Rhythm of Jesus
I included the following in my blog the other day but thought it was worth sharing with CBA Ministers as well. It happened in the context of our prayers as National Settlement Team and Regional Minister Team Leaders' Meeting:
Over the three days we pray together and on Wednesday one of my colleagues, Phil, led us in a characteristically creative and inspired reflection. We thought about John 11 and the death and resurrection of Lazarus, and went on to explore together the strong sense that Jesus consistently seems to be moving to a different rhythm. Jairus pleads with Jesus to come to his house because his twelve year old daughter is dying, and yet Jesus takes his time with a woman who touches his cloak. And here in John 11 Jesus knows that his friend Lazarus has died yet he stays where he is for two more days.
We thought about our lives and ministries, especially in the crises, noting the difference in the rhythm that we find ourselves so often adopting. Phil went on to say a prayer that he had written which summed it up helfpully. It can be found on the Industrial Christian Fellowship web-site here:
Timeless God, at the dawn of our existence
you set the rhythms of the universe in motion,
day follows night as the earth spins her course,
heralding each new season as year follows year.
The mountain streams flow into rivers
that fill the oceans,
whose vapours are caught up in the clouds
to be poured out again
on the misty mountain peaks.
And the rhythms that we so often follow
seem so puny when compared:
the nine to five and morning rush,
the nightshift, day shift and working time directive,
timetables, tachographs and meeting plans,
the TV listings and appointments at the gym.
When you send us sunshine
we turn up the air conditioning
and the golden tones of autumn
make their apology as leaves on the line.
Help us loving Father
in the busyness of schedules of our own creating,
to seek out your rhythm
and live lives that pulsate to the beat
set by the one who holds this world together. Amen.
Over the three days we pray together and on Wednesday one of my colleagues, Phil, led us in a characteristically creative and inspired reflection. We thought about John 11 and the death and resurrection of Lazarus, and went on to explore together the strong sense that Jesus consistently seems to be moving to a different rhythm. Jairus pleads with Jesus to come to his house because his twelve year old daughter is dying, and yet Jesus takes his time with a woman who touches his cloak. And here in John 11 Jesus knows that his friend Lazarus has died yet he stays where he is for two more days.
We thought about our lives and ministries, especially in the crises, noting the difference in the rhythm that we find ourselves so often adopting. Phil went on to say a prayer that he had written which summed it up helfpully. It can be found on the Industrial Christian Fellowship web-site here:
Timeless God, at the dawn of our existence
you set the rhythms of the universe in motion,
day follows night as the earth spins her course,
heralding each new season as year follows year.
The mountain streams flow into rivers
that fill the oceans,
whose vapours are caught up in the clouds
to be poured out again
on the misty mountain peaks.
And the rhythms that we so often follow
seem so puny when compared:
the nine to five and morning rush,
the nightshift, day shift and working time directive,
timetables, tachographs and meeting plans,
the TV listings and appointments at the gym.
When you send us sunshine
we turn up the air conditioning
and the golden tones of autumn
make their apology as leaves on the line.
Help us loving Father
in the busyness of schedules of our own creating,
to seek out your rhythm
and live lives that pulsate to the beat
set by the one who holds this world together. Amen.
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