BURTON JOYCE
COMMUNITY CHURCH
Sunday 15 August 2021
with Nottingham North East Circuit
Prepared by Rev John Wiseman for use at home and adapted for Burton Joyce Community Church by Phil Colbourn.
Hymns from Songs of Fellowship (SoF)
Our first hymn SoF 112
For the beauty of the earth
Opening Prayer: Psalm 150
Praise the LORD
Bible reading Mark 6:30-32
“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and rest.”
Let’s sing SoF 28
As we are gathered, Jesus is here
Today’s Message Establishing a Rhythm of Life
So far in this series on the Methodist Way of Life we have looked at two aspects: what it means to worship and what it means to be a learning and caring community of faith. Today, I want to focus on how we develop a rhythm in our spiritual life to take in and give out.
I wonder how many of you can remember a TV advert for Mars, the chocolate bar. And I wonder if you can remember the slogan: A Mars a day helps you work rest and play. A Christian confectionary firm might have had a slogan ending: ‘Work, Rest and Pray’! The idea behind the slogan was that here was something that would help you through the rhythm of a day, whether you were working, resting or enjoying some sort of leisure activity.
Jesus was a great believer in this sort of rhythm, a balanced routine, not just in his life but also in that of his disciples. He knew that there was a time to work, a time to step back and dwell with God in stillness and prayer and, judging by the fact that he is often accused of feasting and drinking, we can guess he also knew how to relax.
And in today’s passage, after the disciples have been hard at work out in the mission field, Jesus sees they need to restore some balance and so he encourages them to step back, escape to a quiet place to rest, to be still and simply to reengage with God again through prayer. This is something Jesus himself was in the habit of doing. All through his ministry Jesus sought, and encouraged his disciples to seek, this rhythm or being and doing, of working and resting, of motion and stillness, of existing in a relationship with God and with others.
Some of you will know that I am a runner, well no perhaps that’s not the right description. I am someone who runs. One of the things that makes a good runner is the ability to control their breathing. We breathe in to take oxygen into the lungs which is then transported around our circulation via red blood cells to allow the cells in our bodies to produce energy efficiently. We breathe out in order to remove carbon dioxide, the potentially toxic waste product of metabolism from our bodies. Athletes often spend periods of time training at high altitude, stressing their bodies to produce more red blood cells so that when they return to compete at sea level, their breathing is more effective and efficient.
During normal everyday activities, we hardly notice we are breathing at all, it is simply a natural process. If, however, we exert ourselves or are suffering from an illness, then quite often breathing in and out becomes the only thing we can focus on.
Before becoming a minister, I was a physiotherapist and have spent hours helping people with breathing problems. People whose inability to breathe increased their anxiety which put further strain on their breathing. Trying to break that vicious cycle was not always easy, but once a rhythm had been restored, the patient’s health stabilised.
In the film ‘Sweet Charity’, Sammy Davis Junior sings:
“And the rhythm of life is a powerful beat,
“Puts a tingle in your fingers and a tingle in your feet”
And, indeed, when we get that rhythm right, whether it be the rhythm of work, rest and play, or the rhythm of managing and controlling our breathing - which is often one of the focus points of many meditation techniques, or the spiritual rhythm in which we offer and receive from God, or the give and take with our neighbours, then the tingle that we feel will not simply be contained within our fingers and feet but will run through out whole being.
In worship we might think we come to receive, to be restored, to be recharged for the week ahead, and that is true. But its main focus is one of giving back to God in response for the love God has already given us. In learning and caring, simply by being part of a church that wants to grow and develop and flourish together, we have an opportunity to share our knowledge and compassion with others and to be on the receiving end of their experience and kindness.
In another part of my life, I worked / served at a street clinic in Calcutta and also taught physiotherapy at a Spinal Injuries unit in Bangladesh and I can honestly share that I received back from those I treated / taught far more than I ever offered in service to them. And since becoming a minister, one of the great joys is not so much telling people what God has, is and will do in my life, but being invited in, to share the faith stories of others.
In the Methodist Way of Life, as with any similar Christian rule of life, we live out our faith in discipleship and witness, we offer and we receive, we give & we take, we grant and we are given, we bequeath and we are blessed, we sow and we reap, we scatter and we gather, we include and we are invited in in return, all mixed together in this great dance of life.
We will each move to a different soundtrack, a different beat, choose different steps, and find ourselves dancing with different people at different parts in our life. But once we have found out feet and found our natural rhythm, then the back and forth, the to-and-fro, the leading and being led, the giving and receiving, will seem as natural as breathing and, as any good dancer or runner will testify, we will be able to adapt to the stresses and strains of life.
Breathing in and breathing out...through worship, through learning and caring, through service and through telling God’s story and sharing our own faith journey. Breathing in and out ... not through shallow, rapid gasps for air that increase our anxiety but through slow, deep, meaningful lung and life filling inhalations and exhalation that bring a sense of focus, peace and calm. So, in a final act of discipleship this morning, just sit still. Think about how you view worship, service, learning & caring, service and speaking about God...take a deep breath in, then out, in then out, in then out. Amen
Our next hymn SoF 40
Be still for the presence of the Lord
Prayers of intercession
· Pray for all who feel breathless due to illness, anxiety or fear
· Pray for those we know whose loved ones have taken their final breath.
· Pray for those struggling to pause for breath due to the hectic lives they lead
· Pray for all those athletes who have produced moments that have taken our breath away at the current Tokyo Olympics, whether in victory or defeat.
· Pray for those breathing new life into our churches and communities
· Pray for those who can’t breathe, suffocated by prejudice, injustice, violence or hate
· Pray for the earth, that all may be free to breathe the unpolluted air
Let’s bring all our prayers together in the prayer Jesus taught his disciples: Our Father, who art in heaven …
Our final hymn SoF 238
In heavenly love abiding
Blessing
As we plan for the week ahead, may the breath of God animate our being and our doing, our giving and receiving, our taking and our offering, our sowing and our reaping. Amen
Breathe in deeply... Now, breathe out
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