February 22, 2015
How do you get high?
- Isaiah 40:21-31
- Dr. Teri Thomas
The pastor of a church, not unlike ours,
told about a class they had for parents of young children.
The class decided they needed a new name.
They kicked around several possibilities,
such as Seekers or Searchers or maybe Learners.
But all of those seemed too removed
from the everyday wear-and-tear of their lives.
Finally, one idea rose to the top.
It was simple, truthful, inclusive, and playful.
The next Sunday, the pastor walked by the classroom,
and saw the name on the door.
The laminated sign simply read: "Tired Parents Class."
Maybe I am just projecting my own issues
but it seems to me that a lot of folks are tired this winter.
Tired- run down- weary
and it is not just parents
it feels like a lot of us are barely able to deal with life as it comes at us.
Some are juggling jobs and families and trying to find time for fun.
Some race from one volunteer opportunity to the next wondering how you ever found the time to work.
I’ve been wrestling with the demands of work,
the desire to see family and friends,
and the reality of persistent and exhausting illness.
It just never quits.
Life never seems to slow down.
No sooner do you get use to a new cell phone
or computer software
or doctors on your insurance plan...
and then the technology is out of date,
your choices are no longer "supported,"
and the decisions you just made have expired.
The world finally begins to get a handle on the spread of Ebola
and now measles is threatening our families and loved ones.
Just ask anyone, "How are you?"
and then listen for the word overwhelmed
or exhausted
or stressed out
or just down.
It's like we are not so much living our lives, as it is that life is coming at us too fast to handle.
We need to hear the words from Isaiah this morning.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. God does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. The Lord gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
The writer was speaking to a people in exile,
people who’d spent a lot of years away from home.
They were tired.
Tired of the distance, the longing,
the not knowing if they’ll ever get back,
tired of feeling powerless.
Of feeling down.
And those words speak to us, too.
We get tired.
Exhausted,
Faint,
those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
The promise is that no matter what
God can take us from our down to up.
God can take us from faint to energetic.
God can take us from weak to strong.
When we are empty or weary or exhausted-
God can make us high.
Then we encounter today's account in Mark's Gospel.
For Jesus, it is the morning after what must have been
an extremely hectic day.
He had been teaching in the synagogue
with such authority that the people were astonished.
When his teaching was interrupted by the cries
of “A man with an unclean spirit,”
Jesus amazed the people by driving out the unclean spirit
and restoring the man to wholeness.
When he left the synagogue,
Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew.
There he cured Simon’s mother-in-law who was sick with a fever.
At sundown, all the people in the area
who were physically or spiritually sick were brought to him, and, with the entire city watching and clamoring,
he cured many who were sick with various diseases,
and cast out many demons.
Sounds like a full days work.
Jesus no doubt was tired physically and emotionally
and maybe even spiritually.
He knew he needed a lift.
So he got up early, and left the house and the others
and he went to a deserted place,
to be alone and pray.
When they realized he was gone,
his disciples went searching for him.
When they found him they said,
“What are you doing, everyone is searching for you?”
There were people who needed Jesus
and the disciples wanted to take him back.
They thought they knew what Jesus needed to be doing.
He must have experienced a moment of frustration.
You know how it is when you are trying to retreat from the demands of your schedule and someone interrupts you.
So how do you enjoy the journey when everyone and everything is searching for you,
wanting a piece of you,
and demanding your time?
How do you get high
when everyone and everything around you
is weighing you down?
I think Jesus gives us a couple of clues.
First, if you live your life as a caring person,
there will be pressure and tough choices.
It happened to Jesus.
It happens to you.
Don't be surprised.
Life comes at you.
Work, home, school
children, grand-children, pets
medical issues, political issues, social issues
For most, that is the landscape,
and some terrains simply can't be changed,
but they can be accepted.
That's clue number one.
Accept what can’t be changed.
It is what it is.
Here's number two:
though we can't stop life coming at us,
we can attend to the life that is given us.
We do this by attending to our relationship with God.
I suspect that is what Jesus was up to
as he sequestered himself in a deserted place to pray.
By tending his prayer life,
he found perspective above the fray...
he got high above the crowds and their demands and desires,
almost like the wings of an eagle, looking down over the world.
When the disciples tracked Jesus down
they said to him
"Everyone's looking for you!"
Jesus said, "Let's head in the other direction, to nearby villages, so that I can preach there too.
That's why I've come."
He had the kind of clarity that comes out of one's deepest identity which finds its source and sustenance in God.
Time in prayer reminded him what was important in his ministry.
There were lots of things he COULD do.
But prayer helped him clarify what he SHOULD do.
So, when life comes at you this week, get high.
Pause
Ponder
Pray
Accept the circumstances of your life
not as a challenge to overcome
but as a gift to receive.
Find the stillness of prayer in the midst of your busyness.
Encounter God in the midst of the turmoil.
Pray as you live your life.
No time to sit alone in a deserted place?
Henri Nouwen-
Praying is living.
It is eating and drinking, action and rest,
teaching and learning, playing and working.
Praying pervades every aspect of our lives.
It is the unceasing recognition
that God is wherever we are,
always inviting us to come closer
and to celebrate the divine gift of being alive.”
Isaiah made the promise so clear-
28Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. 30Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; 31but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Amen.