Chillaxin With Jesus
preached in response to
Mark 6: 30-34, 53-56 (gleaned from the NRSV version)
Baileyton United Methodist Church
Sunday, July 19, 2009
“lazy, just plain lazy”…those words come to mind, there’re from a song (Deep Purple)
and, sad to say, wrongly, that word lazy is what comes to mind most when you see a person, or a group, doing what the group in the bulletin picture is doing. (if you can't see the picture yet, its a group of folks sitting under a tree with Jesus--just straight chillin!
I like to say ‘take it easy’, makes me feel like a surfer. Reminds me of the Eagles. Though the word I would use today is chillaxin—a combination word that is easy enough to figure out. Its what the kids call it...today. Though it'll change.
And I can speak to this, I’ve spent some time doing exactly what they’re doing! A nice, shady tree, a nice cool breeze, possibly a lazy day, looks nice. All they need is a glass of Country Time lemonade…or a glass of something else, depending on who you are, where you're from, and what you like!
now certainly, these guys with Jesus, and Jesus himself, are going to catch a lot of flack from some groups. Mostly the other workers. The old-timers will say, "well, I never!" "back in my day..." "we've never done ________ that way" et cetera, et cetera...
We've all heard that before.
So has Jesus.
Though think for a minute, what if the wives of all these men come by here? They may not perfectly understand what they’re doing.
Though...do we???
An ethics professor at Princeton Seminary asked for volunteers for an extra assignment. About half the class met him at the library to receive their assignments. The professor divided the students into three groups of five each. He gave the first group envelopes telling them to proceed immediately across campus to Stewart Hall. He told them that they had 15 minutes and if they didn't arrive on time, it would affect their grade. A minute or two later, he handed out envelopes to five others. They were also to go over to Stewart Hall, but they had 45 minutes. The third group had three hours to get to Stewart Hall. The students weren't aware of it, but the professor had arranged for three drama students to meet them along the way. Close to the beginning of their walk, one of the drama students had his hands on his head and was moaning aloud as if in great pain. About half way to Stewart Hall, on the steps of the chapel, the seminary students passed a man who was lying face down as if unconscious. Finally, on the steps of Stewart Hall, the third drama student was acting out a seizure. In the first group of students, those who had only 15 minutes to get across campus, no one stopped to help. In the second group, two students stopped to help. In the last group, the one that had three hours for their assignment, all of the students stopped to help at least one person. The professor had clearly shown these seminarians that hurry hinders ministry.
(borrowed from a sermon and sermon illustration "Hurry Hinder Ministry", Sermon Illustrations)
When is the last time you’ve just cleared your plate…or maybe left the plate full…and just took the time to relax? to just be...
Take it all in. Let life come to you.
What we call our Protestant work ethic—and I don’t know why they call it that—would tell us, no, you cant stop and rest! that’s for someone who is…lazy…
"Its not good and its not Godly to just do nothing."
I beg to differ.
One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest. The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had. "I don't get it," he said. "Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did."
"But you didn't notice," said the winning woodsman, "that I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest."
(traditional moral--that's a kind of story, not political party)
An interesting point to consider:
Just what had Jesus and the gang been doing up to this point? What would they be doing just after this? The preaching craft cals this 'context'--what's happening all around this story?
Well, they had actually been doing a bit of work: driving out demons…preaching the good news of the KOG…healing the sick…anointing and calling others to come into their fold, pick up their cross, follow them, or, him.
They’ve been busy…they’ve been working hard. They have sure earned a rest if you ask me…if for no other reason than to gain some balance.
And balance, my friends is important to life. Hang that! It's vital! It's essential! Without balance, we fall. Repeatedly.
Still…
we may have never heard of Jesus doing something like this—just sitting about..”resting a while” as he puts it.
and I don’t know if he’s even doing it too much even here.
you see, if you think you’ve never heard of Jesus and the disciples just stopping to take a nice break, well you may not have looked as closely as you think
this nice little break Jesus takes is smack in the middle of his feeding the 5000!
I don’t know how much of a break it was.
Jesus is calling us to understand the gift of time. some of the best things in life, perhaps especially the life of the disciple are the small things, the simple things.
Quiet. Stillness. Being with each other. Being in the presence of God.
"It is an old and ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way."
--Rolo Mae
Henri Nouwen wrote that "our culture has become most sophisticated in the avoidance of pain, not only our physical pain but our emotional and mental pain as well. We not only bury our dead as if they were still alive, but we also bury our pains as if they were not really there. We have become so used to this state of anesthesia, that we panic when there is nothing or nobody left to distract us. When we have no project to finish, no friend to visit, no book to read, no television to watch, no record to play, and when we are left all alone by ourselves we are brought so close to the revelation of our basic human aloneness and are so afraid of experiencing an all-pervasive sense of loneliness that we will do anything to get busy again and continue the game which makes us believe that everything is fine after all" (Reaching Out, pp. 16,17).
we are typically very bothered by stillness, quiet, inactivity, and silence.
Now count to 30. That's one half of a minute. Count to 30 while doing nothing. Nothing (see Seinfeld, Season 4) Accept counting...and breathing...
THAT'S RIGHT!!! It's very strange to us. Alien, you might say.
They call it dead air on the radio and it is the worst possible scenario.
When we’re young, we call it ‘boring’ everything is boring. Everything!
Accept video games. Or texting.
But God has given us these things, these simple, beautiful moments of what seems to be nothing, for a reason. It's a magnificent gift!
Just ask Martha! (That would be Martha, sister of Mary. She learned a little lesson in chillaxin, Luke 10:38-42.) Or, just ask the Psalmist! As in, "be still..."(Psalm 46:10)
Ask those folks gathered under that tree with Jesus!
There’s always plenty to do, gracious plenty, in fact. You might say too much! And there’s always a time to reflect and chill…relax…chillax!
Jesus wants it. We have to work hard. Not to the point of workaholicism (btw, much less judged and condemned than alcoholism) Work is essential. Working hard, working smart? Yes, we have to do these things.
Though pause for a minute. How well can we hear and see and feel God through the busy-ness? Through the clutter and the noise? We meet the Living God in the secret. In the quiet place.
Many, many times, the gospel is whispered.
So take that time. Pause for a minute. Look around…listen close...this Living God is here!
