Fr Mike's Homily - Sundays@Five 10/8/23

The Gospel: John 14:15-29
​“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
“I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.
“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur you may believe.

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.

The Message: Well, welcome to this first in our new series of Sundays@Five.

"Be still and know...." I am hoping that this series will be a little more interactive than what we have done in the past on Sunday evenings. Now, don't panic I am not going to ask anyone to come up front and speak about their experience with stillness and reflection. But we might have a conversational approach to this topic.

I have printed a page of resources that came to me from Church Publishing. If you want to do some reading and reflection on your own those books are available. You can take that sheet and purchase the books for yourself.

This is a topic that a lot of people have written on and there are all kinds of retreats, even at Bellwether Farm, where you can dig into this practice.

 The Pandemic changed all our lives. Now, I don't know about you, but I know I discovered some things about my spiritual practices because of the imposed restrictions on our lives during the Pandemic.

Before the Pandemic I often found myself saying: "Oh, I wish I had more time, I know that I need to spend more time with the Lord, I am just so busy." "I know that I should take more time for quietness and for reflection but I just can't squeeze it into my life right now."

Then the Pandemic happened and we found ourselves restricted in how much we could go out, we found ourselves spending much more time at home.

What I didn't find, overall, was that my "quiet" times, my spiritual reflection times, increased. Now as it progressed I did begin to consider how I was using my study time, or my reading time. But I didn't find myself saying: "Wow, thank you Lord for all of this new time to dig deeper into the word, into prayer, into my relationship/conversation with you, into my examination of how I can improve my communication and relationships with others in my community."

If I am really honest, I actually found myself chaffing against the changes that I felt were "imposed on me." I found myself becoming anxious about the circumstances that seemed to be out of my control. When I focused on those that seemed to open the way for other anxieties and concerns to rise up. I have to confess that I actually found myself allowing those concerns and anxieties to feed on one another and gain greater power and influence in my life.

So, as I look back now, and I think about the spiritual practice of "being still," I have to admit that I have a lot to learn about how I can make the best use of the opportunities that I have for "stillness" in my life.

Our new theme song for this series really touches me. But, I have to say, not in the way that I thought it might. I thought when I first heard this song that I would be encouraged that my spirit would be uplifted. Now, please don't get me wrong this is a very encouraging and uplifting song. But I have to admit there is also an element of admonition in this song. There is a command for me to respond, there is a need for me to. Recognize who the Lord is. 

The song reminds me of the decision that I have to make to "Be Still."

Lord help me now to face this battle
My strength has failed and my eyes can't see
Through the waves of doubt that take me under
In the chaos I hear you speak
Be still and know that You are my God
Be still and know that You are enough
Though my heart is racing still You're in control
Be still and know that You are my God
You brought me rest in times of struggle
I lay my head down at Your feet
The storm in me that I can't wrestle
Is calmed when I hear you speak
You are faithful
And Your love endures forever
Yes, Your love endures forever
You are able
In You I'll stand forever
Yes, in You I'll stand forever
You are faithful
And Your love endures forever
Yes, Your love endures forever
You are able
In You I'll stand forever
Yes, in You I'll stand forever
 
 So, as we begin this series I want to give us an opportunity to stop for a minute and reflect on our daily schedule. To think about when we have scheduled our quiet times?

Now, I want us to think about: How much quiet time do we have in our quiet time? Do we stop and consider what we have read? Do we have a time to just sit and allow the Lord to speak to us?

Are we making the best use of the "restrictions which are placed on us?" I know that recently I had a doctor's appointment and as I sat in the waiting room, I almost automatically pulled out my phone and began checking my messages. Perhaps I could have spent that time in a different way.

Now, most of you are probably much better at this than I am. I am sure that you use your scheduled quiet times, and your unscheduled quiet times much more productively than I do.

One of the things I have found helpful for me is to have "triggers" or perhaps "alarm signals" to remind me of what I could be or should be doing. You know, like your morning alarm that goes off to remind you that you should be getting up in the morning.

I find that for me my thoughts, or my reactions, are really good triggers or alarm signals. When I notice that I am getting frustrated I can sometimes use that as a reminder that I should or could be behaving in a different way.

I recently used the word "chaffing" in one of my morning sermons. I used it when I referred to the people of Israel in the Desert. I also used it about Moses and how he felt about the people.

Chaffing is not a word we use a lot these days but it is very descriptive, isn't it? When we find ourselves chaffing we know that something isn't the way it should be or the way we would like it to be.

Perhaps I could or should use that chaffing as a reminder that I need to take some time to consider, take some time to reflect, take some time to be still.

If you look at the lyrics of the Jeremy Camp song I think you can see he was inspired by the disciple's experience in the boat in the storm. What was Jesus' response to the storm and also to the disciples? Be Still!

I hope that as we go through this series, that we might learn a little more, about how to make use of the stillness and quiet in our lives.​