Immediate Word

The disciples update Jesus on the demands of their busy schedules in this week’s gospel text: Mark tells us that they “were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.” Understanding how much his harried followers need to rest and recharge their batteries, Jesus herds them into a boat and they head for a “deserted place” -- only to discover that a crowd has already “arrived ahead of them.” The closing verses of the passage indicate that this was a regular occurrence; it seems that Jesus and his disciples were routinely hounded by desperate throngs seeking healing.

In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Dean Feldmeyer notes that -- just like the disciples -- we too can easily become overwhelmed by the people we minister to and their never-ending needs. But as Dean points out, we benefit greatly from periodically disengaging from the daily grind in order to maintain a healthy balance in our lives. Especially in America, we have a tendency to become addicted to work, information, and entertainment -- all pursuits that generally require us to be “plugged into the grid.” But as Jesus understood with the disciples (and in his own life), we need to unplug occasionally in order to keep us fully primed for the work of meeting the needs around us.

As our gospel text makes clear, the great amount of need that confronts us is nothing new -- those who make it their calling to meet those needs will always find their tasks to be tiring and overwhelming. Team member George Reed shares some additional thoughts on our need for rest. But while “getting away” occasionally is vital if we are to have compassion for and effectively respond to the needs in our midst, George asks us to consider what it really is that we’re tired of. Are we truly using our vacations to retreat and recharge... or are we merely finding more exotic ways to amuse ourselves?

 

I Need a Vacation!
by Dean Feldmeyer
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

What is it with Americans and work?

We work on average 1,836 hours a year, more than just about anyone else in the industrialized world, and we take less vacation. Surveys indicate that 42% of working Americans don’t take any vacation at all -- and of those who do go on vacation, 61% report that they were working when they should have been playing!

I am not one of those.

I love vacation, and I take every moment I can get. I like vacations on the beach, and I like vacations in the mountains. I like adventure vacations that involve seeing new places and doing new things, and I like going back to old, familiar, and comfortable places to do the same old things. I never met a vacation I didn’t like.

And -- according to the experts who measure and keep track of such things -- that makes me healthier, smarter, happier, and more productive than those who martyr themselves on the altar of their job.

Another minister I know who likes vacations nearly as much as I do calls her vacations “missional discontinuity.” We go away, she says, so we can come back. We discontinue so we can continue better.

I wonder if Jesus had something like that in mind when he bade his disciples: “Come away to a deserted place by yourselves and rest a while.”

In the News
I’m something of a news junkie -- and I have to tell you, last week was pretty stressful for people like me.

Greece was going bankrupt. United Airlines could not get its planes into the air due to a computer glitch. Another computer glitch shut down the Wall Street Journal’s home page, and a third managed to close the New York Stock Exchange. People were actually wondering aloud if this could be that big cyber-attack that computer-literate people have been warning us about.

These stock market problems were especially troubling because they came at a time when China’s market was teetering on the edge of a cataclysmic selloff that could rock the economy of the entire planet (“could” being the operative word here).

The deadline for sealing a deal with Iran was creeping up, and every time Secretary of State Kerry thought an agreement was about to be achieved Iran wanted to change the rules... or something. I don’t really understand what’s going on over there. (Update: This morning President Obama announced a landmark accord between world powers and Iran, curbing their nuclear program in exchange for relief from international sanctions.)

Meanwhile in Hollywood, Bill Cosby was back in the spotlight after a recently revealed admission that he had purchased drugs he planned to use to molest women. Down in South Carolina the state legislature was voting on whether or not to take down the Confederate flag, and ESPN announced that Caitlyn Jenner would be receiving the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs. Oh, and Donald Trump apparently won’t be happy until he’s offended every single person in the northern hemisphere. 

My diet soft drinks are allegedly making me fat, and they just discovered that my ibuprofen is going to give me a stroke or a heart attack.

On the local front, baseball’s All-Star Game is going to be played this week in Cincinnati -- and if you live near the “Queen City,” as I do, you are expected to be all aquiver with anticipation (as are all of our local news media). 

And if all these things aren’t stressful enough in and of themselves...

Every time I read a news story on my computer homepage, when I get to the bottom of the story there’s a place for “comments.” It’s not enough to just read the story or listen to the story. No, now we’re expected to have an opinion about what we just read or heard. Right now. Immediately.

It’s not enough to be informed -- we’re also supposed to be outraged, indignant, excited, keyed up, worked up, fired up, overwrought, and generally all astir over everything we see.

Well, what we really are is overwhelmed -- and when we add that to the normal stresses of work, family, and community life, we are also exhausted.

What we need is a vacation. We need a vacation from the constant barrage of news that assaults us when we turn on our computers, when we eat our lunch at McDonald’s, when we get our hair cut, and even when we stand in line at the bank . 

We need a vacation from the culture’s insistence that we have an opinion about everything. 

But we are Americans -- and as the statistics noted above indicate, we aren’t real comfortable taking time off. Some of us are afraid we won’t have a job when we get back. Others say that the amount of work they have to do before they can leave and after they get back just isn’t worth the time off for vacation.

And then there’s the mixed messages that our culture is sending us.

Fortune magazine (the bible of the business world) ran an article in May telling us how important it is -- for the company as well as the workers -- that everyone take all of their allotted vacation time. But last week Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush seemed to be saying just the opposite [emphasis added]: “We have to be a lot more productive, workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows. It means that people need to work longer hours.”           

As Christians, however, our concern is not so much what Jeb Bush says or what Fortune magazine says as what Jesus says.

In the Scriptures
In this Sunday’s gospel lection Mark tells us of two stories where Jesus and his disciples are overwhelmed by the volume of work that has been set before them.

In the first story, the disciples have returned from their missionary journey upon which Jesus dispatched them in verses 6-13. They are excited and eager to share with Jesus all that has happened to them, but there are so many people with so many needs coming to them for help that they don’t have time to even eat their lunch, much less talk about what happened last week.

So Jesus bids them “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.”

But their escape plan doesn’t work. People see them crossing the lake in their boat, and they run around the shore to be there before the boat arrives.

When Jesus comes ashore he sees that these people are “like sheep without a shepherd,” and he has pity on them and “teaches them many things.”

The lectionary then skips the story of the feeding of the 5,000 and the story of Jesus walking on water and calming the sea. That will come next week.

Instead, we jump to the end of that story and to an event that is nearly identical to the one we have just heard. The disciples and Jesus have escaped the crowd, only to be confronted by them and even more when they reach their destination across the lake.

In the Sermon
This mixed pericope is replete with preaching points. 

One might rightfully choose to focus on the need that is demonstrated by the crowd, as does my colleague George Reed in the alternative article below. The need of the people for healing and teaching is evident in the text, and is no less evident in our modern culture.

I have chosen, however, to focus upon the need of the disciples, a need that is not quite so obvious but is nonetheless real and evident in the text as well in our own time.

Note that this is the first time where the disciples are referred to as “apostles.” This is appropriate, as they are now those who have been “sent out.” But being sent out comes at a price, does it not? Yes, they are excited to share their experiences -- but that same excitement can lead to burnout.

It is exciting to be needed. It is flattering when people come to us and ask for our expertise, our knowledge, our abilities. And we genuinely want to help, if we can. Is that not what it means to be Christian?

But the disciples are so busy helping others that they cannot find the opportunity or the leisure to even have a meal together.

An old mentor of mine, an avid fisherman, had a bumper sticker on his truck that said: “If you’re too busy to fish, you’re too busy.”

And the same must surely be said about eating. If you’re too busy to eat, you’re too busy.

Here we can stop to explore eating as both a literal need and a metaphorical one. We need physical nourishment -- a need that I personally have never neglected -- but we also need mental, emotional, and spiritual nourishment as well.

If, in our ministry to others, we find ourselves too busy to learn, too busy to love, too busy to pray -- well, then we’re too busy.

 

SECOND THOUGHTS
Tired from What?
by George Reed
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

In this week’s passage from 1 Samuel, God has given David rest from all his enemies. In the Mark text, Jesus is trying to take the disciples on a retreat. Rest is important for us as human beings, both in a physical sense and a spiritual sense -- as Dean discusses in his article above. But I want to address a side issue of our need for rest. What is it that is making us tired? Is it the work of being disciples of Jesus, or is it just busywork? 

We know that the work of Jesus is demanding. It is physically and emotionally draining to really care about people, situations, and all of creation. There is so much that demands our attention. At times it can be overwhelming just thinking about the needs that we can see around us. When we begin to add in all the hurts and needs that stretch out around the world, it staggers the mind. We are unsure how to respond to many of these issues, or how to determine which ones need to be addressed first. Then you add in all the things that seem far beyond our ability to make a difference, and you understand why Jesus called to disciples apart to rest. 

But I have a suspicion that for many of us that is not the problem. It is not caring for the world in the name of Jesus that is wearing us out, but our being absorbed by all manner of trivial items. 

How much time and energy do I put into replying to tweets about things that I will not even remember tomorrow? How many hours do I spend working on the next level of Candy Crush or whatever game I gotten myself hooked on? How much time do I spend obsessing about whether I have more or fewer “likes” on Facebook than my friends? Do I really need to know the intimate details of the relationships of all those folks in Hollywood or Nashville? 

It isn’t like all of these things are such terrible evils. I don’t think they are at all, but they have an insidious way of creeping in and taking over our lives. I signed up for Foursquare/Swarm so that my wife and I can keep track of each other when we are traveling separately. When one of us is on the road, we can simply enter in whatever rest area, gas station, or restaurant we are stopping at and the other knows where we are. When one of us checks into home at the end of the journey, the other knows immediately that we have made the trip safely so we can talk later. But I find myself fascinated by the check-in process, and am compulsively checking in wherever I go. I want the “rewards” that come with having the most check-ins at a place. They don’t mean anything and they are worth nothing, but it gets into my blood.

So the question for us modern-day disciples is whether Jesus is calling us to come apart and rest -- or to put down that stupid smartphone and get to work on the real business of the Kingdom. 

 

ILLUSTRATIONS

From team member Leah Lonsbury:

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56; Ephesians 2:11-22
On the importance of human connection and attending to our life-giving relationships and our own needs in order to be “one new humanity,” make peace, and address the world’s needs...

In his TED talk titled “Everything You Think You Know about Addiction Is Wrong,” journalist Johann Hari discusses his three years of research on addiction and addicts. Hari uses Portugal as an example of a country where the government has legalized all drugs to avoid isolating and shaming addicts, and keep from destroying the life-giving connections addicts need to turn their lives around and survive. The authorities there provide incentives to businesses to hire addicts, and have taken the jail time that destroys relationships, economic well-being, and future employment for many ex-offenders in the U.S. out of the equation. The result? Drug use is down 50%, because more and more people have jobs and relationships that sustain and comfort them -- what they turned to drugs for in the past. Hari concludes: “The opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety. It’s connection.”

*****

In her thoughtful piece on the latest Pixar movie, Inside Out, Rachel Marie Stone writes about the importance of helping our children learn to talk about and share the whole range of their emotions. 

In the movie, the characters of Joy and Sadness tussle for control of 11-year-old Riley’s mind. In the end, they learn that there is an important place for both powerful emotions, especially in keeping us connected to one another. Stone emphasizes how making room for all of our emotions also connects us to the tenderness of God. She writes:

With my own sons, now 7 and nearly 10, my husband and I encourage them to speak honestly about their feelings, especially during new beginnings. Giving permission to cry and to feel sad or angry or lonely go a long way toward teaching kids that joy isn’t really joy unless sadness is given its due: respected, acknowledged, given space.

We don’t need to cheer our kids up immediately or tell them to smile when they don’t feel like it. God, after all, is tender toward the lonely, the displaced, the poor, the depressed. As psychologists Dacher Keltner and Paul Ekman note, acknowledging our sadness clarifies what has been lost and moves us toward what is to be gained.

As Riley (and Joy) discover in the movie, Sadness is not an enemy to be vanquished. To do so would be harmful, for when sadness is allowed to flow freely in contexts where we are well-supported by trustworthy people, comfort, connection, and joy can follow.

Stone also touches on our tendencies to get so connected with our technology that we numb ourselves and disconnect from one another:

In a well-known bit on why he won’t allow his kids to have cellphones, comedian Louis CK argued that our phones distract us from the occasional emptiness and loneliness we all experience. But, he says, when we push away such feelings with distractions -- seeking to numb or flee (as Riley does) -- we miss the opportunity to let the “antibodies” of joy come flowing in.

*****

A new Chinese ad campaign is intended to portray a powerful message about what we’re doing to our relationships, especially those between children and their parents, when we spend so much time and energy on our phones. In each of the ads, a giant smartphone literally divides two people and keeps them from seeing each other and connecting. 

In an interview with the Huffington Post, the campaign’s originator, Juggi Ramakrishnan (executive creative director of Ogilvy & Mather Shanghai) said: “Pulling out a phone during a conversation is like erecting a brick wall between two people. We want people to see this and rethink their relationships with others and their phone in a different light.”

***************

From team member Ron Love:

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56; Ephesians 2:11-22
During the war he frequently visited hospitals located throughout the capital, comforting the stricken soldiers. One day the lanky man happened upon a young trooper whose leg had been amputated; the soldier was not expected to live until morning. Sitting beside the bed, the tall man inquired if he could be of assistance. The grateful soldier requested that the stranger write a letter to his mother. Obliging, the black-suited gentleman carefully recorded the soldier’s dictated words. Finishing the correspondence, he handed the letter to the young man for approval. After proofreading the short note, the lad studied the postscript -- words not spoken yet penned by the kind caller: “This letter was written by Abraham Lincoln.” Astonished, the soldier stared at the visitor, meekly asking “Are you our president?” 

“Yes,” was the gentle response, “and now that you know that, is there anything else I can do for you?” Feebly, the youth requested, “I guess you might hold my hand and see me through.” The large hand of the rail splitter, firm enough to guide the republic, was soft enough to embrace the sufferer.

*****      

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56; Ephesians 2:11-22            
In a Blondie comic strip, Dagwood and Blondie Bumstead are having dinner at the home of Julius and Cora Dithers. Julius excuses himself from the table, and in his absence Cora remarks, “There’s a lot of good in that man.”

Blondie, surprised by the suddenness of the comment, replies: “How nice of you to say that.”

Never missing an opportunity to fault her husband, Cora continues: “Well, it must be true because so little of it ever comes out.”

There is a lot of good in all of us, but if it remains hidden so will our Christian conviction. Only by showering others with compliments, understanding, and empathy will an acquaintance realize our love for God and all humanity.

*****      

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56; Ephesians 2:11-22            
March 3, 1887, was a beautiful spring day in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Great expectations and suspense hung over the family home, Ivy Green, for today Mrs. Keller returned from the depot with the young lady who would instruct her daughter. Helen stood patiently at the porch door. Feeling approaching footsteps she extended her hand, expecting her mother. Instead another caressed her palm, and from that glorious moment the child was endeared to Anne Sullivan. Helen Keller recounts, “I was caught up and held close in the arms of her who had come to reveal all things to me, and more than all things else, to love me.” So memorable was that first meeting and so meaningful was the ensuing relationship that Helen Keller always celebrated March 3 as her “soul’s birthday.” 

*****      

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56; Ephesians 2:11-22            
Several years ago Gene Bedley, principal of El Camino Elementary School in Irvine, California, was recognized as the National PTA Outstanding Teacher. He was a gracious individual who wrote 200 personalized notes every week, each affirming a student. As principal, he stalked the school’s corridors while toting a cordless telephone -- so that when he observed a student performing a thoughtful act he could immediately dial the child’s parent and report the wonderful deed. Seeking ways to praise a person of any age is godly.

***************

From team member Mary Austin:

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
The Power of Rest
Matt Walker, a neuroscientist and psychologist who runs a sleep research laboratory at the University of California--Berkeley, says that sleep fulfills a number of functions in the mind and body. We need rest for both physical and emotional reasons. Sleep allows us to regulate our emotions, as well as to respond thoughtfully to other people and to distressing circumstances. A lack of sleep makes us much more emotionally reactive.

Walker also finds a connection between a lack of sleep and conditions like PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and depression. As Walker says, “What’s striking is that those same psychiatric disorders also display co-occurring abnormalities in sleep. The assumption has been that the psychiatric conditions have been causing the sleep abnormalities. But we’re now starting to realize that, instead, the sleep problems are making a significant contribution to the psychiatric condition as well.” He adds that a colleague’s research “has clearly demonstrated that if you restore and normalize sleep in different severe mental health conditions, you can see very significant clinical improvements.” 

Sleep is important for learning -- it prepares the brain to learn, and then seals in new information. Walker also says there’s a third benefit. “More recently, we’ve realized there’s an additional benefit for learning. Sleep is much more intelligent than we have previously considered. It not only takes individual pieces of information and saves them and protects them, but sleep can intelligently cross-link new pieces of information together. As a result, you can start to extract commonalities and develop novel insights into problems that you were having the day before.” 

He comments that we don’t value sleep enough: “Society has gotten to a stage where we equate sufficient sleep with laziness. That’s a terrible thing. And it’s strange because we don’t always have that opinion. Consider a baby sleeping during the day. Nobody looks at the infant and says, ‘What a lazy baby.’ We don’t do that because we realize that at that stage of life sleep is absolutely essential. We, as a society, have abandoned the notion that sleep is essential and useful. If anything, we’ve become proud of what little sleep we’re getting. In terms of a public health pandemic, we are with sleep where we were with smoking 50 years ago.” 

Jesus was right -- we need rest!

*****

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56       
But We Don’t Take It
CNN reported at the end of 2014 that Americans took less vacation in 2013 than in any other year in the previous four decades. According to the article, “A new study has found that U.S. workers forfeited $52.4 billion in time-off benefits in 2013.... American workers turned their backs on a total of 169 million days of paid time off, in effect ‘providing free labor for their employers, at an average of $504 per employee.’ ” In the article, productivity and stress management trainer Joe Robinson says that people are worried about being away from the office, adding: “[W]orkers are afraid to take their vacations in the layoff era. It might mark them as less ‘committed’ than coworkers. It’s called defensive overworking. They work long hours and skip vacations to insulate themselves from cutbacks.” People also have more to do. “Lean staffing, with more and more people doing the jobs of several people, makes it hard to escape,” Robinson says. “They’re not taking vacations because they have too much work.”

*****

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
But Some Successful People Take Vacation -- And Think You Should Too
Despite the feeling of being too busy to get away, some very successful people believe that taking breaks -- taking the rest that Jesus advised -- is part of their success. The Huffington Post reports that a number of CEOs make taking time away from work a priority. Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo and the mother of a young child, takes regular breaks from the office: “Mayer has said that she takes roughly 70 meetings in any given week, so it’s particularly important for her to also prioritize time off. ‘I pace myself by taking a week-long vacation every four months,’ Mayer says.” John Donahoe, CEO of eBay, says taking a break is a key to success, adding: “vacations can help leaders optimize their time and stay focused as their careers progress.” 

Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, adds that vacation is part of being a creative leader. He says: “When you go on vacation, your routine is interrupted; the places you go and the new people you meet can inspire you in unexpected ways. As an entrepreneur or business leader, if you didn’t come back from your vacation with some ideas about how to shake things up, it’s time to consider making some changes. I make sure that I disconnect by leaving my smartphone at home or in the hotel room for as long as possible -- days, if I can -- and bringing a notepad and pen with me instead. Freed from the daily stresses of my working life, I find that I am more likely to have new insights into old problems and other flashes of inspiration.” 

Time away from the schedule and stress of work can renew our energy and inspire our creativity. 

*****

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
The Power of Rest (Part Two)
As Jesus points out, we all need rest -- and it turns out that sleep is even more powerful than we knew. The New York Times reports that according to a study in the journal Science, it may be possible to reduce racial and gender biases while a person sleeps. Study participants were shown images of people and words counter to the traditional stereotypes, a technique called counterstereotype training. In this study, “When participants were shown images of women alongside scientific words, and African-American men alongside pleasant words, they were asked to press a button labeled ‘Correct.’ A sound followed. Afterward, the participants were invited to take a 90-minute nap, and the sounds were played back to them.” After the nap, participants showed a reduction in bias. Rest can seal new learning into our minds. 

 

WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Chris Keating

Call to Worship
Leader: God’s promise of rest is offered to all of God’s people!
People: Jesus calls us from the hurried pace of life to pray and rest.
Leader: For Christ is our peace; Christ himself has broken down the walls of hostility that keep us divided.
People: We are no longer strangers and aliens, but members of the household of God, built upon Jesus Christ, who is the chief cornerstone.
Leader: Let us come and worship, so that God might dwell among us.

OR

Leader: The Lord leads us to abundant pastures of rest and peace.
People: God is our good shepherd, who restores our soul and leads us along the right paths!
Leader: Even through the darkest valleys and along dangerous roads,
People: God is our good shepherd, who restores our soul and leads us along the right paths!
Leader: All that God gives to us is good and precious,
People: God is our good shepherd, who restores our soul and leads us along the right paths! Let us worship God together.

Hymns
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness”  
“I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say”
“The God of Abraham Praise” (especially appropriate for Psalm 89:20-37)
“The Church’s One Foundation”
“Dear Lord and Father of Mankind”
“Come and Find the Quiet Center” (Shirley Erena Murray; tune: “Beech Spring”)
“Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation”
“There Is a Place of Quiet Rest”

Spirituals/Contemporary Songs/Global Songs
“Steal Away to Jesus” (spiritual)
“Sanctuary” (John Thompson/Randy Scruggs)
“Come, Let Us Worship” (Chris Tomlin)
“If We Are The Body” (Mark Hall)
“Here, O Lord, Your Servants Gather” (Japan)
“Canticle of the Turning” (Ireland)
“Canto de Esperanza” (“Song of Hope,” Argentina)

Hymns and Songs related to Psalm 23
“Shepherd Me, O God” (Marty Haugen)
“The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want”
“The King of Love My Shepherd Is”
“My Shepherd Will Supply My Need”
“Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us”
“Blessed Be Your Name” (Matt Redman)

Prayer of the Day/Collect
God of compassion, draw us into your presence: Our lives are hurried and harried, and we are scattered like lost sheep. By your gentle invitation, gather us so that we might be renewed and restored. May the pastures of your abundant provision fill all who long for grace and peace, through Jesus Christ Our Lord, Amen.

OR

Lord, you are the good shepherd who provides us with everything we need. Let the calm waters of your mercy flow into our lives, so that even when we walk through dark valleys and stumble along twisting paths we may know that your goodness and protection are with us always, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Call to Confession and Prayer of Confession
Leader: God says to us, “I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers will afflict them no more” (2 Samuel 7:10). In confidence and faith, let us confess our sin to God.

All: Gracious God, like a shepherd you reach out to us in love. Your faithfulness is sure, and your mercy abundant. Yet we run through life afraid and unaware. There is no peace within us, and our lives need your healing. Forgive our inability to trust in your provision, and our selfish desire to live life on our terms. Give us your healing grace so that we may love you and our neighbor in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Declaration of Pardon
Leader: “For he is our peace” writes the apostle (Ephesians 2:11-22), and through the cross we have been reconciled to God. We are no longer strangers and aliens, but citizens with the household of God, building upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself the chief cornerstone. Be at peace and know our sins are forgiven!
People: Thanks be to God. Amen.

Prayers of the People
Always, faithful God, you are the true shepherd of our lives, and in Jesus Christ you invite us to find rest for our wearied and anxious lives. We praise you for your promise of peace, and for all you have spoken to us in Jesus Christ. By his grace we find compassion and grace, and are gathered into the sheepfold of your love. Now send us your Holy Spirit, so that we may always find a settled rest for our lives, and be led toward the paths of your abundance.

We thank you for the gifts of summer, O Lord -- for times of rest and leisure, moments spent renewing ourselves in nature, and reunions with friends and family. Lead us, O God, into a life of praise, and enable us to discover the joys of slowing down and finding rest. Your faithfulness is true and lasting, and you offer us all that we need.

We place in your hands those among us who are in need, especially those whose bodies are frail and spirits weak; shepherd them, O God, with the reminder of your constant presence, and grant healing in all of its many forms to those who are sick, grieving, and afraid. Make us faithful shepherds of your love to those whom we know, especially these we name before you now: (intercessions may be added).

Lead us into your paths of peace, and be with all those who work for peace. Open our eyes to the needs of those around us, enable us to see where injustice prevails. Empower your church to break down the walls of hostility in our world, so it may declare the good news of Jesus’ reconciling grace. Now grant us your rest and encourage us with your peace, and lead us always toward the beauty of your kingdom promised to us in the name of Jesus, who taught us pray together, saying, Our Father... (continue and conclude with the Lord’s Prayer).

Benediction
Leader: Now in Christ we are built together into a dwelling place for God.
All: Amen.
Leader: Go into the world, sharing the good news, bringing words of healing and mercy, giving thanks to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Bless the Lord!
All: The Lord’s name be praised!

Children’s Sermon Starter (based Mark 6:30-34, 53-56)
Ahead of time, collect various things a family might use on vacation: flip-flops, beach pail, sunglasses, snorkel, fishing pole, theme park brochures, and so on. (Do an image search on the internet for “vacation” if you need additional items.) Spread these out on the ground and ask the children to share stories of vacation. Where was their favorite place to visit? If they could go anywhere in the world on a vacation, where would it be? Tell the story of Jesus inviting the disciples to go and rest, and invite the children to wonder what it would be like to find our rest in God.

 

CHILDREN’S SERMON
Disconnect to Connect
by Leah Lonsbury
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56; Ephesians 2:11-22

Retell the Mark story in your own words, emphasizing Jesus’ invitation to “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” Highlight the distractions in the story as well -- and the overwhelming but very real needs pressing upon Jesus and his disciples. 

Ask the children what keeps them busy and what kinds of things make families feel rushed, pressed upon, chaotic, and disconnected. Tell the kids that you’re going to take some time during the children’s sermon just to be together, rejuvenate, and reconnect, like Jesus invites us to do. 

But first... check your phone, consult your electronic calendar, fire off a couple texts or e-mails, and make or take a quick phone call (consider asking someone in the congregation to call you). Then remember that you need to make some quick notes on your iPad and move around some appointments to accommodate the person on the phone (or whatever). Then arrange a playlist on your iPod or laptop for the evening’s vespers service or... (you get the idea). Hold your phone, iPad, and/or laptop between your face and the gathered children. Keep putting them off, telling them “just a second.”

Then put down the technology and ask how they feel after this restful time of reconnection. Ready to go back to their lives refreshed and reconnected? Do they feel as rejuvenated and rested as you do? Don’t they feel your relationship has grown in your time together? Don’t they feel ready to take on the big, busy world and all its problems?

Hopefully they’ll say “no.” If not, take the conversation there yourself. Explain why Jesus tells the disciples and us that we need to disconnect to connect. Talk about the importance of conversation, of face-to-face time with family and friends, of time to slow down and care for ourselves and the people we love. Talk about what that can do for our lives.

Share a summary of Ephesians’ teaching on how Jesus has created “one new humanity” so that we would be “no longer strangers” but instead family members who become God’s dwelling place -- shelter for one another and a place of belonging and healing for those in need. Share that when God dwells in us and we are connected to each other, we can address our own needs and the needs around us as we seek to follow Jesus’ example. 

Prayer: Loving God, help us to put away what keeps us from knowing and loving each other, so that we can really be together as the one human family you created us to be. Help us to disconnect to connect in your Love. Amen.

 
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The Immediate Word, July 19, 2015, issue.

Copyright 2015 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.

All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.