July 31, 2024

In 2024, we will strive to become more like Jesus by rediscovering the ancient practices of prayer, study, sabbath, celebration, and many more. Our knowledge of scripture, coupled with studying how Jesus lived his life while on earth, will help us become people that overflow with the goodness of God. Wednesday email devotionals will highlight the practices that have been discussed on the previous Sunday.

Once, when he was in one of the cities, there was a man covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground and begged him, ‘Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.’ Then Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, ‘I do choose. Be made clean.’ Immediately the leprosy left him. And he ordered him to tell no one. ‘Go’, he said, ‘and show yourself to the priest, and, as Moses commanded, make an offering for your cleansing, for a testimony to them.’ But now more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds would gather to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray.

 

Luke 5:12-16

Devotional

As you read the scripture for today, notice that Jesus moves from an encounter with one man who needs healing, to being in a crowd teaching and healing, and then notice what he does in the last verse.

 

We are thinking together about simplicity and fasting, two choices we can make that pare down life to the essentials. It’s kind of like those shows where the decorator comes in and declutters and cleans a house up so that it makes sense again. If we move into simplicity, we can breathe and rest and take our time. No one, nothing, is hustling us to do more, say more, be more. Simplicity is a choice to move into a closer walk with the One who made us for closeness and peace in Him.

 

Did Jesus live with simplicity? We see some rhythms moving in his life, in the Scripture above: he moves from crowds whom he teaches and heals, to individuals that he stopped to speak with one on one, and then he draws apart “to a deserted place,” or wilderness, to pray.  The rhythm he was responding to was to give of himself to crowds, to individuals and to take time also to be alone to think and pray. Was Jesus trying to move toward simplicity, helping to balance his time and energy by sometimes withdrawing? When he was with people or his disciples, Jesus was all in! But at times he went off alone, or laid down and rested and slept. Jesus knew what simplicity could do for his relationship with his Father. 

 

How do we practice simplicity in our days? We have calendars and appointments, and very few days when there is nothing on our schedules. How do we help ourselves to keep it simple, breathe deeply, relax and connect with our Father? How do we slow down?

 

This week, I’ve had several appointments with people who came to sit and talk with me. I want our time together to be unhurried, peaceful, and restorative for them. If I am bothered and too conscious of other demands, I can’t simply be with them, listening and caring for them. I want our time together to be like a breath of fresh air. At times, I write or make phone calls, and I try to be available to talk to friends and colleagues, too. I have a rhythm of time alone writing, time to talk with people and have meetings, and time to be on my own with the Lord.

 

Today, I planned to see someone who had a fall. I made a trip to a hospital to see him, as he had been taken there by ambulance earlier in the day. When I arrived, the ER staff told me that he had been discharged. I called his cell phone to say how glad I was he had been sent home, and he let me know he was still there, stranded at the hospital, trying to think how to get back to his car. I turned around and went back and picked him up and we had a good visit together as we went back to his car. I could have just driven on home. But I was prompted to take a breath, slow down and simply be with him. That simple time together was a blessing to both of us.

 

The world would like us to speed up, spend more, do more, say more, and run harder and faster (maybe until we burn out). But Jesus models for us a simple, slower rhythm of life: times of togetherness and time apart with the Father. If Jesus needs that, I’m thinking we do, too.

For Reflection

What would it take for you to live with simplicity?

 

What do you need to declutter and pare down?

 

Would it seem like you were wasting time to stop and breathe and move at a slower pace?

Prayer

Dear Lord, help me to keep it simple. Help me to slow down and take my time with others, listening to them and to You. Help me to pay attention to the people you send my way. Help me to enjoy my life, and the world you created. Help me to live as you did, finding times to turn aside and rest in You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Rev. Vicki Franch
Pastor for Pastoral Care