Grace-Centered Prayer: An Unhurried Life (The Practice of Slowness)

Well, good morning.

It's our last week in our series on prayer.

Now, last week in our students had an in-town retreat, and last Saturday evening they had their lip sync battle, electrifying lip sync battle over in the student chapel.

We hosted the 10th and 11th grade girls at our house.

And so they asked me, they said, Hey, do you mind making like a small appearance during our battle?

Like, will you do that for us?

I think, you know, that sounds great.

How big of a deal could it be?

Uh, yeah, I'm in.

Let's do that.

So I show up to the first practice, which was Saturday afternoon in our garage, and they say, Hey, no big deal, no big deal here, but like we're gonna, before the battle, during small group time, we're gonna sneak you into the church.

We're gonna put you in the the closet, the stage closet, and you're just gonna, you'll just be in there, you'll just be in there until um till the middle of our song during the battle, and then you'll come out.

Okay, so we're that's so I sneak into the church, all the students in small groups, I get in the closet, here's where I sat, and that's my chair there.

I sat in this closet, but door shut, completely dark, sit all by myself, nothing to do, the small dark closet for 45 minutes.

Um I did that, and then party music started.

I can hear the students coming in.

Um they're pouring in.

I know where the second song, the first song happens.

Okay, I'm listening to it.

Okay, all right, it's right on the other side of this door, like I'm like, but I'm in the dark, just completely behind this door.

Nobody knows I'm in there except for these like 10 to 12 uh high school girls, and they know I'm back that nobody else knows.

And so second song starts, we're the second song, and so second song starts, and then halfway through the song, the door opens, and here's the one-minute clip of my part.

Here we go.

So that was fun.

That was fun, thank you.

Thank you.

Uh we did win.

It was controversial, controversial, because one of my employees was a judge, so that quite sure.

Um, all right, so back to the 45 minutes of nothingness in the dark closet.

I texted some friends, which that dried up quick.

Apparently, they weren't sitting in a closet with nothing to do.

So that went away fast.

And I had taken some AirPods.

I thought, well, maybe I'll watch a Seinfeld episode or something, but then I got really concerned that somebody was gonna need something out of the closet, and the door was gonna open.

And so I sat like ready to hide behind the wall with the door opened.

Um, and then somewhere along the way, I just sort of kind of like settled in to it was kind of it was like forced slowness, it was, it was like forced stillness, and I grew grateful that that closet didn't used to exist.

Like some of you remember when we moved into this building, it was like a weird conference room hallway or something.

Um, that student chapel didn't use to exist.

Uh, the people leading our student ministry didn't used to be here.

Those students, there didn't used to be a student ministry.

And I just grew really grateful.

I was like, I'm incredibly grateful for all of this.

And then I became intensely aware, especially once the first song started, of how nervous I was.

I was very they actually gave me dance moves.

That was an insane thing to do.

I actually had to be in certain places at certain times, and I grew very nervous.

I was gonna screw this up for all these girls.

I don't dance a lot, as you saw.

I don't dance in groups.

I'm not big into group dances, I'm not doing that a lot.

So I was very, very nervous.

But in that stillness, I grew grateful for things I would have passed over, and I grew aware of things I would have passed over.

Isn't it easy just to pass over awareness and gratefulness because we never slow down?

And that's why I want to talk about slowness this morning.

We've been talking about prayer.

Slowness welcomes us into being a more prayerful people.

Richard Swinson, an MD doctor, after seeing how unhealthy our busy culture is, he wrote this in his book, Margin.

We must have some room to breathe.

We need freedom to think and permission to heal.

Our relationships are being starved to death by velocity.

No one has the time to listen, let alone love.

Our children lay wounded on the ground, run over by our high-speed good intentions.

Is God now pro-exhaustion?

Doesn't he lead people beside the still waters anymore?

Who plundered those wide open spaces of the past and how can we get them back?

There are no fallow lands for our emotions to lie down and rest in.

Here's what I've learned.

I've learned sometimes my calendar's busy, and sometimes my calendar's not busy, but actually, in either one, my heart can be incredibly busy.

Our text this morning is Luke 10, that story of Jesus and Martha.

Mary, let's reread that.

Luke 10, verses 38 through 42.

Luke 10:38–42

Now, as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house, and she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

So Mary sat and listened.

Verse 40.

But Martha was distracted with much serving.

Mary sat and listened, Martha distracted and serving.

And she, Martha, went up to Jesus and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?

Tell her then to help me.

But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things.

But one thing is necessary.

Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her.

I love that Jesus gives both Mary and Martha the same promise.

It's the promise that we live in.

So point number one: you are fully loved by God for who you are in Jesus, not what you do for Jesus.

We don't have to use our doing for Jesus to validate or secure who we are in Jesus.

We are fully validated, fully secure as sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father through Jesus' work for us.

What we do comes out of that.

Do you remember Psalm 46, 10?

Be still and know that I am God.

Point number two is this we are called to slow down and live at the pace of grace.

In Mark 135, we have Jesus.

Look what he does in Mark 135.

And rising very early in the morning while it was still dark, he departed.

And he went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

So Jesus actually models for us a way of teaching.

Slow down.

Retreat.

Pray.

My mentor Scotty Smith says this about busyness.

Life could quickly become a series of events.

I always think about it as a busy heart before a busy schedule.

If the gospel is not the greater narrative of our lives, we subtly begin to feel the need for something to make us whole, to validate us.

That pressure will create an anxious and busy heart.

Okay, pause.

Anybody?

I'm first hand up.

I'll be first hand up.

You can be second, third, hundred, two hundredth hand up.

Scotty said, nobody's hands up.

I have my hand still up.

Nobody raise their hand.

Did nobody raise their hand?

Okay, anyways.

We are made to be productive.

This is what he said.

We are made to be productive.

When God said to his first son and daughter, fill the earth with my glory.

That's an awesome, life-fulfilling calling.

One we still have, be creative, build culture, make beauty.

The trouble comes when we believe Christianity is more about doing things for Jesus than doing all things with Jesus.

God calls us to linger longer, to Sabbath more, so we can be set free from anxiety in his presence.

Be still and know that I am God is an offer He makes to us for a consistent, calm state of being.

Now that's not a destination.

That's a journey.

That's just a way of life of following Jesus.

Our hearts were built for productivity and rest, for work and Sabbath.

The book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, has become incredibly popular in the last few years.

It's written based on a quote by Dallas Willard.

Here's that quote.

Willard replied, You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.

Okay, what else?

There's nothing else.

Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day.

You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.

So I'd like to get practical for a little bit.

Last week we got practical about different ideas of prayer, different prayer practices that might fit you and your walk with Jesus.

This morning I want to talk about seven ways to practice slowness.

This is not an exhaustive list.

You might have your own list, another idea.

This is just seven ways I came up with, I jotted down this week.

Slowness practice number one, silence and solitude.

Set time aside for quiet reflection, scripture reading, and prayer.

I spent yesterday with my college roommate and friend.

He's the CFO of a pretty big company.

He has four kids.

He drives an hour to work each way.

He's a busy guy.

His kids are active.

He's a lot going on.

And he starts telling me that in this new year, he's like, hey, I've done some new scheduling stuff.

He's like, I spend my morning drive, one hour, is all donated, it's given to spiritual life.

Some worship, podcast.

He's like, I get to the parking lot early.

I do not go into the office.

As soon as you go to the office, it's over.

That is over, right?

Don't go to the office.

He sits in his car, does his little devotion, and then he goes in the office and the day begins.

Right?

We have to find and block out these pockets of time during our day.

They do exist, these pockets.

But it takes a little bit of reflection.

It takes a little bit of slowing down to learn how to slow down.

30 minutes here, 10 minutes here, five minutes here, that can actually change your life.

Block out an hour a week for a long walk.

Go on a silent retreat with Pastor Matt.

Amen, Pastor Matt.

Like he is waiting to take you.

He won't talk about it too much.

It was a silent retreat, but they happen.

The word still and be still and know that I am God still means to sink down, to let go, to become quiet and abandon all.

When I first started to slow down like this, like Mary, to sit and listen, because for a long time spiritual practice was just me doing stuff.

But to in prayer sit and listen, and to just sit there quietly, all these emotions came up.

Like all this anxiety, all this worry and concern, fear, all these stories from long ago.

Things done, mistakes made.

Stories driving my behaviors now, but I thought they were way back there.

I was becoming aware of those.

Now that could be really scary, and it is scary.

Here's the good news: your security with Jesus is already secured based on Jesus' work for you.

So none of this means that God delights in you more or less.

And what it means when all those emotions come up, or that past story, you can be curious about it.

You can say, God, wow, I had no idea I was this angry.

I had no idea I was this greedy.

I had no idea I was this.

God, I didn't even know that story was still part of me.

Would you teach me more about that?

I want to be open to that.

See, this is how slowness helps us for confession and for healing.

Slowness practice number two.

Go for a walk with your phone on silent.

Sit on your porch with your phone on silent.

When was the last time you drove to Kroger and left your phone at home?

Right?

Some of you remember used to do it all the time.

Because you didn't have a cell phone, right?

Like older people, 40 and above, we all know.

And you know what happened to us?

Nothing.

We were fine.

We were just fine.

You could actually do this.

You could leave your phone at home and go somewhere.

It's a radical idea, I know.

You could go for a walk without your phone or just put it on silent.

Slowness practice number three.

At a set time each evening, put your phone up.

Then maybe this means you do those modes and you get the mode set to like silent mode or night mode at a certain time.

Maybe you put it in a drawer and shut it or cabinet and shut it.

Raise your hand if you have a cell phone.

Go ahead, let's participate.

Raise your hand.

Alright, half of you have cell phones.

That's a bunch of junk.

We all have raise your hand if you're on your phone too much.

Raise your hand.

Yep.

Why am I on Zillow six hours a day?

I love it.

God love it so much.

I do love it.

Whoa.

I think this afternoon I'm gonna really dig into that more.

We need boundaries.

Like our children need boundaries with cell phones.

Hopefully, you're doing that.

Guess who else needs boundaries?

I need boundaries.

You need boundaries.

Practice number four.

Create margin by controlling your calendar.

Leave gaps of time between meetings and appointments.

Nobody will know you do this, but you will.

It'll change your life.

If you just leave some gaps, little moments to recover, to sit quietly in your car, in your office, I don't know, wherever, it's just little gaps of time.

Just don't smush the day all together.

It took me 20 years to learn that I am allowed, you are allowed to make an appointment with you and Jesus and put it on your calendar.

And then when somebody asks for that appointment, you can say, I'm sorry, I can't do that.

I have an appointment.

Now I would never do that to you.

I've never done it to you, but I've done it to other people, not you.

I didn't do it to you.

Slowest practice number five.

Use margin moments during the day for stillness, not just scrolling.

A couple of years ago, in a doctorate class in St.

Louis, our professor, who's a psychologist, he took us to Forest Park, St.

Louis, this beautiful park in the middle of the city.

Here it is.

Lovely, beautiful.

He took us there, the group of 10 pastors, and he said, Hey, for one hour, here's what we're gonna do.

Everybody put their phone on silent, put a timer on your phone for 50 minutes, and for the first 50 minutes, you're gonna walk all around the park.

I don't want you to think about anything, let your mind go wherever.

But I do want you to do is walk around, just notice anything that's beautiful.

That's what I want you to do.

At 50 minutes, your little timer's gonna go off.

I want you to sit down, I want you just to type out what you want to be remembered for.

And then come back after those 10 minutes, after one hour.

We came back as a group.

He said, How was the first 50 minutes?

Some people are like, Oh, that was amazing.

It was the first time in a you know three weeks.

I've slowed down.

Oh, it was amazing.

I got to reflect, oh, it was so amazing.

And other people are like, that was horrible.

Like, task, task-oriented people.

Anybody in here, task-oriented?

They're like, that was awful.

I was angry, I was mad, you're wasting my time.

Let's get some stuff done, right?

Some of you know what I'm talking about.

What was clear for all of us, those last 10 minutes, when we wanted to, what you want to be remembered for, all of us are like, man, that came really fast.

That was clear.

It happened quickly and fast and clear.

And he said, psychologically, when we slow down, we get clearer on what matters.

That's how this can serve you, a practice of slowness, prayer.

You can become clearer on what matters.

Slowness, practice number six.

Take naps.

That's my wife's advice.

I got about an hour and a half, about an hour and a half.

I'll be doing this one, lay down.

And I've gotten way into this.

It took 20 years of her convincing to take naps.

I know you can't do it every day.

You might lose your job, but I've gotten into it, and it's like, ooh, that was a really long, that's a long one, Russ.

Like that was like a night's sleep.

So you might not want to go as far as I've gone.

But just to be able to say, like, take a moment.

Take a nap, sit quietly, lay down, maybe lay down for 15 minutes.

Just like just catch back up.

Let your body calm down, let your mind calm down.

Slowness practice number seven.

Practice a Sabbath day a week.

Friday's my Sabbath.

Today might be your Sabbath.

I'm working right now.

You might not be working.

So Friday's my Sabbath.

I try to do as little work as possible.

Try not to open my computer.

Usually spend the day with my wife, my family, and outdoors.

And I don't do this because I have to.

I could work.

God's not gonna suddenly be disappointed in me.

His love for me is not gonna disappear.

I could work, it's gonna be fine.

But I get to do this.

I get to not be productive for a day.

See, I want to learn, I want us to learn what it means for us to be unhurried and non-anxious.

That's not a destination.

But that's the journey we can be on with Jesus.

Sabbath was celebrated in Eden before the fall.

God rested on the seventh day of creation, not because he needed to rest, because he got to rest.

There's a statement of something far greater.

Sabbath declares that we are made for communion, reflection, and connection.

Sabbath is a way of ordering our lives for relationship with God.

We cease our striving, and then we go live, and we go work and we go play.

Two questions, growth and grace questions.

First one, what do you think keeps you from hearing the voice of the Spirit declaring God's great delight in you?

Unbelief, shame, a noisy heart, not taking the time to listen, something else?

Second question.

Scripture calls us to guard our hearts, to nourish, protect, and care for them.

What might this look like for you in this next season of life?

Where do you need to begin?

Now let's go back to Mary and Martha.

Mary's quiet before Jesus, sitting and listening.

Martha is distracted, she's busy, she's serving.

What I love about this story is Jesus compliments Mary, teaches her, and then he guides Martha.

Jesus is completely devoted to both.

He's interacting and relating with them differently, just like he does to us in our different times of life and seasons of life.

But he's devoted to both.

Mary doesn't get more devotion because she's doing what's right and Martha's doing what's wrong.

And this is our last point, point number three.

God is deeply devoted to you in Christ without conditions or limits.

Here's our prayer.

My prayer for you, our prayer as a group.

It's something like Heavenly Father, we don't have to pray, I'm just kind of like saying this.

Heavenly Father, help us to rest and grow in your deep devotion to us, whether we're acting like Mary or acting like Martha.

And help my heart to slow down, to experience your love.

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, sometimes we act like Martha.

We are busy and distracted either with our calendars or definitely in our hearts.

Help us to slow down.

Even when our calendars are full, teach us what it means to walk with you.

Even when our calendars are full and we're productive, teach us what it means to find pockets of rest.

Teach us a way of following Jesus that's both productive and restful.

And help us trust all the more, Jesus, that you are enough.

In Christ's name we pray.

Amen.