Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
Our age is subject to a growing cult of anxiety and forced busy-ness. Even in the lockdown we congratulate ourselves on always having too much to do; if we are at work we feel the need to appear busier than anyone else lest we or our job look redundant; some are required to work inhuman hours to be considered worthy of promotion. Those retired from work triumphantly proclaim that they are now busier than before. We play at it in the newly managerial Church: you'll have seen the ironic slogan: 'Christ is coming: look busy'.
If we're honest about our busy-ness, some of it is not virtuous. It can be denial, avoidance or keeping up with others. Worse, it may signal inner emptiness, being uncomfortable with our own company, or God's: a displacement activity.
In John's telling of Pentecost (Sunday's Gospel) the primary gift from Jesus is not so much the tongues of fire or the reversal of Babel reported in Acts, but 'peace'. Fr Michael Bowie, All Saints Margaret Street, London All Saints Newsletter - Pentecost 2020
A few thoughts.
The cares and occupations
Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. A Collect for Guidance, Book of Common Prayer
The prayer rightly assumes that we lose track of what’s most important. We get caught up in all the “cares and occupations of our life.” We just do, and we will.
In organization development there is an assumption that all organizations have a “demand system.” That demand system is the web of expectations and pressures calling for energy, time and money. The demands may be external or internal. All parishes have the regular flow of work they must attend to. There’s the occasional crisis, problems to solve and deadlines to meet. We also get caught up in work that just isn’t very important to what we exist to do and be. Some meetings, phone calls and e-mail are like that. Most of us also have routines that are in fact either busy-work or time wasters.
All those things, the important and the unimportant, consume most parishes and most of our individual lives.
The activities that transform parish and personal life can take a back seat to the routine business that must be done and to the unimportant interruptions and trivia of life. What renews life and develops the parish waits for when there’s time. This means relationships don’t get built, people don’t receive training and coaching in spiritual practices, strategic issues aren’t addressed, and so opportunities are missed and crises not foreseen and prevented. We can turn all that around by adding elements to the demand system. We need to add activities and resources into parish life that keep the important, transformative matters in front of us. As Stephen Covey said, “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”
Recently I suggested to a group of novices that they reflect on the busyness of their lives using a grid based on the work of Stephen Covey. Here's a worksheet.
Being at home
In a recent posting I quoted Father Benson, SSJE on being a religious.
We must be as religious cherishing a habit of at once jumping into our place and finding ourselves at home in it, just as much at home there is anywhere else. ... The religious life is not to be a dreamy dissatisfaction with the present state of things, it is not to be a mere not knowing what to do next, because things about us are as they are, but it is the consciousness of being able to make ourselves at home under all circumstances and able to turn everything that happens to account. This is what the religious should be — ready; ready but not fussy. Fr. Benson, SSJE
The same thought was expressed by Father Michael of All Saints--"It is possible to do a lot of work and be comfortable and at home with that, serene about it." Here's more from his newsletter article.
Competitive humble-bragging about how busy we are is often accompanied by an expressed wish for 'peace and quiet', rest. That is within our reach, thanks to the gift of the Spirit. But it requires application, and understanding, of the gift.
Rest, 'peace and quiet' is popularly idealised as sitting in the lotus position in a darkened room, or wishfully conceived of as lying on a beach in the sun. Christ's gift of peace is more robust and engaging than that. 'Peace', rest, like most good things in life, is an attitude of mind, a habit formed by the accumulation of good choices; it is being truly 'at home' as who we are, where we are; the opposite of alienation.
It is possible to do a lot of work and be comfortable and at home with that, serene about it. Peace is a perspective on the world and a way of life, connected to 'the sabbath rest of the people of God' (Heb. 4.9).
They know and you know that they are offering their lives
The novices of the Order of the Ascension are joining in an effort to place before people the possibility of becoming an associate of a religious order. One aspect of that is making use of this Sunday's sermon. We discussed lifting up the work of Constance and her Companions. My first thought was to connect it with the First Corinthians reading--varieties of gifts, services, activities--"but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." But another approach would be to ask what was the peace they knew as they ministered to those with Yellow Fever, as they suffered and died? What was the peace known by Constance and the Mother Superior as they brought additional sisters into the danger? I have found myself pondering this, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
rag+
Postings on the inner life and the virus
You know, and they know, that they are offering their lives
Intercessions and the virus Solitude.
The mystery of the cross Solitude in Surrey
We'll meet again God's not indifferent to our pain
Endures all things Becoming an Associate of a Religious Order
Spiritual vitality and authenticity The path of servanthood
Down into the mess Missing the Eucharist
In you we live Faith to perceive
Faith to perceive: In your great compassion
Turn everything that happens to account
We no longer know what to do The cares and occupations
Postings on Parish Development during the Virus
Power from the center pervades the whole To everything there is a season
Faith to perceive: Remaining inseparable Communities of love, prayer and service