WWhen life gets busy or overbearing what do you do?
Do you frantically go about all your tasks?
Maybe you get stressed out?
Do you get angry?
Do you think I will just keep going and going?
Or think once I have dealt with all this stuff I will start planning a better life?
No matter who you are.
We are all subject to being overly busy.
Students say they are too busy.
Parents and workers they say they are too busy.
Even retired people are saying they are busy.
The Managing Director of a major business says one of the problems we all need to deal with is that being busy will come naturally and we are fools when we think that being busy is the most important thing for us and others.
Now it is easy to be constantly being caught up in the cycle of being active.
And there is nothing wrong with being active.
However life involves more than just being active.
We all need to take time away from the busyeness to plan, to prioritise and to recharge.
Getting away from busyiness is not something we should feel guilty about.
In fact getting away from buseyiness each day will help us see deal with our busy and often complex lives.
Now imagine the scene Jesus and His disciples faced
Read Mark 1:29-34
Jesus was inundated with swarms of people.
Imagine that if you came to church this morning and the whole of Devonport was here..
Some of you would say our prayers have been answered.
But imagine if all these people were asking for something from us.
Some of you would feel drained and tired
Now for many of these people Jesus did something good.
He healed them.
Jesus’ buseyness was not a bad thing.
And often our buseyness is not bad.
But what is a problem when we allow our buseyness to dominate our lives.
To over take who we are and what we are doing.
When our buseyness causes us to neglect ourselves.
And especially neglect our relationship with God and with other people.
One of the things that I have to watch out for is that when I get too busy.
It is easy to rush through bible reading, to treat prayer as a routine.
And during these times the focus is often on me.
Many people would have you believe that the best way to cope with buseyness is to focus on yourself.
To think about yourself first.
Well history tells us,
that such thinking will lead to more not less problems.
Throughout the many years of Christianity there is an emphasis that focussing only on ourself leads to us experiencing not a better life, but a selfish more sinful life.
And that is the problem with many self help books and gurus.
Some of them encourage us to think only of ourselves and to forget about others or at best to push others down the priority scale.
Yet when Jesus became busy listen to what occurred.
Read Mark 1:35-37
First he went out and prayed.
And some of you are probably thinking but I’ve tried that and nothing has happened.
Or I tried that and God has not don’t what I wanted him to do.
In beginning the day with prayer we begin to see some actions from Jesus when it comes to being busy.
1/ he doesn’t try to deal with the buseyness on his own.
He seeks His father’s input.
Do you do that?
2/ And we know from other prayers of Jesus, like those in Luke 22:42 he prays to His father not my will but yours be done
Prayers not just asking or demanding?
But listening?
Praying then waiting for God to respond.
And we do this as we read through scripture.
And we do this when we listen for answers from other Christians who say things thar are consistent with the bible and the situation.
And we do this when we test our thoughts with scripture.
And there are some things that are common just about in all situations that mean that we are seeking God’s will and not our own to be done?
We are looking for solutions so that other can experience God’s grace and forgiveness as a priority in their lives.
God’s will is done when our major priority is on loving God and loving others.
God’s will is donw when we seek to work as a community that welcomes everyone.
God’s will is done when we trust God more.
God’s will is being done when we work towards removing unforgiveness, bitterness and unwillingness to deal with others.
Now in our situation here we face a real issue, where seeking God’s will is important.
We are seeking a pastor for our congregation and parish.
Some of you have already expressed your thoughts and ideas.
The challenge for you is to to ask the question and accept the answer to the question, God what is your will for us as we seek a pastor?
Show us what you want us to be doing, what type of pastor we need and who that pastor is to be.
Can I encourage you to pray this prayer regularly.
In every instance and situation, God is at work revealing something to us.
3/ Allow God to be the priority not the demands of other people.
Read Mark 1:38-39
When life gets busy everyone has an idea of what to do. It was the same for Jesus...
They wanted Him to come out again.
Instead Jesus redirects people to the mission God has placed before him and them.
It is easy to get distracted from God’s mission…. events of the past, people our own comfort and pride all encourage it.
Prayer will help us focus on God’s mission.
And something that is important for you, is being clear on what God’s mission is for us as a community.
Are you clear that God’s mission for you is to love God and love others as much as you love yourself, and to be a person receiving his forgiveness and forgiving others.
Now imagine if we all were able to keep that as a priority.
What would our congregation look like.
What would our parish look like.
How would people see us.
Praying is essential for all situations, expecially when we become busy.
Martin Luther once said the busier I get the more I pray.
Bill Hybels wrote a book Too busy not to pray which I would encourage you all to read.
And this week I came across this quote from an unknown source.
"I thought that I had no time for faith nor time to pray, then I saw an armless man at work praying with his feet.”
God wants to hear your prayers in the busy life we live.
He wants to strengthen you for your life.
So when life is busy Pray
AMEN
