MARK @:30-36 3ETHANY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
"REFLECTIONS ON THE END OF SUMMER LAFAYETTE, INDIANA

, JOHN M. BUCHANAN
i

“Life, in the United States, is - | believe - about to undergo a radical change of

cates) Yel’ proportions.\ It happens every year on THis date - Labor Day weekend - as

Summer disintigrates into autumn, the weather not withstanding.\ We observe an annual rite

a eee ee eT

of ending and renewal on January 1.\ sat everyone knows that nothing really ends and nothing
ed ae eee Ee

really begins on that date except new calendors.\ The divide - at least in my experience -

happens row.\ Lite, next week,begins again with a vengeance. In this community particularly
ee, ena ess

life takes on a new sense of urgency with the influx of Purdue student New automobiles
—— tL 4a—_—_!,

will be revealed this nonth,| organizations +hat have limped through The past three months
——___ =o
will gar gia Seton will be reunited - parties will resume, committees will begin to
—_— oo ase aS ——

meet again.
lf you have school children you are accutely aware +hat last week was different from
a aah ba a

the week before and that next week will mark the real beginning of life - ala the American

Middle Class.

Some will regret the change - others will welcome it with great sighs of relief - but

for all of us it will be differgnt.
The dimensions of that change can be documented in the life style of any Junior or

Senior High School student. \ Lest week the major problem +o be solved was how to fill up

the nours. | But this week the problem is exactly the reverse - how To do all the Things one

vants to do - and find time to sleep and eat. in ay household the dillemna precipitated a

= Se
was

full scale family council to work on a time budget and my preliminary conclusion/that we

can't get it all done unless we can find a way to add eight hours +o each day.

In any case - we've got one foot on the merry-go-round +his morning.\ Mogtof us
BE ee aia

won't be getting off again until next Hey. And it occurred to me that we well might spend

oy

a few minutes this morning reflecting on that fact.
—==, al
Part of what | bring to this sermon, | confess, Is the experience of ten weeks in
Scotland. \ our Initial and lasting impression of life in tke Highlands. was that no one

was in very much of a hurry. \The contrast between J.F.K. airport in New York and

Prestwick airport outside Glasgow is striking.\ There is probably no more frantic piece

of real estate in the United States than Kennedy « \ When we got off the plane In Scotland

2m
we were prepared to attack the long Lines at the baggage depot) tight our way through
pushing crowds and with Ged'is help find the people who were waiting for us\ But we found
sijence - plenty of people — but no one was pushing. \ Porters ~ but none of them threaten-
ing -\ on our first morning in Kinloghleven i got up early - and at 8:00 walked Through the

front gate to make my grand entrance into the life of the vitlage.\ | found nothing - no

at,

cars, no people, no shops ,open \ Only a few sheep sleeping on the highway A We learned

subsequently That schoo] doesn't begin THI 9:00 \ Management P people at the Alumintum

—

plant start at 9:00 also - a fact | found incredible in ijight of my friendship with

ane

executives here who are behind their desks at 7:30 and who don't return home for twelve

Se cinammieniermianen ent
—,

S
hours. \ And so we concluded that no one Win a hurry res \ Life moves more slowly, less
‘caren ee] ere

frantically - and that we had experienced personajly probabaly the greatest difference
Cena seensemeememeaien —

between our culture and any other culture in the world.\ Oneimage will remain forever in
iT, eC = el

my mind. \As you drive atfong the highway in Scotiand in the afternoon people beging to pull
off around 3:00. By 3:30 the road-side "lay-byes'! as they ara called, are filled. \people
ws | ba aed _—-

stop, get folding chairs out of the trunk, a burner and kettle, sometimes a small Tab te
and a matronly apron, newspapers and bogkg emerge and everyone takes tee [t's an [meoriaaT
part of every day and totally different from anything in my experience. {then we travel -

’ + £eran | : . _ +t 1 Nw
and we're no different from you - the goal fs to get there - as quickly as possible \ a

stop - only out of sheer necessity and then reluctantly.\ We cover more miles, and see more
_—a ee eich Lame iene

hie tel

places - but time traveling Is the means to an end, rarely an enjoyable experience In and
— =, fae)

of itseit.\And while 1 have no intention of taking tea.on 165, | do nuture the hope that

returning to Scotland one day to do just that.

Lt

One time, early in his ministry, Jesus sent the disciples out, two by two, for a figid
i, /

trip in discipleship \Thetr instructions were to visit the villages of Galflea, teaching,

preaching and healing. \ The success of the venture is doucmented by the fact that King Hered

thought John the Baptist, whom he had beheaded, had returned to bite. \in any case, they
Sean a, =

Lh ine el

returned to Jesus - flushed wlth success, exhausted physically and emottonat ly. \and_ine a
first thing he said to them was Econe with me, by yourselves, to some Jonely place where

you can rest quletty." ) Hark adds, parenthetical ty, ('For they had no Hlesure to eat, so many

eermpepin,

were coming and going" } which sounds a fot like what happens in our house at dinner time.

| onan a

-3~
They needed, that is to say, peace and qyter /sone along moments to be with themselves
and their Lord: |to sort out their experiences and fel lings: |o assimijate what had happened

to then.\ They needed recreation, }.e. reccreatton.\ IT was his prescription for them, and

ed

| don't think It is over-interpretation to suggest that he might have a similar word for
bel Ci il

a_i

us - on this day particulariy.
We need the very kind of experience that our tife style conspires to aise! iow | We need
ve TELNET

=

each of us ~ a lonely place - a retreat - a time for reflecting and thinkkag.\ We need an
i i

sii a, TCR

opportunity - instead of meeting ourselves coming and going - to sit dawn and get reacquainted
uci Pre wc TCT

with ourselves: \fo converse with oursstves:\to get in touch with the telings and reactions
baer nal /_ Soviorig-

ee]

wa have experienced,

Great men have always known ‘nat pai osopher know thyse! ft" \sesus retreated on

ST ie

occassion:\the Bible is full of stories about people who puctuated heroic and fermoiled lives

a

with moments of solitude and reflection \ someone recently gave me a present that means a
Cn a, =

great deaf to me. \ It's a picture of Winston Churchill - in old age - taken from the back -
—, seeker, —

as he was sitting, quietly looking at a pond and a bit of lovely Engiish landscape.\ And
—, rere eidiaiiat Seeteiemiel —,

you know ~ by looking at the picture - that a great mind was at work - doing an important

task - in that silent moment. \Abraham Lincoln, 1 was interested to learn, spent a jot of
ei * lente

t : imel! i ; i j ;
time "wasting time" according te our standards,\ He was considered lazy while in office.

One opponent in an election campaign described him as "a study_in inertia".\ one editorial
eee rien, ein

quipped that the rumor of the President's death could not be documented becausa no one could

Sai) Lae i a al

tell if he was dead or aive. | He teok a two-hour nap every aay\or he spent that time rock-
renal lier ie

eit

ing on the porch of the White House watching the horses grazing on the fawn.

in contrast, President Grant, usuafly regarded as one of our poorest chief executives,

was one of the busiest.\ A tireless worker, he drove himself and those about him
el | nnn aimmnateel

mercilessly.

We need a time and a place for stonsness | not alf the time. \Monasticism went too far:
a ences Se

the life of contemplation and reflection twenty four hours a day is mt the mode! either.
Pe Daa

There is a time for everything: \+he preacher of Ecclesiastes eloquently Identified balance

tear Lem
and timeliness as the ideal "a time to keep silence and a time to speak." ) Ad it's
ee rrr ~ Sane

interesting that in Mark's account the disciples never reaily made it to that lonely place -

Ss

~4-

because a clamoring crowd of hungry people touched the compassion of Jesug and they were

el

ted.\ But he said it to them ~- and therewere other times and other fonely places.
. ben aiedienieee inten |

rp nina ar ened

Ciena all

As
Wy A time of quiet reflection is a good thing - a necessary thing - even a Biblical ideal.
as a a eee |

it is not an easy thing Te accomplish. \For starters, we jive in a culture that, untike
Dead | ial i ae

Scotland, profoundly distrusts idlenggs and has made, in our day, a fetish -a tin god - out

i

of pusynegs|\ 14 doesn?t matter what you are doing - so long as you are busy \ It's een

el

better if you can be pushed, harried, late and running \ have professional collegues who
Se a
have never said a word to me over the years that did not include a quick tale of woes
eee ea Fetal

regarding their impossible scheduie.\ | fall into that trap, although i have v owed not to.
a nT es ices ne

But even when { try - you make it aifticult. \Peopte have said to me, many more times thm
| EL TN Fin]

eee

a

| care to contenplote |" wentec to call you, but you! re so busy.” | and fvant to say now

S that | regard that as a serious indictment of me_- and you - and the whole neurotic culture
a nite!

e
x

ys

rea

at forces us into }
that f to it.
So

Ke We are obsessed with busyness, with accomplishment and production.\ And while, in one

AY apd aC iki CES reece

sense, that culture opsession makes us a powerful and productive nation, we are paying for
iil a rr

it dearly. | we are paying for it in terms of wealth without charity, | power with wisdom,
‘jain, | |

efficiency without morafity.\ | am convinced that we might have been spared the entire agony

of this summer if there had been one reflective, slow moving man in the White House.| We
Dd

ir bie ee ad

pay for it dearly, in terms of tives burnt out at age 40: \In terms of ulcers and nepyous
al |
breakdowns, and broken names \we pay for it_in terms of successful people who have been

running al! their fives and conclude - when a moment of reflection is forced on them - that

been nl

they have nothing.

So it's difficult - this business of finding the bnely place and quiet rine.{ Our
ane ee,

whole culture Is stacked against us. \put there is mare to the problem In moments of
acre a

solitude, we thinklour minds run free, we confront, whether we want to or not, our selves.
ar an rine ce oh —_— ee

el

5 r ‘a 7 t j
We remember dreams and goals, perhaps fallures: \ve can't help but think about the present

and the future.\We can become sad - or even angry in our aloneness, \We meet the person who

eee ay [mnie lel

really Is US , and sometimes we don't like who we meet.
—_

in his little manual ¢ Christian Fellowship, Life Together, Otetrick Bonhoeffer, de-

voted an entire chapter to The Day ALone. \r it he observed, (ony people seek fel] fowshIp

i

2 Wwe 5

f
yo

pt

a,
because they are afraid to be atone. | Because they cannot stand loneliness, they are
ee |
. \e
driven to seek the company of cther people."| (a) Busyness can be an escape from the self
we cannot bear to confront. | orner people can become the tools we use to avoid self-

a
ee

awareness.

i
) It is difficult - but it is necessary none the less \ Psycholagicat ly, we need to learn

Ww it
to trust ourselves.) Jn current clinical jargon, to own our reo! inas.\ We need to laok
ean tat all eee al

re CS

\e prat ourselves in the mirror of our minds - fo see who we are: \ro identify and own up to the

i

feelings we have experienced Ato affirm ourselves - by saying ~ jn reftection:("yes, that
CE eo Jerome

bl

made me angry but(tr0, | didn't need fo express my anger in That way.) In terms of
— i et

enpenaamaand

human relationships we are learning that autonomy is terribly important if a relationship
i soe EE

a

is to be authentic\ Put in simpler terms, we must feel alright about being alone - being
ee bet ne depecaecorempmi ENTE

ourselves alone ~ before we can be with another person. | Marriages contracted on the basis
taal

of need are offen headed for trouble \ that's a bit difficult to handle because we've

1 “s - _ T
always Thought the reverse had to be true. \ But now we know - healthy persons don't

neurotically need each other - as a crutch - but openly, honestly want each other.

Kahlil Gibran said it some time ago in a bit of poetry that 1 use tn the marriage

ceremony whenever | have the oppartuoliy:

"Let there be spaces in your togetherness, and let the winds of the heavens
dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Lat it rather be a moving sea
between the Shores of your souls.\Fil| each other's cup but drink not from

one cup. \ Give one another ci your bread but eat not from the same loaf. | Sing
and dance together and be joyous but let each one of you be alone. | Even as
the strings of a_lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.| And
stand together yet not too near together: for the Pillars of the temple

stan apart, and the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

In terms of our families, we are learning that our congern for "togetherness" can be
eh

overdone and become destructive.) We know now that successful families provide time and
beanie al aim, Sr ical

space for each person to be alone and quiet.\ Mother and Dad need time together and alone ~,
Le meal = —a

and if they are wise they'!|| find a wav to take it\ Eech of them needs, in additon,
er, ee

sol itude\\ chi Idren don?+ need programmed activity 24 hours a day:\they do need to be left
nr : bennenien |
alone periodically to do their private_thinking and reflecting.

Solitude, reflection - cultivate the discipline of sifence and istaaica. |r

Se tin ol —,

~h-
i ' i itt i
amazing what you can begr when you're quigt\ And it's equally amazing what can happen by

way of healing and helping when you listen_guietly to someone else talk.

Spiritually, a lonely place ~ a quiet time can be like a drink of fresh, cool water.
en eal —— -_

=

A philosopher once noted that it's a rang man who can spend one ful) minute in lonely
. aes

sifenge without thinking about God. \ that's a favorite of mine because | have so often
Deen maaan amie | nn eel

found it to be true.

And yet the words aren't quite right. \giver our own predisposition we may or may not

think about God.\ What | believe - and what the whole theology of the Reforemed tradition

Died EE

tells me - is that God comes to sh It's not, that is to say, the meandering of an idie

mind that causes us to think deep tnougnts [rather it is the restless, mov ing Spirit of

God himself, looking for us, provoking our Thinking.
— or —

eee,

Again, Bonhoeffer said it plainly, "The time of meditation does not jet us down Into

the vold and abyss of jonel iness:| i+ lets us be alone with the Word..\ 14 will surely come

inn,

just as surely as God Himself has come fo men _and will come asain." | ps

We are called to be disciptes out in a busy world that allows |ittie time for aloneness.
eee

We are called to discipleship within the context of the husy schedules we will keep this

Oil

fet ts| schedules that, if we allow them, can fill every hour and leave_us empty spiritually.
etl

Take time:| make time in which the waters of your spirit can flow seopty | in which
ioe amamnad Cael
eae Ni . . ted irit.\ Find
your thinking can run freely \in which the Spirit of God can speak fo your spirit \ in

eal

your lonely place. AMEN
en

Father, we know you are There amidst the busy noises of life. Grant us, this year, a new
sensitivity to your presence: and when we are alone speak to us tn your still, small voice

of caim: through JESUS Christ our Lord. AMEN