I want to share with you one of my favourite lines from Scripture.
Jesus said: "Come apart by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” Mark 6
We heard these words last Sunday in the Gospel for the day.
The Disciples returned after a busy day of sharing Jesus' teachings with many folk, and they were buzzing with the reception they had received.
Deep down, Jesus was not buzzing.
He had just received the news of the beheading of his cousin, John the Baptist.
Herod immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb. Mark’s Gospel chapter 6:27-31
The news of that made Jesus "come apart" at the seams. His beloved cousin,
fellow radical, passionate for the things of God, killed for no reason.
Meanwhile the crowds who had listened to the Apostles,
were hungry for more of Jesus' radical and exciting teaching
from Jesus' own mouth.
It's the last thing Jesus needed at that sad moment.
He needed to come apart, he needed some space.
After receiving the news of John the Baptist,
Jesus was coming apart - he needed some quiet time with God
to put himself back together again.
The Disciples were exhausted, after a fulfilling day,
they were tired, they were "running on low", they were coming apart;
they needed some quiet time, they needed some space with God
to put themselves back together again.
Jesus asked of the Disciples, and asks of you and me....
"Are you coming apart?"
Are you "running on low"?
Is everything crowding in on you?
Are you exhausted?
Come apart with Jesus - let him put you back together again.
Are you coming apart at the moment?
Are you coming apart in the workplace?
Is the work too much for you, tiring you out?
Are you coming apart because of your work colleagues?
Are you coming apart at home - is it all too much?
Are family members pulling the family apart?
Are family members coming apart because of the worries that they face?
Are you coming apart because of grief?
Are friendships coming apart? Friends who used to be there for you
no longer around?
Can you find a quiet place today,
even if the quiet lasts only a few minutes?
COMING APART PRAYERS
"I come to your holy place:
I bow in adoration in your presence.
Let me be still and close to you:
Quieting myself before your love.
Awaken in me your glory,
that I may rejoice in your grace.
Awaken my heart to your love,
that I may know your care.
Lord, I seek to do your will;
to meet you and serve you.
I come to you with people in my heart.
May I find everywhere is hallowed ground. David Adam
"To be empty of all self-concern;
to accept quietly one’s own weaknesses and limitations;
to be empty of all striving and even thinking;
to be silent and open,
so that God can make his presence felt,
speak within us if he will,
though what he says may not be crystallized
in thought or word until some time later.
At such times I become my authentic self,
as I am when the image of God in me
is allowed to rise into quiet, alert consciousness.
To be trusting,
patient,
unhurried,
expectant
and
receptive.
George Appleton
O God, whose holiness is not limited
to grand cathedrals or saintly persons,
spectacular mountains or mountain-moving leaders;
plant Your holiness in this place, in us now.
Grow us this hour, that we might flower,
right where we are,
with the beauty of Your holiness………..
As we journey….. Kevin & Ana Draper, Steve Collins, Jonny Baker 2000/2007
You are on a journey,
a journey towards the light that is God.
As you journey,
unmask yourself,
peel away the layers -
grow by subtraction.
Prepare your inner self -
the you of you -
to meet with God.
As you journey,
begin to focus on God;
The source of all warmth and love and light and life.
Experience the love,
feel the warmth.
Choose life.
When I am liberated by silence,
when I am no longer involved
in the measurement of life,
but in the living of it, I can discover a form of prayer
in which there is effectively no distraction.
My whole life becomes a prayer.
My whole silence is full of prayer.
The world of silence in which I am immersed
contributes to my prayer.
Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation
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