Being Busy
Published by Matt Glover September 16th, 2005 in Spiritual DisciplinesMy fellow Forge interns and I last night had a great time thinking through the issues of busy-ness and Sabbath rest in the context of missional communities.
We’re all busy. Emerging church, established church or otherwise - we all can fall too easily into the trap of being too busy. But is that wrong? Should we go to the extent of calling it a sin? Was Jesus busy?
From my experience, I would saay that being busy in itself is ok, and can even be healthy. But being rushed is when the problems start. Having to rush from one meeting to another, from one home to another, from one ministry to another, without ever giving my full and complete attention to anything is simply a waste of everybody’s time and a recipe for burnout. Jesus was certainly busy and his family worried about him. Lot’s of people wanting to be healed, wanting to see miracles and wanting to hear his words. But I never see him as being rushed and flustered.
Think of Lazarus. When he heard that his friend had died, Jesus continued doing whatever it was that he was doing. He gave his 100% attention and focus to whoever was with him at the time. A few days later he went to the tomb. Jesus was busy, but seemed to have the balance right. He withdrew to pray. He spent time with the crowds. He spent time with the disciples.
Incorporating a Sabbath rest into our weeks ca be a challenge, but I think that part of keeping Jesus central to who we are and what we are trying to do, means dedicating some time each week to withdraw from ministry responsibilities and enjoy God and his creation. For me, that means uniterupted family time. Playing with the kids, spending time with Katrina and simply winding down a little. It is important, no vital, for me to do this so I can keep doing what I do for the rest of the week. If I don’t have a Sabbath, I can’t give anybody my 100% attention any other time. And it means being brutal - saying ‘no’ to everything else and turning the mobile off.
Interestingly, creating that Sabbath space/rest for others can be missional in itself. Time to be still and think is so foreign in western culture that it has become something that makes us uncomfortable and afraid. But when we do make the time, it is refreshing and invigorating. Perhaps in our efforts to be missionaries in our community, we need to create space for a community Sabbath. Worth thinking some more about….
Hi Matt
Look forward to reading your thoughts mate. Site looks great!
Hamo
Hi, Mat. Yes, Every one, (especially Pastors), need a Sabbath.
You previously invited comments on new ideas for MBC, so we talked about it at our Small Group. As most of our sg members are relatively “new”,we have quite a few ideas about improving the welcome and encouraging of visiters who come to MBC. We would really like to share some of these ideas with any one who is interested.
Congrats on the website. In Christ, John G.
Speaking about busy people. I’ve just come from offering out our evangelistic ‘On Grand Final Day …’ brochures to rail commuters at Mitcham railway Station, all rushing off to begin another day at work.
Couldn’t help but think about how busy and rushed people are, and how difficult to even get eye contact, let alone speak a word of encouragement to them.
But even so, 300 pamphlets were taken by people, and my prayer is that some of these will ‘fall on fertile ground’ and will bear fruit for God’s kingdom.
I hope all who read this website, will not be ‘too busy’ to offer a prayer for those people rushing past us, like ants with no real direction in life, that they will come to know their real purpose, found only in Christ Jesus.
Thanks also Matt for getting the site up and running.
God bless. 2B
Great though Matt, thanks for sharing.
Papa Maskell
Hey Matt,
Nice new blog and stuff mate-look forward to checking it out some more.
I’m so with ya on the Sabbath thing-how ironic that I wasn’t there as I was too busy
But had a school camp on, so thats always important.
I reckon the struggle for me is that as I’m such a people-person, I really find that refreshing and energising, but its also a real missional thing for me-particularly people I hang out with on weekends and at parties etc.
Sometimes it’s just a fine line I reckon.
Thanks for dropping by Digger!
Do you think a Sabbath necessarily means no people-contact? As you say, it is a fine line as ministry is a people thing, and if we spend our Sabath with people then there will be always the temptation to see it as ministry. Perhaps smaller Sabbaths more often? Lots of possibilities….
Yeah I dunno. A mate of mine has the approach of dividing his day into thirds, and not doing ministry in more than two thirds of the day. Obviously not always possible, but not a bad idea I reckon.