I’m sure as some of you read this you will have had a lovely week of warm hot weather. For the rest of us stuck in the UK, well just maybe August will turn out warmer than July! The year does have seasons and even though the weather sometimes confuses us, August is often a season of rest, a chance to recharge batteries and get some refreshment.
Today I set the leadership team: Myself, Peter, Mel and Sam the task of a summer of spiritual refreshment. To become people who are full of God, because we have spent time quietly in his presence, either in quietness, or reading or praying. One of the problems we have is that in our crazy world of 24/7 availability this stillness can be mistaken for laziness. One thing that helped me to counteract this understanding was when I heard teaching describing the “work of prayer.†I would argue that the most “productive†hour of my day is the hour which I try to spend in quietness praying amongst other things for all of you ïŠ
What about you? Will this summer be significant for you? I hope that it may be, and I believe if it is to be a spiritually significant summer, then you will in some way need to address the issue of your availability to God. Communication is possible to India and Turkey, to schools and offices, very easily. Texts and emails, facebook updates and twitters fly here there and everywhere, I know, I use them. However God prefers a slower pace of communication, if we would hear him, we are called to “stop†to “wait†to “listen†for his “still small voice.†I am not against modern communication, in a sense it reminds me that God is always able to hear us, that he knows our thoughts from afar, but I also believe that “the old†ways, of prayer and stillness, of quietness and peace are vital for us to maintain and grow our relationship with Christ, and in a sense come to “know†ourselves. A Japanese theologian, Kosuke Koyama summed this up very well in his book, “Waterbuffalo Theology†he describes God as walking at three and a half miles per hour, the very speed of a man walking with his waterbuffalo, that’s the speed we must go to catch God!
As a church we have been investigating the nature of Church recently. I wonder what has struck you. I have enjoyed thinking about our values, suggesting that availability, vulnerability and solitude are good values to guide us. I wonder what part solitude has in your life? Many people describe me as an extrovert (and I’m quite sure a lot else besides) in truth I have discovered that I am also an introvert, a man who needs times of quietness and peace to refresh my batteries. (Maybe I’m just getting old!)
I pray that for all of us, this summer may be a time when we discover "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.†Isa 30:15
The Peace of the Lord, be always with you
Stephen
