by The Rev. Kathleen Adams-Shepherd
My Dear Friends in Christ,
The Tower Returns again! My thanks to the Communications Commission and its chair, Geoff Dent, for the diligent optimism that has resurrected our parish newsletter yet again! I’m not sure how long there will be this “hard copy” format of the Tower before it becomes a constant flow of information as a “blog”, but here we are for now.
This Tower has its focus on the ministry and mission of our youth at Trinity. As we have just returned from an awesome pilgrimage to the Lake Tahoe region I offer my heartfelt thanks to all of you who made that journey possible. As I reflect on that time away with our J2A youth and their leaders to renew our inner spirit and connection to God and community, I think of the opportunity many of us have in what is often the somewhat less hectic time of summer. As you read through this issue of The Tower, the summer months are already waning. We have either found space for rest, renewal and family in this season the church calls “ordinary time” or perhaps that time is now or just around the corner or alas, life has gone on too quickly to slow down if only for a week or so. I pray that each one of us has the opportunity to rest, renew, reconnect and restore. I write this even as my family is packing for our yearly time away together in the place that has been for our entire lives a place that has held all these things for us: Cape Cod.
As we contemplate space for rest we may ask ourselves how much more we can fit into our already overflowing lives? The summer months or “ordinary time” often answers that question with an opportunity to step back from that very full life for a moment, contemplate in quiet and see with the eyes of perspective and the heart of our Lord, where we have made room for our body and soul’s rest and renewal. If there is no prominent place in the fullness, then the season of “ordinary time” calls us to reorder things, cast some things off, re-arrange our outer and inner landscape and make room to be renewed.
Jesus knows this life we live of constant activity, demands on our time, and the stress of balancing all things. He felt it in his own life and he observed it in the life of those close to him. Into all of this activity Jesus breathes these words, “’Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat” (Mark 6:30-31). Commenting on this very passage from Mark’s Gospel, Margaret Guenther writes this in her book, My Soul In Silence Waits, “In our hyperactive, high- achieving society, it is good to hold this picture of Jesus before us. He knew when it was time to retreat, seek a new spiritual landscape, and correct his perspective. This was not an isolated incident: again and again, Jesus removed himself from the scene of action. Periodically, he stopped preaching, teaching, healing, arguing with those authorities who wanted to trip him up. He left behind the people who wanted to share a meal with him, and those who just wanted a glimpse of him, or a chance to touch the hem of his garment. Most of us are tightly scheduled, burdened with obligations ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, so that the very idea of walking away, simply withdrawing for a little while from the demands of the alleged ‘real’ world, seems absurd if not impossible-even if we do not live in fear of Herod’s executioner or the withering scorn of our neighbors. Jesus shows us a rhythm of going out and coming back, of departure and return almost like the regular, life-sustaining rhythm of respiration. ….If Jesus can do it, so can we.” (My Soul in Silence Waits, Cowley pub. Guenther pp. 1,2)
In this piece, Margaret Guenther is talking about Retreat. Sometimes away to the country, the ocean, a monastery which offers refreshment for laity, but this can happen in a quiet bedroom, under a tree in the backyard, or on a walk and if we can, time away. This season of “ordinary time” calls us to retreat, refreshment, rest, reconnection and renewal. It is an opportunity to put rest and refreshment back at the center of our life and being. And yet we say- “There’s too much to do, are you nuts? Retreat? Rest? Renewal? Vacation? I have kids to drive here and there even in the summer months, meals to be planned, shopped for and prepared, deadlines to meet, projects to complete at home and at work. Perhaps later when I’m not so busy and things are under control….” Well, when will things be under control? Probably not any time soon! Ordinary time comes right in the midst of such a life and invites our renewal. We can shut out the call to restoration and renewal OR we can take Jesus’ own example and begin by retreating to a quiet place where we can rest, renew, restore, be fully with family or friends and even find time and space for inner restoration in prayer; meeting God for a time away from the noise and bustle. You will find as you re-enter the demands of your everyday life, they will still be waiting, but you will bring a fresh perspective and a wholly different energy. You may find that some things are essential and need to be tended to, but that others are burdens that will never bring life and need to be let go of. As you become more and more comfortable with the rhythm of departure and return, you may even find you have time to offer your gifts into the ministry of Christ and into the lives of those in need of care around you.
This season of “ordinary time” is a gift of life and faith. Accept it with open heart, soul and mind and enjoy!
In Christ’s love,
Kathie+
