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 a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. Mark 6:30-31

How often have you had such a stressed and over-full schedule that you didn’t have time for breakfast – or even lunch – and when you did get dinner, it was drive-through fast food because you had too many people to get too many different places in too little time, or the end of your workday and the start of your evening activities left no room to stop and get a meal?

For too many of us, that is a reality that is all too common – myself included. There are too many things to fit in to our day – many of them worthwhile, or attractive, and always seeming both urgent and important – and we find that we get to the end of our day and fall exhausted into bed, but not having gotten to the end of our work; there are still things left undone. And then the next morning we get up and start all over again. And there doesn’t seem to be an end…because there isn’t one.

Life in the last thirty to forty years has increased in speed, in volume, in the amount of physical and psychological stuff we have to deal with, in the rate of change, in the calls on our time and the expectations of a 24/7 world – by any measure, life in the developed world is faster and more stressful now than it has been at any previous point in history; you could even say that this level of stress is toxic.

This is the thesis of Richard Swenson’s book “Margin,” which our parish study group has spent time reading and discussing; it’s also the experience of many of us gathered here this morning. Dr. Swenson offers a number of different “prescriptions” for recovering from a life without margin, and one of them is “rest.” He specifies three different types of rest:       

• Physical Rest – this is refraining from activity, work, projects, screen time in order to take a nap, put your feet up, get to bed at a decent hour, or just sit and contemplate the sunset. We so often have a hard time doing this because our culture idolizes productivity.
  
• Emotional Rest – this is quieting our minds, intentionally putting aside worries, making peace in our relationships, taking steps to address problems so they do not rule over us - yet choosing  to “discipline our expectations and tame our discontent,” as Dr. Swenson says, so we are not beaten down by  our emotions.
  
• Spiritual Rest – this type of rest is the most important, not only because we humans are spiritual beings, but because God built rest into the very fabric of Creation when he rested on the seventh day, and then taught his People to rest after Moses led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and gave Moses the Ten Commandments: Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. 

The Fourth Commandment is not just about remembering that we are supposed to be worshipping God on this day, but about remembering that God is in charge of life, the world and everything, and that everything is not going to come crashing down if we stop once every seven days. When we do this we are saying very clearly: “God is God, and I am not; I have limits and I need to respect them.” The spiritual rest that we receive through prayer and worship and gathering with others to share the blessings of God goes to the very heart of who we are – God’s people.  

When we don’t take time for rest and reflection, when we don’t make prayer a regular and central part of our lives, when we live with no margin, no room to breathe, with wall-to-wall activity, we crowd God out – we simply leave no room for the Creator of the Universe and the Author of Life.   Well, God isn’t going to force his way in; God isn’t going to shout over the noise of our computers or televisions or restless thoughts; more often than not the Bible describes God as a still small voice, as the wind which blows where it wants to, and we would do well to be still and listen.   Of course, that’s a very counter-cultural thing to do – to be still, and listen for God’s voice; we are so often impatient, in too much of a hurry, or too burdened and stressed to give God our full attention – even for ten minutes, even for five minutes.  

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” Jesus says in Matthew’s Gospel, and there it is, stitched into the kneelers at the altar rail; you see those words every time you come to church – I wonder if you’ve ever thought about them.   They are a real invitation, those words – not just beautiful handiwork, lovingly stitched by members of All Saints’ thirty years ago.   And the invitation is this: Jesus calls us, invites us, to set our burdens down – even for a short while, to cease to carry them, to let go of the things that trouble us so that we can come to God with empty hands – free, available, ready to be filled with God’s blessings; not because we have worked for them, or earned them, or deserved them, but just because God is generous and good and wants to give us the blessings of rest and peace and joy.  

We experience God’s rest when we give time to prayer, to reading and meditating on the Bible, when we contemplate God’s goodness and beauty in Creation.   And we enter God’s rest profoundly when we come to the altar rail, when we offer our selves, our souls, and bodies to God, when we stretch out empty hands and have them filled with food and drink, with the Body and Blood of Christ.   Because in prayer and worship, in making Eucharist, we step into God’s time and God’s space; we are reminded that God is the center, and the closer we draw to him the more we will see ourselves and the world from God’s perspective, with his love and compassion – our hearts will naturally turn outward to all the broken and hurting and needy places and people.   The more we live awake and aware in God’s presence, the more we will be at peace with his purposes for us, and we can let go of restlessness and resentment, and find ourselves refreshed and renewed.  

But all of this comes with a cost – honoring our limits, keeping Sabbath time, recognizing that enough is better than too much – and the cost is making choices for God and for the spiritual health and well-being of ourselves and our families, rather than being ruled by the ceaseless demands of our culture which says: you should always work harder, should always achieve more, you must always strive to be the best, the most, the brightest, the most excellent – anything less than that is failure.   That’s a tough treadmill to step off of, but we all know, in our heart of hearts, it’s not true – we are, each one of us, God’s beloved child, a person for whom Christ died, a temple of the Holy Spirit…that’s who you are, and that is enough, abundantly, blessedly enough, ample sufficiency.   And when we step back and take time to rest, to drink the waters of God’s life, to lie down in green pastures and beside still waters, then we will find rest and balance and peace – an oasis in the chaos and storm of life as it is lived today.   Jesus says: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  

Let us pray.  
O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows
lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is
hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done.
Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest,
and peace at the last. Amen.  BCP, page 833    

Victoria Geer McGrath
All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Millington, NJ
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
July 22, 2012

     

Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her. For John had been telling Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."  Mark 6:17-18

Oh my goodness, is there any good news in this Gospel reading this morning - for the word “gospel” does mean “good news.”? And why do we have to listen to this sordid story of royalty, revenge, sex, murder and power politics?

In the old Prayer Book lectionary, this passage never came up for Sunday worship reading, but in our current Revised Common Lectionary here it sits, on this Seventh Sunday after Pentecost - squarely between the description of Jesus sending out the Twelve in mission, which we heard last week, and the return of the Twelve and Mark’s version of the Feeding of the Five Thousand, which we’ll hear next week…and all in the same chapter.

Let’s run that by again…a story of royalty, revenge, sex, murder and power politics – hmmmm, we get that every day in all the major news organizations and media outlets, and they are the stock-in-trade of every tabloid and supermarket check-out line magazine; clearly, there are lots of people who are interested in just this sort of news!

But why should we be hearing this in worship, and how in the world can it be good news, the Good News of God in Christ? As we consider this question, we need to paint a little background scenery first, so please stay with me for a bit.

The Herod who is mentioned here, and anywhere else in the Gospels in connection with Jesus’ life as an adult, is Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee who exercised whatever power he had only with the permission and authority of the Roman Empire. He was the son of Herod the Great who was the King of Judea at the time Jesus was born (also under the rule and authority of the Romans).  You remember Herod the Great – he was the one who tried to do a deal with the Magi/the Wise men who came looking for the newborn king whose star they had seen at its rising.  Herod the Great’s plan was to discover where this child was and have him killed before he could become a threat.

As it turns out, Herod the Great died soon after, and his kingdom was divided amongst his sons, to the degree that they satisfied the imperial priorities and sensibilities. Herod Antipas only received a portion of his father’s kingdom, but had pretensions to be King of all Judea, including Galilee.  Somewhere in the middle of all this Herod (who was already married) fell in love with Herodias (who was married to his brother).  Two divorces were arranged and they married each other. Whether this was true love or a desire for a younger, better-looking trophy wife, or a more politically advantageous match, we don’t know.

What we do know was that the whole thing was pretty slimey, and John the Baptist – in the best tradition of the Old Testament prophets – was very clear and public about telling Herod that he was wrong, out-of-line, and that this was no way for a Jewish king (who was supposed to be a leader for his people in faith and morals as well as government) to behave. As you can imagine, neither Herod nor Herodias were happy about the public criticism, and had John arrested and thrown in prison, although it seems Herod was fascinated by John, at least in an intellectual-arm’s-length sort of way.

Herodias just held a flat-out resentment and grudge, and when the opportunity presented itself, she took advantage of the only kind of power a first century woman at court had – calling Herod’s bluff on his rash and prideful, and no doubt drunken promise to Herodias’ daughter. "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it" Herod solemnly swore to [the girl]. "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom." And so she claimed John the Baptist’s silence, his life – which Herod could not refuse without great public embarrassment; for Herodias that was one political enemy out of the way.

Sadly, this is a story that has been repeated throughout history and with endless variation. Those whose power is built on the shaky foundation of deceit and intimidation will try to silence anyone who threatens them by speaking the truth – even if that silence is gained through violence. This is human nature run a-muck; we should not be surprised.

But back to the question – how is this passage God’s Good News to us and to the world? Jesus isn’t even part of this story!

Remember back at the beginning when I said that this story is sandwiched in between Jesus’ sending-out the disciples in mission, and their return to report to him what they had done and seen and heard? Well, Herod heard this news, also.  He heard about what Jesus was doing – healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead, announcing the Kingdom of God, giving people hope – and Herod became afraid that maybe Jesus was somehow John the Baptist, back from the dead with new and greater powers that went beyond anything he had said or done as a prophet.

Of course Herod was wrong, but that didn’t make him any less alarmed or fearful – and so Mark, the Gospel writer – gives us the back-story about Herod and the killing of John, to explain his distress at hearing about what Jesus was doing. Mark is letting us know that Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom of God by so many signs and words had spread beyond the people in the villages and towns, had spread beyond the religious leaders and had reached the ears of the political authorities.

And Herod was right to be afraid, because he knew that the hope proclaimed in the Hebrew Scriptures, the hope that the Jewish people of Judea and Galilee were straining toward, was the hope that one day the Messiah, God’s Anointed, would come amongst them.  On that day God’s kingdom, God’s reign over all creation, would start to be fulfilled.  And when that happened all human rulers, all power structures, all principalities would come under the authority and accountability of God so that justice and truth and equity would flourish in God’s Name for all people.

And this is what we are asking for when we pray: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  This is what we affirm when we say in the Creed: “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.” 

God’s Kingdom is a future that has already begun; it began in the life, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.  It is a future that is being fulfilled by the power of the Holy Spirit operating through each one of us as we speak the truth in love; as we pray and listen and take action according to the promptings of the Spirit; as we work for the well-being of others, and for the common good.  God’s Kingdom is a future which will reach its fruition and completeness in God’s own time.

Of course the human powers and principalities who have no regard for God hear this with derision.  Of course the spiritual powers that we enumerate in the baptismal service as “Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God, the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God, and the sinful desires that draw us from the love of God” will not hear this as good news.  Left unchallenged violence, corruption, oppression, degradation, vindictiveness will grow and flourish – like poison ivy, invasive and insidious.

But Christ has called us to take our place in proclaiming God’s Kingdom; that’s what we signed-on for when we were baptized; those were the marching orders given to us in the Baptismal Covenant which we renew at every baptism and at the four great baptismal feast days of Easter Eve, Pentecost, the Baptism of our Lord and All Saints’ Day.

And so through prayer and worship, through reading and meditating on the Scriptures, through comforting the broken-hearted, standing with the helpless, encouraging those who struggle, healing the sick, calling our leaders and officials to account when necessary, through working for reconciliation between individuals and between nations, and through so many other countless ways, we who are Christians are working with Jesus to make God’s Kingdom a greater and deeper and truer reality – bit by bit, day by day, prayer by prayer.

That is Good News, indeed, for you and for me and for God’s world. May you be blessed as you take your place in this movement and in this ministry each day.  Amen.

Victoria Geer McGrath
All Saints’ Church, Millington, NJ
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
July 15, 2012