Overwhelmed: 1) Crazy Busy Psalm 46, Luke 10:38-42 August 6, 2017 Thursday s Lodi News Sentinel had an advice column by Annie Lane. The headline read Feeling overwhelmed by too many responsibilities. Here is part of the letter: Dear Annie: I am overwhelmed by life right now, and I m hoping you can help. My wife and I have demanding jobs and two small children. Because almost all of our time is spent working or paying attention to our kids, all of life s other responsibilities have started adding up. For example, though we have plenty of money, sometimes we get behind on bills because we file them away for when we have a minute to take care of them, and then forget about paying them. Things that need to get fixed go unfixed for long periods of time. We would like to cook healthful meals for the family but it s very hard to find the time to do so. I fantasize about being able to afford a personal assistant, but that s not an option. Can you help? -- Trying to Stay Afloat i Perhaps you can relate to this man. If asked, How are you? he is likely to respond, Busy. Crazy busy. You may remember when the default answer to that question, How are you? was Fine. I m fine. Now the standard reply is, busy or crazy busy. Today we begin a sermon series on some of the things that overwhelm us like overbooked schedules, long to-do lists, the multitude of voices clamoring for our attention, the drive to succeed, the increasing violence and conflict in our world. As people of faith, how does our faith guide us when we are overwhelmed? We begin with the dis-ease of busy-ness. Health professionals have recognized that many patients are suffering from a harrying sense of time urgency. The term hurry sickness has been coined to describe the continuous struggle to accomplish or achieve more and more things or to participate in more and more events in less and less time. People with hurry sickness think fast, talk fast, and act fast. They multitask and rush against the clock, feeling pressured to get things done and flustered by any sign of a problem. ii In our culture being busy is typically seen as a virtue and we even wear it as a badge of honor. To be busy means that you are needed, you have
responsibility, you are the kind of person who gets things done. Who would respond to, How are you? with, I m lazy. It looks good to be busy. This perception may have fueled Martha s actions in our reading from Luke. A bumper sticker says, Jesus is coming; look busy! Jesus was indeed coming to Martha s house. The cultural expectation was to greet any guest with hospitality, but imagine the added pressure when you learn that the guest is the Son of God. On short notice, she had to prepare a meal for 14 guests, and that was centuries before the invention of refrigeration which made food readily available at home. There was a feast to prepare and a house to clean, tasks which made Martha busy, crazy busy! It is understandable that Martha would expect her sister, Mary, to lend a hand, at least offering the guests a drink or setting the table. When Martha peeks out from the kitchen, she finds Mary sitting at the Teacher s feet, a spot of learning reserved for male students. Can you feel her resentment and anger seething to the boiling point? Not only is Mary acting like a man, but she is not contributing to all the work yet to be done. Martha boldly approaches Jesus, seeking sympathy and reinforcement of her demand for help from her sister. Jesus does not discount Martha s ministry of hospitality, but he calls attention to the fact that she is worried and distracted. She has been drawn away from her primary focus, which is Jesus, her guest and Lord. When Jesus notes that Mary has chosen the better part, he means her singular focus on Jesus. Her one object of devotion should be Jesus. If her hospitality was directed toward Jesus, she might not be so upset with her sister. In our busyness, we can become distracted from our focus, whether it be loving Jesus, nurturing our children, serving the customer, instilling knowledge in students. In seeking information, we may be so focused on facts that we fail to experience the human being right before us. At the end of a long day, we hurriedly throw together a meal to feed a hungry family, while losing sight of the opportunity a meal offers for building relationship. I frequently succumb to this temptation, doing the expedient thing while ignoring the gift of God right before me. The seemingly urgent task overpowers the sacredness of the calling or person or moment. President Dwight Eisenhower once said, I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent. He organized his workload and priorities according to this Eisenhower Principle. He wanted to spend his time on things that were important and not just those that were urgent. iii
What s the difference between important and urgent? Important activities have an outcome that leads to achieving our goals, whether personal or professional. Urgent activities demand immediate attention and are usually associated with achieving someone else s goals. These often demand our attention because the consequences of not dealing with them are immediate. It is easy to be swept up by the perpetual urgency of other agendas. But when we focus on what is truly important, we experience some freedom from the frantic busyness that drives us crazy. When we focus on the larger purpose served by a specific task, we are energized and motivated for action. For example, when Mark and I are traveling, a rest stop takes 4-5 minutes at the most. When traveling for Sierra Service Project with 11 people, rest stops take 20-25-30 minutes, even when there are plenty of restrooms! While waiting, I kept in mind the larger, important purpose of giving the youth an awesome experience of Christian discipleship that would enrich their faith and make a difference in many lives. Staying focused on that which is truly important helps deter those urgent demands that distract and derail us. Martha was caught up in the urgent need to feed her guests, but Jesus invited her to focus on the important task of listening to him, of being still to savor God s very presence in her midst. An archaeologist hired some native tribesmen to lead him to a dig site deep in the mountains. After they had been moving for a while, the tribesmen stopped and insisted that they could go no further. After sitting for a while, the archaeologist got angry and impatient. C mon, we have things to do! But the tribesmen didn t move. Finally, without warning they all picked up their gear and continued walking. The archaeologist caught up to the tribe leader and asked why they had stopped for so long. He said, We had been moving so fast that we had to wait for our souls to catch up. Have we outrun our souls? In our drive for success, have we lost sight of our purpose, our why? In our hurry, have we left God in the dust? In our busyness, have we lost sight of our vocation as disciples of Jesus Christ? The Psalmist offers wisdom like that of Jesus. In the face of trouble, when the earth shakes, when the storms rage, God is in your midst and will help. Be still and know that I am God. Stop and let your souls catch up to God s presence right here, right now. Be still, let go of the temptation to be consumed by the urgent. Be still, tend to that which is truly important. Be still, and know that God is. Be still, and trust that God is with us.
Many people would argue that they don t have time to be still; there s too much to do. A moment of stillness can reframe our perspective. Breathing deep for 30 seconds can calm our frenzy and re-center us on what is important. Set an alarm to ring 2 or 3 times a day calling you to pause and breathe. There are smart phone apps that do this! Another way to take a pause during the day is with an affirmation of faith. It is a brief statement that we repeat throughout the day to keep us centered. It may address a specific situation or a current struggle, whether it be caregiving or a heavy workload or uncertainty. Some examples are: The phrase we used with the backpack blessing, Jesus is with me. God s calm and peace is with me every moment. The light of God shines upon me and through me. My worth comes from who I am, not what I do. Repetition of positive affirmations changes our thinking and overpowers the negative self-talk that adds to our frenzy. In addition to breathing and affirmations, I like to start my day with what one pastor calls Morning BREW: Be still. Receive God s love. Embrace personhood and community. Welcome the day. iv I pray my breath prayer for about 15 minutes, soaking in God s loving presence. I read scripture and devotional material. I pray for my family, the church, the world. I ask God to use me throughout the day in whatever way God needs. This morning BREW starts my day with a calmer pace and reminds me of my purpose and what is important. These are just a few practices to allow our souls to catch up with us throughout the day, to ground us in what is important. They call us to be still and sit at Jesus feet. They bring a refreshing calm into the frantic busyness that drives us crazy. I encourage you to claim one of these or something else or reclaim a practice that is meaningful to you. The important thing is to be still and claim God s presence. When busyness overwhelms you, pause to remember: Jesus is with me. Let us be still in presence of God for prayer. Breathe deep. Breathe in calm presence of God. Exhale things that worry you. Breathe in peace of Christ. Exhale concerns that nag you.
Share with God what burdens you. Imagine placing those burdens at the feet of Jesus. Leave them there for him. Empty of those concerns, allow the Holy Spirit to fill you with hope, love, and renewed energy. Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on us. May your presence penetrate to the depths of our being, nurturing and loving us into wholeness. Anchor us in your sustaining presence, that we might weather whatever storms we encounter. We pray for our children and youth that they might know your peace amidst the challenges of their lives. Grant your grace to teachers and school administrators as they help youth navigate the opportunities to learn. May your healing presence abide with those living with personal concerns. Encourage those seeking employment, housing, and financial stability. Uplift those living under a cloud of depression. Walk with persons seeking change in their lives. Abide with all who grieve. Enter into the chaos confronted by firefighters battling many blazes across our land. Calm the wind & flames that fires may cease. Refresh all overcome by the heat of summer. We plant ourselves anew, O God, on the firm foundation of your guidance. Steady us through the storms and remind us that you indeed are Almighty God. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. i Annie Lane, Dear Annie, August 3, 2017. ii www.mindtools.com/pages/article/how-to-beat-hurry-sickness.htm iii www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newhte_91.htm iv Kirk Byron Jones, Addicted to Hurry: Spiritual Strategies for Slowing Down (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 2003), p. 32. Rev. Lori B. Sawdon First United Methodist Church, Lodi, CA