Terry Paul Choyce
July 23rd, 2006, Brunswick Street United Church
In our reading today from Mark (8:30-56) Jesus has been talking to people and healing people, and he is exhausted, and needs to be alone. He and his disciples go out into a boat to escape the crowds, and all of the demands placed on Jesus.
When they returned Jesus continued his preaching and his healing. And, this was when he fed five thousand people with two fish and five loaves of bread. Then, when the crowd left, Jesus told his disciples to take the boat out and to leave him alone to pray. The winds picked up and the disciples were having a rough time out on the water. So Jesus walks on the water to assist them. When they return to the shore people who needed healing flocked to Jesus, and he heals them all. Some were healed simply by touching his cloak.
This is a very powerful demonstration of what Jesus was capable of doing - the miracles he could perform. I also read into this the importance of getting away from demands and having peace, and sometimes solitude. Jesus needed time to pray. He needed time to be with just his friends. And after he had some quiet time, he was able to perform miracles that amazed even his disciples.
All of us need down time. This can be just a few minutes to walk, pray, sit still, listen to music, any number of things. Throughout our day, we all function better if we allow ourselves to relax often. Paul and I took a course on creating a better life, and they recommended taking a "full stop" many times a day. These are moments when we do nothing but breathe.
Sometimes we need more than a few minutes to stop and get calm. Sometimes we need to take a day or more away from our regular routine. I'd like to read this advice from the great artist and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci, which he wrote over 500 years ago:
Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come
back to your work your judgement will be surer; since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose power of judgement....
Go some distance away because the work appears smaller, and more of it can be taken in at a glance, and a lack of harmony or proportion is more readily
seen .
Da Vinci is telling us that we will be more productive and happier if we leave our work and problems behind for a time and relax. He's telling us to take a vacation. When we allow some distance between ourselves and our responsibilities and problems, quite often those stresses diminish in size and importance, and when we return, we are better able to deal with them. For all of us, no matter what we do or who we are, life does get overwhelming and discouraging at times.
Another wise and famous person who advocates taking a break is Maya Angelou. I'd like to read this from Spiritual Literacy, page 258.
Yes, just a day away can renew the spirit. We don't need to take long, expensive trips. We just need to do something that is out of the ordinary. Take a bus ride down to Point Pleasant Park and walk the paths and sit on the rocks to watch the sea and the ships. Go to the free art galleries at any of the universities. Take a bus to the Keshen Goodman library on Lacewood Drive. Take a bus to Hemlock Ravine Park, or to the Dingle, or to Papermill Lake. You can have many adventures right here in Halifax, almost for free. And when you return, you will feel better able to cope with your difficulties.
Wayne Dyer says that when we take a break we are allowing "divine intervention" into our lives. When we relax and let God have a hand in our affairs, we allow life to flow the way that God intended. This has proven to be true in my life. When I am intent on controlling everything and doing everything, I create so much stress and tension inside myself that I do not enjoy what I am doing. But if I can relax and trust that what needs to be done, will be done by someone, I can be happier and more pleasant to be around. This has been a hard lesson for me to learn, and I find I have to relearn it all the time. I need to trust divine intervention more.
The key word for all of this is "balance." We all need times of high activity and times of complete rest. We need times to play with the kids or cheer on our favorite sports team, and times to be totally alone and quiet. We need times to take care of everyone, and times when we enjoy being taken care of. Like the philosopher says in Ecclesiastes 3:1-15, there is a time for every purpose under heaven. There is a time for sorrow and a time for joy, a time for mourning and a time for dancing, a time for silence and a time for talk. When we allow ourselves the time to experience all of life, we feel more balanced and in control. And we feel more in tune with God.
Throughout the Bible we are told to take time for prayer. This is one of the best ways we have to stay in balance. When we talk to God with gratitude, we appreciate our lives more. When we tell God about the struggles in our lives, we often come to an understanding and/or a solution to our problems. Consider prayer a mini vacation with God.
These days many people turn to meditation to gain inner peace. There are many kinds of meditation, and this morning we will experience two of them. First we will have a musical meditation, where you can focus your mind on the music. Then Paul will do a guided meditation with us. At a later date he will be doing a whole service on meditation. The purpose of meditation is to still your mind - to take a mental vacation. This rests the body, mind, and spirit.
The title of this sermon is about see-saws. You remember them from when we were kids, going up and down, high and low. Life is like a see-saw. But with every up and down, there is a time when we are in the middle, balanced. As a child I found this position the hardest to maintain, especially with my brother at the other end. But when we were balanced, it was such a sense of accomplishment and team work. So let us all strive to be at the centre of our see-saws. Let us take time to be balanced and peaceful, and to feel that we are on the see-saw with God.
©Terry Paul Choyce. Used with permission from the author.
