Please see post from June 28 if you want to know more about the current sermon layout.
To read the Bible passage the sermon is based on, click on the link & you'll be taken to a site with that passage!
Council devotions
A story from today
All resonate with sense of needing a break & not being able to find one
even our teenager/youth rep. said he felt that way
We all know this feeling of being overwhelmed by the demands of our lives
work, family, housework, errands, keeping up with friends
Old Calgon commercial – the traffic, the boss, the baby, the dog! That does it! Calgon, take me away!
We want Jesus to take us away from
stress/anxiety/worry/trouble/demands
& Even when we find those quiet times, distractions follow –
we can never quite escape
Meditation story of Tuesday morning
Disciples must have felt that way too
just returned from 1st solo missionary trip w/o Jesus
sent out 2 by 2 two weeks ago (before Herod & John the Baptist)
Come back filled with stories and experience that they need to share
Must look worn out, in need of some downtime, to absorb what they have seen and done
Jesus sees it in their faces -
Come away to a deserted place by yourselves & rest a while. Take a break!
Only problem w/ that, of course, is that on the way to their retreat, people find out & follow them there!
Actually arrive there 1st!
And when they go to Gennesaret, the same thing happens –
people at once recognize him, and rush around gathering up all the people who are sick, bringing them to wherever Jesus was.
The needs of the people were urgent
They knew what Jesus & his disciples could do – they wanted what they had to offer
They're beating down the doors to get to Jesus & his followers
And we hear this story, with its invitation to rest
and then see that the disciples never quite get that break
& we who are so starved for that quiet place, the chance to rest,
wonder how they kept on doing it without burning out.
Esp. when we realize that we are followers of Jesus too –
that he has sent us out into the world to bring the good news,
to work for healing, to bring hope to the hopeless
And we feel so overwhelmed with the demands of our already busy lives –
can't begin to fathom how we can add anything else in,
to work for the kingdom;
Fine for the disciples – they had no work, left their families behind, etc.
Difference b/w them and us is their sense of purpose –
so much of what we do feels like busy work, doesn't it
A lot of it isn't, but a lot is
We know that a lot of what we do isn't making much of a difference in the world
The disciples know that they are changing lives
They have felt the joy of knowing that what they are doing matters,
that they are a part of what God wants to do in the world
to feed the hungry & heal the sick and love the unloved
And the great news for us is that we don't have to go out of our way to be part of God's mission to love the world
opportunities are all around us wherever we are
Jesus didn't have to look for people to help
Wherever they heard Jesus was, they went
Jesus sees the great crowd. He sees
people who are hurting,
people who are in need
people who are longing for guidance, hope, compassion
And Jesus has compassion for them – he teaches them, he heals them
God can use us wherever we are
to bring life and hope and healing to a broken, desperate world,
filled with people who need what Jesus has to offer
With our grandchildren, with our golf buddies – seeing people & having compassion, reaching out to them with the love of Jesus
And so we come here each week –
this is a chance to come away to a quieter place
– to tell Jesus what we have been up to out there, all that we have done & taught
to rest a while with Jesus & with each other
to be fed, to be renewed, to be strengthened for the work God still calls us to
knowing that we are sent as the disciples were sent,
as changed people who
through the power of Jesus at work in our lives
are changing the world!
Amen.
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