Coney Hill Baptist Church
Demonstrating God’s Love Together
Tools of Discipleship - Solitude
Mark. 1:35-39
35Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"
38Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." 39So he travelled throughout
Mark 6:30-32 & 45-47
30The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."
32So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place…
… 45Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to
47When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land.
Intro:
Understanding a disciple as a follower of Jesus, naturally enough, means that, like with pretty much everything else in the Christian faith, he provides the template for us to follow, the example that we might live by.
When it comes to practical advice though on what exactly we might do to be an effective disciple, then we are quite short of simple, succinct instructions. A list of do’s and don’ts is always popular, in religion like in so many other things, but Jesus doesn’t make things so easy.
Being a disciple, is a very practical thing, but it doesn’t have a one size fits all rule book. It has an attitude, a way of behaviour, an ethic if you will, but the sermon on the mount, the closest we have to the handbook on that, is more about challenging those easy pithy rules and getting to the heart of what lies behind them than anything else.
It’s not surprising really because Christian faith is about a relationship, between us and God. And although all relationships have there structure and their particular occasions and events, that is all really only scaffolding to enable people to get closer, to know each other better.
If you’re anything like me, when you think about the practise of discipleship you immediately think of 3 things; prayer, bible study and church. There’s good reason for that, together they will always form the basic tool-kit of Christian living, but it would be a mistake to say that praying and reading your Bible once a day, and going to Church once a week, makes you a disciple, any more than it makes you a Christian. Rather, from these basic tools you can fashion a relationship with God that will energise your journey through life, sustain you in the most trying times and instil a sense of joy and wonder everyday.
How? Well by building up two distinct aspects of our lives – our lives alone and our life together. And those are the 2 headings that I want to take this week and next, as an introduction to thinking about the tools of discipleship.
Our Lives Alone – What Christian writers and thinkers down the centuries have called the practise of solitude. It’s a slightly scary sounding world, creating visions of monastic hermits a million miles away from our experience, but it needn’t be. It’s not even necessarily about going off somewhere and being on our own – it’s more about knowing ourselves, being comfortable with ourselves before God, not hiding.
Who are you? When no-one’s looking, when the door is shut and there’s no-one there to impress, to judge, to defer to or to take responsibility from you? When there’s nothing nor anyone but you, when your not a wife or a husband, a mother or a father, a son or daughter, a friend or an employee, you’re just you. What do you think of yourself, what do you think about?
Maybe that is scary. Maybe we’ve put on so many roles and responsibilities, are living up to so many expectations that strip them all away and we’re not so what’s left, if anything at all.
We talk about our faith as a personal relationship and it is just that, just you and God, face to face, naked before the creator of the universe, daring to believe he loves you as you are, as an only child.
Jesus never forgot who he was. He was tempted to. But his references to ‘Abba’ Father, his reminder to his disciples to pray ‘Our Father’ and, perhaps most of all, his need to take time, create space, to remind himself of this primary relationship, meant he would always be able to defeat that temptation.
Practicing Peacefulness: Creating Space in a Busy World:
Jesus didn’t live in a world with mobile phones and e-mail, or with the constant distraction of radio or television, but he still struggled with busyness, felt the pressure of people, the clamour of crowds and schedules, deadlines, expectations, responsibilities.
He did something about it, intentionally creating a private space.
Deliberately taking time to come apart from busyness and crowds
Practically, if setting aside solid periods of time seems too challenging, we can begin by redeeming the ‘gaps’ in our day. Looking out for short spaces and using them, to offer a silent prayer, or just to be aware, to think and be reminded of God’s presence. In the couple of minutes in between the snooze button on our alarm, over our morning coffee, between certain stops on our bus journey, when the traffic we are in is stationary. In the short walk back to our home, at the sight of a tree or flower. Every day is full of opportunities of discovery.
There is another, almost opposite, aspect to this seeking of solitude though. For many today, busyness isn’t the problem, being alone is.
Jesus knew too how to use the time he was on his own well.
Redeeming Loneliness: Being Alone for a Purpose
It stems from the same root. Knowing your not isolated even when no-one else is around. Trusting that, even when it’s only you, you are valuable and precious enough to matter, and that, actually, you are never alone at all, God is with you.
For Jesus being alone wasn’t special in itself. Rather it provided an opportunity, to build his relationship with his Father, to pray, to be attentive to Him, hear his voice. He regarded such times as precious.
Again it was all about being intentional, when he was alone he deliberately took advantage. When he wasn’t he tried to create quiet spaces. For us, when being alone itself isn’t special or unusual, it might be helpful to create a particular place we can go to so that we know that here, we intend to meet with God. It could be somewhere we go out to, or a place in our own home, a room or even simply a particular chair. There will, of course, be nothing especially ‘holy’ about it. But it will demonstrate our intent to practice the truth that we believe, that we are not actually alone at all.
Conc.
"Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."
Jesus invitation still stands, at this table, and wherever we are.
Office Address:
Coney Hill Road
West Wickham
Kent
BR4 9BU