The Gospel text for this upcoming Sunday includes a few opening verses that can be easily overlooked before another rendition of miraculous healings catch our ears. And yet, there’s something rather awe-inspiring to:
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “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 NRSV)
As if even Jesus, the Son of God, God-incarnate, etc., approves of resting every once in a while: as if even the Lord of Lords wasn’t interested in promoting a life of doing everything all the time. Maybe it’s okay to be human, in the end.
It reminds me of one of the most sought-after public speakers for mainline Protestant communities of faith in recent years in Brian McLaren. From his website, he is a “former college English teacher and pastor, he is a passionate advocate for ‘a new kind of Christianity’ - just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good.” And as his authoring and preaching gained him significant notoriety and a constant barrage of public speaking requests, he recognized he needed to cave into more resting, too.
In recent months, he was in a sanctuary filled with clergy, but the words apply to everyone. Sometimes it’s helpful to hear or read some (what should be common sensical) wisdom, but can be easily overlooked before another rendition of our daily striving to do everything all the time; and when we cannot, we often descend into an abyss of disappointment and regret.
So, just so we all remember (in italics from Brian McLaren):
You have permission to not be good at everything.
(It’s okay that we’re not anyway, and it’s okay to recognize that someone else can be good at that something else, too. We do have our talent/gift limits, after all.)
You have permission to declare an emergency.
(We all have our breaking points: it happens. And it’s okay to reach out for help, even when it seems like that isn’t the strong/virile thing to do. It’s okay to recognize our humanity before further personal chaos ensues spilling over to others we care about.)
You have permission to fall back on love when faith and hope may falter.
(We may have struggles with our faith, when so much about life may go wrong. We may even lose hope about this world that God, for some reason, still loves, and even lose hope for ourselves personally, wondering just how much good we can actually do. And if that ever happens, we are encouraged to fall back on whatever healthy way makes us fall in love with family, friends, the Creation, not to mention falling back on the Gospel promise that we are loved absolutely unconditionally.)
You have permission to take the long view.
(We are more than capable of making an impact on this world, including our home communities, the church, and beyond. But when our impact concludes, someone else will come along and further build upon it. We are not expected to conclude the eternal work of God’s love. We provide our chapter, a most needed chapter to be sure, but more children of God will come along and add in their precious holy contribution, too.)
And yes, along the way, it’s okay to rest. It’s nourishing and empowering to do so. It’s okay to recognize our humanity, a humanity that God came to join in Jesus Christ, and is still hard at work in shaping for the better. Maybe it is still okay to be human, in the end, because there’s just as much God in our mortal midst as there is God in the heavens. Thanks be to God, indeed!
In Christ,
Pastor Brad
For more information about Brian McLaren, please visit: https://brianmclaren.net/