Devotion: Retreat

"But now more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many
crowds would gather to hear him and be cured of their diseases. Jesus
often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." Luke 5:16

This past weekend I went on a ministers' retreat with 5 of my minister
friends. During an hour long drive into the mountains of Washington
State, the leader of the weekend kept talking about our "first
activity." As we drove up the mountain, we passed by a ski resort,
saw a man hanggliding, and noticed a snowmobile trail. With each one,
we would hoot and hollar hoping that was going to be our "first
activity." When we arrived at our destination, however, our trip
leader informed us that the first activity would be an hour and half
silent retreat.

It was a strange feeling, because we had just gathered as a group for
the first time in a year and there was much to talk about—we were in a
beautiful area of the country and there was much to do. However, our
group leader knew what was more important—a time for us to follow the
model of Christ and withdraw into a lonely place and pray. It set the
tone for the weekend.

I find these two verses in Luke to be an interesting look into Jesus'
personality. As word spread about Jesus, he withdrew. As crowds
gathered, he went into isolation. As people wanted to hear him talk,
he went away to pray. Jesus understood that popularity and accolades
do not sustain. At the height of his ministry, he humbled himself and
prayed. He did not wait for the bad stuff to happen to him.

When are times that you needed to retreat to a lonely place and pray?
Was it when life was on the upswing or down? How might you carve a
few minutes out of your day and withdraw to a lonely place and pray?

Devotion: Boredom

It seems as though one of the biggest contemporary sins is boredom.  Children complain that they are bored; we as adults fill our schedules running from one activity to the next; our smartphones provide apps and music to fill the duller moments of the day.

The problem is that we often confuse silence with boredom.  This past Sunday we held a Taize service in the Chapel.  One of the central markers of the Taize service is the extended silence.

Afterwards, I spoke with the youth who attended the service and they reflected that the 5 minutes of silence felt long and awkward.  One student commented that she looked at her watch when she began to get uncomfortable in the silence wondering when we would move on—it had been 2 minutes.  Perhaps I am reading too much into it, but that is about the length of a commercial break.

Silence, however, is a biblical concept.  One of my favorite stories comes from 1 Kings:

"Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;  ¹² and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.  When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

Elijah discovered the voice of God not in the loud noises around him but in the “sheer silence.”  If we shelter ourselves from silence because we fear getting bored, then we may miss the voice of our God who calls to us and wants to direct our lives.

What noises around drowning out the silence in your life right now?  How might you fight the temptation and embrace times of silence?   

 

~~~~~~

Associate Minister for Evangelism and Young Adult Ministries

First Presbyterian Church

200 West Trade St

Charlotte, NC 28202

(p)    704-927-0240

(e)  wbarry@firstpres-charlotte.org

(w) www.firstpres-charlotte.org

 

 

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