An invitation....to leisure....

My colleague Andy P sends a weekly message rounds to members of his network of youthworkers in the Barking end of the Diocese. This is the text of his message this week - timely for me this morning after a crazy weekend and a to do list that is scurrying out the door. Be encouraged and make time to BE... "So, it’s Monday morning. Don’t know whether you’ve had a restful or busy weekend but often it feels like the days all just blur into one, and one week rolls into anther with no let up in between. It’s not a new phenomena for workers in the vineyard... Hear these words from Mark 6:31: ‘For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure, even to eat’. Life can feel like that sometimes can’t it, just constant activity. But hey, things are getting pretty serious when there’s not even enough time to eat! And what of the rest of that sentence, ‘they had no leisure’? How often do we take time out to enjoy leisure? Whether it’s getting to the gym, going for a walk, doing some strange hobby like scrap-booking, or playing the guitar, or watching a film or going out for a meal? These things are not guilty pleasures, they are not for the weak and lazy, those that can’t stand the pace of ministry. No, they are as fundamental to us as daily food, water and sleep. If our regular routine does not have leisure deliberately programmed in, we wilt and burnout very quickly. And please don’t think this is my little hobby horse, the instruction comes from Jesus himself, so if you have issues with it, take it up with him...Jesus invites us to enjoy leisure. Hear this outstanding invitation which precedes v31, ‘The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest for a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.’ – Mark 6:30-31. Can you picture the scene? The disciples, with childlike enthusiasm, are overflowing with all they have taught and done in Jesus’ name, they can’t wait to share it with him, to astound him with what they’ve done; they gather, they clamour, the press in, I can imagine the over talking and the “don’t forget that bit” and the “that’s nothing you should have seen what happened when we...”. And having been so active they had no time to eat, having been without leisure, Jesus, with profound wisdom says, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest for a while.” Can you hear the wonder of that invitation? Come away... To a deserted place... All by yourselves... And.....rest... For a while.... Maybe Jesus was saying. “Leave all the action and ministry, it’ll go on quite nicely without you cause it’s my work not yours. Come to a place where there are no distractions; no Blackberrys, iPhones, emails, meetings, projects, plans and strategies. And it’s just you. Don’t think ‘it’d be a really good idea if so and so could join us’, just you, and Jesus, he wants to be with you, delights in being with you. And rest...be restored, refreshed, re-fuelled, replenished, re-envisioned. And take as long as you need, ‘cause you don’t run the world or ministry, that’s my job.” ‘For a while’ can be 5 minutes in the middle of a busy day right through to a full blown retreat. ‘For a while’ can start today, in whatever you are doing. So why don’t you take Jesus up on his amazing invitation: “Come away...and rest...for a while”. I dare you to do it... Be blessed and greatly rested... Much love, APx