A Pause for Prayer and Preparation
Second Sunday of Easter –
April 19, 2020
Until recently, we thought we were done with naps for
our youngest
· And then we started digital
schooling and staying at home
· By late afternoon, he’d be a
mess, crying over the slightest frustration, yelling at brother and sister, etc
· So back to naps it was – and
finally I messaged his teacher only to find out he not only rested during the
4k rest time, but was a really consistent sleeper! Who knew? J
· Doesn’t always willingly go
to take a nap – we like to call that “resisting a rest”
o
FOMO – “fear of missing out”
· But naps serve a purpose –
to bring him back to his better self, better self-regulation, greater enjoyment
(everything is harder when you’re tired)
World is experiencing a kind of global rest/nap-time
· A slow down put in force by
public health concerns/policies
· Here in WI, safer-at-home
order just extended until nearly the end of May; Schools cancelled for the rest
of the academic year
o
A few restrictions eased for some businesses (you can go
golfing if you are willing to walk the course and skip the 19th hole
J) – but generally we are in this holding pattern that
we have little or no control over
o
Maybe not FOMO – but many of us are resisting this rest at
some level
§ Some are outright protesting
stay-at-home orders (here in WI and some other states)
· Even if we understand and
support the need for us to self-isolate and minimize interactions outside of
our households, lots of us feeling impatient; anxious; bored
· Worried about the fallout of
the screeching halt our economy came to; struggles and stresses of enforced
family time with just the same people all the time (and domestic
violence/childhood abuse concerns)
· Not wanting to take this
prolonged pause, wanting to get back into action, come off the sidelines and
get back into the game
Apostles held back at the starting line too
· Have been following after
Jesus all of this time, described in Luke (Acts is the sequel to Luke’s gospel)
· Have gone through the trauma
of the crucifixion and the deep joy of resurrection and reunion with Jesus
o
Who has spent the past 40 days since being raised with the
disciples, “presenting himself alive to them and appearing to them, speaking
about the kingdom of God”
· And all this time, it seems
the disciples have been waiting – they want to know “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the
kingdom?”
o
Like, what are we waiting for, Jesus? You gonna do this thing
or what? Is it time yet?
o
They’re impatient, tired of waiting, they want action
· Instead, Jesus orders them
not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father, for
the baptism of the Holy Spirit not many days from now – for the power they will
receive from that same Holy Spirit to become Jesus’ witnesses
o But no timeline – “not many
days” – how long is that going to be, exactly?
Jesus calls the disciples
into a pause
·
This pause between Easter, and now Ascension and then
Pentecost, which for us will be the end of May (the 31st – the 50th
day of Easter), but here in the Bible, we’ve fast-forwarded 40 days and
Pentecost is only 10 more days away, but the disciples don’t know that yet
·
And the disciple might be chomping at the bit, they might
have wanted to resist a rest, but instead, after Jesus is lifted up out of
their sight – they return to the city proper, and they enter into the upper
room where they were staying – the 11 remaining disciples and some others
·
Gathered together, they discover the power of the pause
o They’re not going out, not
doing normal, everyday life, not getting back to work or socializing or even
witnessing
·
But this little household group sequesters themselves away,
and constantly devote themselves to prayer as they wait on the promise of the
Father
·
They are preparing in
the pause – because soon enough the Holy Spirit will descend and then they will
be off into the world as witnesses, first in Jerusalem and then to neighboring
regions and ultimately to the world
·
But the pause isn’t wasted time – it is purposeful. It gets
them ready for what lies ahead, this new thing that God is doing in the world,
that God will be telling the world through
them!
We have been given the gift
of a great pause too, right now
·
Not all of it is gift. This time in our world and in our
lives comes with many layers of stress and potential conflict and worry
·
But I think there is opportunity for this pause to be
purposeful for us too
o A chance to recalibrate, to
reevaluate our “normal” lives and discover what has value and meaning
o Time to re-center our lives
around what really is important
o To devote our lives to
prayer – and to one another and to the world around us
§ To deepen relationship with
God and with our loved ones (I’ve had the blessing of reconnecting with people
I worked with back in the early 2000s, almost 20 years ago b/c all of a sudden
we have time to Zoom with each other!)
·
Pause to pray and prepare
o To explore what God is
calling us to be and do, as individuals and as families and as a congregation
§ To hear God’s voice speak
more clearly about what we are being sent
into the world to do, how we can be a part of being and bringing God’s good
news into a world that will surely need that good news, now more than ever…
So, let’s not resist this
rest. Let’s pause. Let’s pray. Let’s prepare.
And then let’s see what the
power of the Holy Spirit at work in us can do!
Amen.
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