(1) The word ‘vacation’ according to the Webster’s Second New Riverside Dictionary means ‘a period of time for pleasure, rest, or relaxation.’ Europeans call ‘taking a vacation’ ‘taking a holiday’ or ‘going on holiday’ and for some the month of August is a month of taking their holiday. In fact, in Europe, many countries legally mandate up to a month of vacation time even for new employees!
In a report that was dated June 28, 2003, ABC news correspondent Catherine Valenti reported that America has less vacation time than other industrialized nations do and that Americans usually do not take all of their vacation time. The report goes on to state that “U.S. workers aren’t guaranteed any vacation time by law and take an average of 10.2 vacation days a year after three years on the job, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In contrast, workers in the United Kingdom are guaranteed 20 paid vacation days by law and take an average of 25 days off a year. Even in notoriously hard-working Japan, workers have a legal right to 10 days off and take an average of almost 18 vacation days a year.”
Now what I found really interesting are the comments to the article that appear at the website, freerepublic.com from which I downloaded the article. Many of them thought one of the sources quoted in the article, Joe Robinson, who started a ‘Work to Live’ campaign that would seek federally mandated time off, was a whiner and suggested he get a job like teaching or the military if he wanted more days off.
I am not sure government legislation is necessary but I do believe this, God gave us the Sabbath for the purpose of ‘rest and worship’ and we need to take vacation because I believe that it is one of the ways a ‘Sabbath experience’ helps us recreate and re-create.
So, as your pastor, I am telling you, ‘if you have some vacation time,’ take it and even if you camp at Bixler Lake, do so! All of us need time away from work and other responsibilities.
Now, since June 11th, I have been gone 2 days for a SHAPE retreat, 4 days as a camp counselor, 3 days for our national meetings, 3 days for some vacation, and one holiday. That is 13 days.
Now it has not been a total vacation for me and yet I had some re-creation time during those days. (2) Counseling allowed me to have a change of pace and to spend time with Daniel and other 2nd and 3rd graders in a very good environment.
Our national meetings allowed me to spend sometime in learning some new things as well as time for prayer, reflection, and worship. Vacation allowed me to re-connect with family as well as letting go of work responsibilities for a time.
And then there was the retreat. It was very helpful and allowed me to really spend sometime in prayer discerning God’s future plans and purposes for my life.
And at the retreat we did a meditation exercise that we are going to do in a few moments that I now do on a regular basis. (Don’t panic! I am not going to ask you to something strange or weird although it might feel different at first.)
It is an exercise designed to help us slow down and begin to make ourselves more able and available to the Lord for the purpose of hearing Him. I believe, very much so, that God wants us to hear His voice but we need to quiet down and listen for Him as well as to Him.
This brings me to our text for this morning because what I experienced at various points during those 13 days I have just spoken of is the discipline or practice of silence. And there is the presence of silence in our main text.
(3)But it is a maddening silence. It is a silence that drives Jesus to His knees as He faces certain arrest and death. Luke writes, “He walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine.”
Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.”
There is silence in Jesus’ experience. And it is a disturbing silence. This past week I had a conversation with someone that left me asking, ‘Where are you God?’ But as soon as the question left my conscious thought, the reply came, ‘Duh, He is right here!’
(4) Because God is God, He is everywhere. The challenge is to be still and wait for Him to move and act and then follow Him as He directs.
In this agonizing time, as Jesus wrestled with the Father’s plans and purposes, God the Father was present in the garden. And the silence that Jesus was experiencing was not due to the mean spirited withdrawal of an angry parent but one that many of us here have experienced as parents who have to let our children go through something hard and difficult because we need that they had to so for the purpose of their growth and maturity.
Jesus had experienced silence before as we read throughout the gospels when He would with draw to a secluded spot, alone. He did so when the demands of ministry grew great as He did when He had fed the five thousand and Matthew reports that in chapter 14 and beginning with verse 22, “Immediately after this, Jesus made his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake while he sent the people home. Afterward he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.”
He also experienced silence during moments of grief as when He heard the news of John the Baptist’s death. “As soon as Jesus heard the news, he went off by himself in a boat to a remote area to be alone.” Yet, as Matthew goes on to say, He would not be alone for very long.
The discipline of silence, of taking a vacation, is vital to our inner growth and development because we need those times of silence and withdrawal to be strengthened in our hearts, minds, and souls. It would be one of the practices that would help our Lord and Savior to be obedient to God the Father’s plans and purposes.
This leads me to a brief time of learning to be silent before the Lord. Here is what we are going to do:
Get comfortable in your seat.
Place your hands on your legs and relax.
Now for 5 minutes or so, I am going to ask you to close your eyes as I lead you through a couple of brief exercises.
Ready? Here we go.
First of all get comfortable, nothing in your hands and place them on your legs. Now close your eyes.
Pay attention to your breathing and as you breathe in say to yourself, ‘Be still and know’ and then as your breathe out, ‘that I am God.’
Do that 10 times and relax as you breathe…
Now, with your eyes closed, focus your breathing on two new words, grace and forgiveness. As you breathe in say ‘grace’ to yourself and then as you breathe out say ‘forgiveness’ to yourself. Do this 10 times and relax as you breathe…
Now, keeping you eyes closed, I am going to read a passage of scripture that includes our main text and when I direct you, I want you to place yourself in the story as I tell you.
Then at the proper time Jesus and the twelve apostles sat down together at the table. (Now, find a spot with the disciples and sit down with them. (Pause) Try to picture the story in your mind from where you sit as I read the rest of it.)
“Jesus said, “I have looked forward to this hour with deep longing, anxious to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won’t eat it again until it comes to fulfillment in the Kingdom of God.”
Then he took a cup of wine, and when he had given thanks for it, he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.” Then he took a loaf of bread; and when he had thanked God for it, he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This wine is the token of God’s new covenant to save you—an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you.
“But here at this table, sitting among us as a friend, is the man who will betray me. For I, the Son of Man, must die since it is part of God’s plan. But how terrible it will be for my betrayer!” Then the disciples began to ask each other which of them would ever do such a thing.
And they began to argue among themselves as to who would be the greatest in the coming Kingdom. Jesus told them, “In this world the kings and great men order their people around, and yet they are called ‘friends of the people.’ But among you, those who are the greatest should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. Normally the master sits at the table and is served by his servants. But not here! For I am your servant. You have remained true to me in my time of trial. And just as my Father has granted me a Kingdom, I now grant you the right to eat and drink at my table in that Kingdom. And you will sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have all of you, to sift you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up your brothers.” Peter said, “Lord, I am ready to go to prison with you, and even to die with you.” But Jesus said, “Peter, let me tell you something. The rooster will not crow tomorrow morning until you have denied three times that you even know me.”
Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you out to preach the Good News and you did not have money, a traveler’s bag, or extra clothing, did you lack anything?” “No,” they replied. “But now,” he said, “take your money and a traveler’s bag. And if you don’t have a sword, sell your clothes and buy one!
For the time has come for this prophecy about me to be fulfilled: ‘He was counted among those who were rebels. Yes, everything written about me by the prophets will come true.” “Lord,” they replied, “we have two swords among us.” “That’s enough,” he said.
Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives. There he told them, “Pray that you will not be overcome by temptation.”
He walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine.” Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.
At last he stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief. “Why are you sleeping?” he asked. “Get up and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you.”
Now slowly open your eyes and come back to the present…. (Pause) Take your bulletin and a pen as I have a couple of questions for us to consider this morning:
1. What did you hear and see in this familiar passage that you did not hear and see before? (Write it down.)
2. Did Jesus look at you?
3. What did you hear Him say?
This exercise might have been uncomfortable and just plain distasteful for some of us, but it was done to make the point that we need to get away with God in a more focused way from time to time and really ‘hunker down’ and listen for and to Him. I encourage you to practice growing silent for a period of time, starting weekly, so that you can hear the voice of God.
(5) Let’s us prepare for communion. Amen.
Sources:
www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/937134/posts
Power Points for this sermon are available by e-mailing me at pastorjim46755@yahoo.com and asking for ‘svgs’ Please note that all slides for a particular presentation may not be available.
