Sermon Title: "Frenetic Activity"
Date: February 8, 2009
Minister: Rev. Charles E. Ensley, Jr.

Lesson:  Mark 1:29-39

First, a disclaimer:  I am not sharing the story that follows to elicit any sympathy or pity from you.  It’s just my most current experience of what I would call frenetic activity, or too much to do in too little time.  I am sure many of you have had similar days or weeks in your personal, family or professional lives.

Two weeks ago Monday started out just fine.  I knew in the week ahead I had a funeral here on Friday with a reception afterwards, a wedding on Saturday, plus worship on Sunday, before leaving immediately afterward to fly to two back-to-back clergy conferences in Berkeley.  Yet, by the end of Monday, we had scheduled a large memorial service here for the Saturday morning before the wedding, with a reception to follow.  I would have to meet with the family to plan that service.  I also had a Pilgrim Pines Board meeting that would take five hours on Wednesday night.  Suddenly, my week and the impending weekend looked packed, or as I began to say, “I’m just slammed.”

Friday went fine.  I did the afternoon funeral, attended the reception, prepared my remarks for the next day’s memorial service, and did more work in my office, though not enough.  That night, at home, I made out this list of everything I had to do on Saturday.  There was the 11 a.m. memorial service with 300 in attendance and reception that would go until 1 p.m.; a sermon yet to be written; paperwork for the wedding to fill out; the February 1st worship bulletin to prepare for the Sunday I would be gone, as well as the script for the liturgist that Sunday.  There was the 4 p.m. wedding; a children’s sermon to figure out; and a letter of reference to write for one of our college students.  Also on my list was to pack after I got home that night about 6:30.  As each of the items on my list occurred, I crossed it off, which gave me some small sense of accomplishment, with the exception of the children’s time, which never came to me until I stepped out of the shower Sunday morning.  All that kept me going, frankly, was the knowledge that I always get everything done that I’m supposed to do, and that somehow, God would see me through.

There are several places a preacher could go today with Mark’s Gospel lesson.  As soon as Jesus and his fishermen followers left the synagogue, there was his miraculous healing of Simon’s mother-in-law and her rapid recovery, so much so that she rose from her sick bed and began to serve them.  There are the many people cured of their illnesses and demon possession, who were brought to Jesus that evening after the Sabbath was over.  Then there’s Jesus retreat by himself to “a deserted place” to pray in the darkness of the early morning hours.

Miraculous healings, casting out demons, solitude, prayer—all of these frenetic movements packed into less than 24 hours at Capernaum.  In Mark’s narrative style, he used words like “immediately on the Sabbath,” “just then”, “at once’, “as soon as they left”.  I’m sure Jesus didn’t have a list to cross off, but we can imagine a list just by reading today’s lesson.

Yet for many people, the most wonderful verse in the reading, one that does not have to do with miraculous healings, which we are unable to accomplish, is verse 35:  “In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.”

Now why is this detail here?  Is Mark giving us a setting change for the rest of the passage?  Is it playful Messiah hide-and-seek when the disciples can’t find him?  Or is there perhaps a connection between the active, healing Jesus and the praying Jesus?

The Bible suggests the latter:  “Very truly,” Jesus says, “I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.” (John 5:19)  Jesus accesses his divine powers through prayer intimacy with God.

Our prayers won’t make us the miracle worker that Jesus was, and that clearly isn’t the point.  The message is twofold:  Jesus radically alters the lives of the disciples, the crowds, the demon-possessed, Simon’s mother-in-law, other diseased persons . . . and Jesus prays.  Note the connection.

And these aren’t just past accounts of the historical Jesus.  They are affirmations of who God is and how we can hope in him today.  Power happens when prayer happens.

Verse 35 is something we can relate to:  this practice of beginning the day with prayer can be a wellspring of strength throughout the day.  I told our music staff last week that even though I was in Sonoma last weekend, I prayed for all our worship leaders and this congregation last Sunday morning at 3 a.m. when I happened to come awake.  Former football quarterback Randall Thompson (b. 1963), now a Protestant minister, wakes in the morning and rolls directly out of his bed and onto his knees, according to his wife.

J. Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) was a 19th century English missionary to China who founded 205 mission stations with more than 800 missionaries, resulting in 125,000 Chinese Christians.  He began every day with prayer and once said, “Do not have your concert first and tune your instruments afterward.  Begin the day with God.”

Don’t wait until you get slammed in the midst of frenetic activity.  Ask God beforehand to see you through.  I know that was my prayer two Saturdays ago.  Something like, “Dear God, you know how busy my day is going to be.  Please give me the strength and patience to get through it all, with your help.”  A decade or more ago at a church bookstore I picked up this dog-eared prayer card which I keep at the top of my calendar.  It is an old preacher’s greeting to a new day, though it’s just as applicable to any person alive who prays it and believes it:  “Lord, help me remember that nothing is going to happen to me today that You and I together can’t handle.”

The example of Jesus at prayer is nestled in today’s passage for a clear reason.  We can, like our Savior, throw ourselves before our God who is the source of power and the source of change.

Can Jesus calm you through a harrowing situation or a day of frenetic activity?  Can Jesus bring life to a hopeless marriage?  Can Jesus heal cancer?  Can Jesus grant you a new and more fulfilling career?  Can Jesus soften the heart of your hardest relative?  Can Jesus redeem you though you have that deep and hidden sin that you don’t want anyone to know about?

The answer to any question of “Can Jesus do _______,” is “He can if he wills.”

So pray.  Pray for the power of God and the will of God.  This is hope and this is faith.

Jesus uses his power with compassion to make hope and healing and restoration and redemption all hallmarks of his kingdom.

That is why we worship this Jesus.  That is why we read about and listen to this Jesus.  That is why we try to conform our lifestyles according to the will of this Jesus.  That is why we call this Jesus our Good Shepherd, our Daily Bread, our Hope, our Redeemer, our Savior, our Lord.

This is our Jesus.  This is our theology.  This is our hope.  This is our prayer.