Pastor's corner | Published 2020/08/29

Hey Church family!

By Josh Stadnik

Hey Church family!

I hope you are keeping well, staying sane and being somewhat productive! I know this is such a weird time. But we are in this together, if you need help, if you just need someone to talk to, simply reach out. We are here for you and we are praying for you.

I wanted to share some thoughts and insights from a book I’ve been reading lately. (highly recommend, it’s called the ruthless elimination of hurry by John Mark Comer).

In one of the chapters he talks about how busy we seem to be as a society and how distracted we are as people. We seem to have non stop noise and stuff going on in our lives that we never seem to be fully present. We never take the time to slow down.

This resonates with me, I know I’m often on my phone checking social media, trying to get news updates, or i’ll have something on in the background while I do my work. I just always have something playing, always something going, I never slow down to be quiet or still and then I came across a few little thoughts that stuck out to me:

“This new normal of hurried digital distraction is robbing us of the ability to be present. Present to God. Present to others. Present to all that is good, beautiful, and true in our world”

“The noise of the modern world makes us deaf to the voice of God, drowning out the input we need most.”

“We are distracting ourselves into spiritual oblivion.”

Wow. This hit me hard.

Are we distracting ourselves? Are we allowing the business of the world and life around us stop us from truly discovering and hearing from God? 

We feel over worked, beyond tired, and incredibly stressed. Even with this time at home, it can almost feel worse, but can I ask have we taken the time to rest? To be still? To Turn off the noise and all the distractions.

You know we can learn a lot from the life of Jesus. There’s one practice in-particular that was of top priority to Him. Being quiet and still. Constantly throughout the gospels this is what we find.

Mark 1:35 “Very 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.”

Mark 6:31 he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

Mark 6:46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

Luke 5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

We see that Jesus often withdrew. It was common habit it in his repertoire.

In Lukes gospel you actually find the busier Jesus got, the more demand and fame, the more often he withdrew to pray. Yet for us isn’t the opposite often true? The busier and more frantic life gets the first thing we lose is unhurried time just to sit with God in the quiet.

If Jesus needed time to be quiet, still and alone, how much more do we need it?

So can we carve out some quiet time? Can we make it a practice to switch off the noise and distraction? Find a 20 minute spot. Get a cup of tea, read a Psalm and just be with God.

For me I’m often distracted by phone. So I’ve made it a habit to put it at the opposite end of the house and i’ll take time to read a chapter of a book. sit, reflect and take a moment to be still, and it’s been refreshing.

So I want to challenge you this week. Find some time to be still and silent. Even for 10 minutes. No distraction, no background noise, nothing. Take the time. Be refreshed.

Grace and peace to you.

-Pastor Josh

P.S - If we want to discover more on different spiritual disciples and practices to live out there’s a wonderful book called, the “spiritual displaces handbook” by Adele Calhoun. It’s phenomenal. If you want to know more, just message or call! Happy to chat.

 

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