You can listen to it here -
Read the transcript here, or the original post below.
Transcript
Well, I don’t know about you – but over the years I’ve become more and more attached to the various social media outlets that are around the place. I have a bit of a love hate relationship with them, sometimes using them all day long and sometimes deleting my profile for a few months however something about them always draws me back in the end.
I was really interested to see a few weeks ago, a little advert pop up on facebook, which said – and I quote – Peace begins with us, according to them - Facebook is the place where Peace can be found.
I’m not entirely sure this is true. You may be aware that September is now designated as Scroll Free – this is a new initiative by Public Health England to try and encourage us to put away our phones for the month, and particularly to stop using social media.
This comes as a result of their survey last year in which nearly half of social media users said they thought meeting this challenge would improve quality of sleep, face-to-face relationships, work productivity and general wellbeing - and there's plenty of evidence to show they're right.
I think most of us are getting to the point where we realise this, we know that extended time on our phones or on social media is less productive for us. But if Facebook, or twitter or any of the others is not the place the place we can find peace – I wonder if we know where is.
Life as a curate in a busy town is a lot of fun, but it can be really busy. It’s very easy for me, as I’m sure it can be for most of us – to lose that sense of Peace which we need.
God knows this, and I’m sure this is why the scriptures tell us God says we need to ‘Be Still, and know that He is God’.
This is a very famous verse and I’ve often I’ve seen it written with very swirly handwriting on posters. It usually has an image in the background of some calm and reflective landscape. We can almost imagine it being said very calmly – be still. And it may be, that for some, that is a really helpful way to understand these words, and you may have images like this on your wall at home, if you do, then bless you and I’m glad.
I do wonder, if their might just be another way of understanding it.
I have a little dog, called Sammy who my friend describes as a perpetual motion machine. He hardly ever stops and I’m forever telling him to get in his bed so he’s out of my hair.
Now if I were the psalmist who wrote those words, I might say to Sammy “Be still” in order to calm him down. But if I did, I would probably be unlikely to use that quiet and whispy voice, I would be more likely to say “Will you just be still”
I do just wonder if there is a lesson here for some of us. If some of us need to hear this as a command or an instruction, rather than a gentle suggestion.
How many of us are so busy – moving around so quickly – that we feel we have no time to be still, and no time to stop.
Facebook is not the place where Peace begins, nor is Twitter, Instagram or any of the rest – they don’t even come close.
True peace comes from one place alone, the one who promises that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. If you're feeling out of peace - take some time out – more than just the minute or two we’ve had together this morning - however hard it is to find the time, and draw close to the one who promises, that if we are still and know that He is God, we will find our rest.
Original Blog Post
If we are friends on Facebook then you may have spotted that I posted the below, which I saw earlier today....
This is perfect timing, as I had already begun to write this post...
Life as a curate is a lot of fun, I'm enjoying getting to know people and sharing their lives with them. It does however, also have it's sadnesses - and just at the moment I've found myself walking with a couple of different people, or groups of people, who are having a very difficult time of it. I spent around an hour talking to one of these on the phone earlier this week. This was an absolute privilege and pleasure but as I came to the end of the conversation I realised just how heavily their situation, and the others, were weighing on me.
I had a problem however, it was 11am, I had 2 hours before my day "properly" started with meetings which ran into the evening - and I still had no talk for the next mornings service.
I'm someone who always tries to focus on the 'most immediate need' and so for about 30 minutes I tried to ignore these feelings and battled through trying to work out what I would say the next day, but I couldn't. The weight was too heavy.
So I put down my pen (figuratively speaking) and lay on my sofa to rest, pray and 'soak' in some favourite worship music.
An hour and a half later I still had a lot to do (and still no talk for the next day) but was in such a different place. I had found peace - A peace which is well summed up in John's Gospel "My Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
The rest of the day went easily, and when I got home from my evening meeting a talk appeared in my head which was easy to write down.
It was, without question the right thing to do - to stop - but I had really resisted it. As I reflect, I'd probably, truthfully, been resisting it for a few days, and 'powering on through' rather than stopping and allowing myself to be refreshed properly.
When asked about my view of pastoral ministry as I was working out this calling stuff, the definition I found most helpful was that of L shaped ministry. It's called this because you visualise it by holding one arm out in front of you, the other to the sky. The idea is that you receive things from 'people' and give them to God, and you receive things from God and give them to 'the people'. As priests (and by this, I probably mean people of priests, rather than those of us who are ordained) we are a conduit, an interceder and a message giver. We are not the one either to carry the burdens, nor (fortunately) the ones with all the answers. We stand as a bridge, but we need to ensure it doesn't get backed up with traffic.
So, my point?
Facebook is not the place where Peace begins, it's not even close. True peace comes from one place alone, the one who promises that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. If you're feeling out of peace (like I was) take some time out, however hard it is to do, and draw close to the one who gives rest.
One of the songs I listened to is this "old classic" (as in it is pre-2000) Hungry by Joy Williams https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLz36m8Mw2g
