either, both, whenever…) I encourage you to see this as a time of healing – a time of reconnecting to the source of your existence, the one who made you and desires for you to become an agent of redemption in this broken world. Ask God to show you the places in your heart and mind that need healing and ask God how you might be an agent of healing for others.

If you don’t have a practice of praying and connecting to God or if you once did and have fallen out of the habit, I encourage you, join me in refusing to say the words “I’m too busy to pray” and rather commit these words to mind “Too busy NOT to pray” and “those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”