REFLECTIONS ON THE END OF SUMMER
Mark 6:30-36
September 1, 1974

This is a occasion. \ Preachers spend a lot of time considering
what they will say in a first sermon in a new pulpit. \ mis preacher is no
exception. | From the moment you elected me to be your pastor on June 2, I have

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been conscious of the fact that on September 1 I would be here and you would be
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preqnout
here listening, wondering, expecting - - - - It is indeed, a ¢deisemi occasion,
And yet, regardless of the importance this day has forme -- and for the

congregation of this Church, the over-riding reality with which you and I must
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come to grips is that it is Labor Day weekend, | uy experience over the years
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has taught me that a lot of otherwise faithful church members don't attend on

Labor Day Weekend, and that many of those who do harbor wistful thoughts about

golf courses, tennis courts, picnics and sail boats -- which is to say that this
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ora*iou
is not the day to deliver myself of a weighty on the Reformed Doctrine
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of the Atonement.

The reality of the day is that life in the United States and in this
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community is about to undergo a radical ch e-| Uoheaval might be a more accurate

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tem. Tt happens every year on this weekend, as summer disintegrates into autumn,

she=meatbhou=notwrtrerewdseam, We observe an annual rite of beginning and ending
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on January 1, but even the most casual observer of our culture knows that the
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only thing that changes on that occasion is the calendar \\ The real dvwidc

happens now. | Life begins this week with a vengeance, \ organizations that have
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been dormant for three months will reorganize.\ Committees that have limped
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through the summer will begin with a new lease on 1ite\ Vacationing friends will
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be reunit \ 1 e nd universities wi spri int ction,.| New automobiles
ited.) Colleges a i i will spring Oa \

will be revealed soon.\ And if you have a touch of masochist in you, you can
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celekyate the resumption of life by sitting through a whole smorgasboard of new
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television shows.

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The dimensions of the change that is upon us can be documented in the
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life style of any Junior aad Senior High School student \nase week the major

problem to be solved was how to_fill the hours with meaningful activity.| Before
this week is out, however, the problem will have reversed itself -- how to do
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all one wants to do and still have time to eat and sleep re
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In any case, we've got one foot on a very particular and peculiarly American
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Merry-go-round this morning, | And most of us won't be getting off -- or slowing
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down until sometime next May. \ and it seemed_apnpropriate to me, regardless of the

other significance of this day, to think about that very seriously, and very
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critically.

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Early in_his minjstry Jesus sent his twelve friends out on what might be
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called a field trip in sssctplesnip.\ Their instructions were to go into the
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villagegof Galilee, two by two, teaching, preaching and heating \ The success of

their venture is suggested by the footnote in Mark's Gospel which indicates that
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King Herod thought John the Baptist, whom he had beheaded, had returned to life.

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‘tae returned to Jesus, we must assume, flushed with success, but drained =
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physically and emotionally. \And the first thing he said to them was, ["Come away
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by yourselves, to a lonely place, and rest a white.” Mark adds paranthetically,

"For they had no leisure to eat, so many were coming and going}. which sounds

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a lot like what happens in our home around dinner time,

Jesus -- always sensitive to the people around him -- realized that his

disciples needed rest, peace and quiet, a time to be alone with themselves and
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with hin an opportunity to think quietly about what had happened, to sort out

their feelings and expertences.\ Tt was his prescription for them -- and TI would
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submit that he might have a similar prescription for us -- on this day in
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particular,

We need the kind of experiences that our life-style conspires to
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disallow. \ we need -- each of us -- a lonely place to rest a while: a time

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to reflect and to think | an opportunity to become acquainted with ourselves again.
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Great men have always known that. | Jesus retreated on occasion, to be alone
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and to pray.\ The Bible is full of stories of people who regularly punctuated

heroic and turmoiled lives with periods of solitude and reflection. | T have a
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picture of Winston Churchill in my study -- in old age -- taken from the back --

as he was sitting, quietly looking at a pond and a lovely bit of English landscape.

—

Looking at that picutre one knows that a great mind was at work in that moment

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doing a very important piece of thinking.\ I was delighted to learn that Abraham

Lincoln spent a lot of time "wasting time" according to our standards. | He was
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considered lazy while in office. lan opponent in one election campaign called him
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a"study in inertia", \ He took a two hour nap every atternoon.\ Or he spent an
equivalent amount of time rocking on the porch of the White House watching the

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horses graze on the lawn.

In contragt, Ulysses S. Grant, usually regarded as one of our least effective
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chief executives, was one of the bustest.\ a tireless worker, he drove himself
and those around him, nereilessly.\ And more recently, I think one of the more
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attractive photographs of President Ford portrayed him standing quietly, silhouetted
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against the windows of the Oval Office, obviously deep in thought.

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We need a time and place for atoneness. \ rot all the time -- not even very

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much of the tine.) I am not advocating a return to monasticism. \ there is a time

for everything:/ the preacher in Ecclesiastes identified "balance" as the ideal --
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——7—_—
|"2 time to keep silence and a time to speak". | ana it's interesting that in the

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6th chapter of Mark the disciples never made it to that lonely place | A clamoring
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crowd of hungry people touched the compassion of our Lord, and "resting a while

in a quiet place" was temporarily set aside while the people were fed.

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But he did say it, and we must assume, that there were other times and
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other placeg.

For you and for me -- regular times of quiet reflection are a necessity.
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And yet, as you know, that is easier said than done.\ Tn the first place we

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live in a culture that is very suspicious of idteness:\, and as an expression of

that suspicion has an obsession with busyness.\ re doesn't matter what you are
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doing so long as you are busy at it re's even more socially respectable to be

pushed, harried, late and always running. | I have professional colleagues who have
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never said one word to me over the years that did not include a brief recitation of

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how many meetings they were attending, how much they had to do, how terribly busy
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they were ‘A In fact, there is a brand new parlor game played vigorously by men

of the cloth called\"I'm busier than your.) I fall into that trap, even though

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IT have wiwed not to. \ People have said to me, many more times than I

care to contemplate, (1 wanted to call you, but you're so busy") And [want to

say clearly, today -- as I begin my ministry among you -- that I regard that as
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a serious indictment of me -- and of you when you say it -- and of our whole

neurotic culture that has forced us into that osturing. We are wet thie lovey :
yov arc Ae busiess of tle Qasrocs eters Chore «. please Calk own vs,

There is probably no greater difference between our culture and others than
at this point.| A good friend of mine was studying in Europe and decided to spend
—_—=— ———— ———_
several weeks in an Italian monastery to add to his experience of the church. | te
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worked in the fields, prayed, chanted, : and then one

morning he was informed that it was time for a retreat} He had visions of
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volley ball, hiking, swimming. | msteaa he was given a bottle of water, some bread

and olives, taken to a cave and told to remain there in meditation for 24 hours.

—

He confesses now that it was the most difficult and by far, the longest 24 hours
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in his life.

A typical ach , busy American - he's perrd es a meditetn- hud
Dem snatched m an plaves , oe Wheh Arig Vln Cor -

My family and I experienced that difference also during our_summer in

Scotland last year, \I was to be the pastor of a small Highland Parish: and
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anxious to let the entire village know that I was serious about my ecclesiastical
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responsibilities, I got up early on that first morning to walk into _town for tea

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and to begin meeting peopte.\ at 8:00 A.M. I found nothing -- no cars -- no people --

no shops eyet: just a few sheep sleeping on the side walks. Again at 8-30 --

nothing.| We learned subsequently that school doesn't begin until 9:00.

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Management people at the Aluminum Foundry began also at 9:00 -- took a full

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hour for dinner -- a fact I found incredible in light of the typical American

executive who is behind his desk at 7:30 and who won't return home for 12 hours.

Lite wee Qorsicle rally, Slower Att our gate +.

And so we slowed down a bit -- but we found it very difficult. } As

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Americans, we are obsessed with busyness, accomplishment, production. \| And while,
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in one sense, our obsession serves us well -- in terms of enabling us to be a

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rich and powerful nation, we are -- I am convinced -- paying for it dearly.\ we
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are paying for it in terms of wealth without_charity, power without wisdom,

efficiency without morality. We are paying for it in terms of lives burnt out
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at 40:=— ulcers and nervous breakdowns.
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We need to heed well our Lord's advice. | But it is not easy for reasons that
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are cultural, but for other reasons as well \ In moments of solitude and
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reflection there is no way to avoid thinking: | remembering our goals, our dreams,
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our failures, and plans. \ There is no way to avoid feeling our feelings, and

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confronting, in a very particular way, the person we have become,
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In his little manual of Christian Fellowship, LIFE TOGETHER, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

devoted an entire chapter to "The Day Alone". \r it he ananived,| "Many people

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seek fellowship because they are afraid to be alone. \ Because they cannot stand

loneliness, they are driven t» seek the company of other people... the person

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who comes into the community because he is running from himself is really not

seeking community at all, but only distraction,.,,." 4.79. Busyness --~

activity -- can become the way we avoid confronting oursel_ves,/ spiritually
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and psychologically a. most unhealthy device.

—

In his recent book, "THE SEDUCTION OF THE SPIRIT" Harvey Cox describes

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his efforts to learn how to be quiet, to meditate, to listen to himself. He
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SS
observes; [re are so relentlessly pounded today by messages and stimuli from
without that we need support from any source whatever to learn again to listen
_
— ——

to what comes from within. ..[.. Learning to meditate is like lowering the volume

on an ear-blasting stereo:| it makes us more capable of hearing ourselves and

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one ase.) Nothing could be more important". | (P58).

In terms of relationships, we are discovering that we must learn to be
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alone, before we can be together. | We are learning the importance of autonomy --
— ——————

an individual's ability tno stand alone, to be his own person) We are learning
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—_—

—

that marriages based on need are not likely to be good marriages. |neines Maria
— — —

Rilke put it this way:

realize
"Once the rekegeeten is accepted that even between the closest human beings

infinite distances continue to exist, a wonderful Living side by side can grow
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up, if they succeed in \ourr®y the distance between them which makes it

possible for each to see the other against the sky". |

And the near-Eastern mystic, Gilpran; \"Let there be spaces in your
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togetherness, and let the winds of the leaves dance between you......."'

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After a period of time in which family togetherness was very much in style,

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and parents felt inadequate if they dm not Dae asbsliient activities for their

children every waking hour, we are learning again the necessity of aloneness.
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We know now that sensitive families provide time and space for each person

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to be atone. \ other and Bad need time x beme, and if they are wise

they will find a way to take it\ Each of them, in addition, needs solitude,
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Children simply need to be left alone periodically t» do their own thinking and
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reflecting and Aecew-y

T am always surprised, when I take time to be alone at what I can_hear --

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from within and without, | There are birds singing that you have sever yet heard.
And more importantly, there are people -- people who need you to be you --

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to Listens| to help and support and heal by your willingness to be quiet.

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A philosopher once observed that it is a rare man who can spend a full
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minute in lonely silence without thinking about God. | zerhaps.\ And perhaps the

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reason we avoid the silent experience of meditation is that it opens instead
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for us the door into what St. John of the Cross called: "the dark night of the sout"|

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amen we feel confused and enptys\\ whegg the (ee we have is a thirst for certitude,

a need for God.
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And_yet, it is in that darkness that God will cone aaa Bonhoeffer has
said it plainly and eloquently:
"The time of meditation does not let us down into the void and abyss of

ional ennuey bbe lets us be alone with the word... \ often we are so burdened and

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overwhelmed with other thoughts, images and concerns that it may take a long time

= = = —=——

before God's word has swept all else aside and come through. \But it will surely come,

just as surely as God himself has come to men and will come again". (P.81-82).

——

You and I are called to be followers of Jesus christ: \ we are called
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to do our following in a busy world that allows little time for aloneness and e \ihe-sdy le

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that is not often quiet.\ We are called to be disciples within the context
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of the busy schedules we will keep this fatt:\ schedules that can fill every

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hour and drain us -- physically, emotionally, spiritually.

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Take time; \ make time for the waters of your spirit to flow deeply:} time
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in which the Spirit of God can speak to your spirit \ (rcome away by yourselves

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to a lonely place". |

Amen

Father: We know you are present even among the busy noises of life. Grant
us, as we begin our life again, a new sensitivity to your presence -- your voice,
We have time, Father: come -- in the still, small voice of calm: Through

Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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