Today’s Lenten reflection was recorded by Revd Dr Jonathan Rowe, an Associate Tutor for the Licensed Ministry Training programme. You can find a transcript of the video below:
Hello. I’m Jonathan Rowe, the Rector of St Matthew’s and St Paul’s churches in Winchester. This reflection continues our theme of ‘wilderness’.
I imagine a ‘wilderness’ as wild, uncultivated, untamed. ‘Wilderness’ evokes for me the image of an inhospitable place: extremely hot or cold; barren, a place of danger. I suspect not many of us think of Hampshire in any of these ways!
But our lives can be wildernesses – because of our busyness. Busy lives don’t leave time to cultivate what is important. So, they become barren and unproductive. Perhaps, even, places of danger – places which are detrimental to our souls.
Just as Jesus was sent into the wilderness to be tempted, busy lives are places of distraction, places where it’s easier to fall into sin.
This Lent, I’d like to encourage us to do just one thing to reorientate our lives. It’s slow down. Slow down – to notice what is going on around us. Slow down – to give hear God and see him at work in his world.
Here’s just one idea to help us slow down: build rest and recuperation into the rhythm of life. Sabbath rest is a chance to take stock, notice, re-prioritise.
One of my favourite stories about Sabbath is found in William Wilberforce’s diary. Early in his political career he faced the prospect, perhaps even the temptation, of becoming a government minister. Wilberforce toyed with the prospect, spending the whole week fantasising about his potential promotion. But convinced of the benefits of Sabbath observance, he spent Sunday in quiet contemplation.
He wrote, ‘Blessed be to God for the day of rest and religious occupation wherein earthly things assume their true size.’ I think it is significant that Wilberforce had developed a disciplined spiritual life that included this Sabbath space. It was a space set aside for God, of course. But it was also a space set aside to confront temptations. And the nature of temptation is that something like a discipline of sabbath rest is required if it is to be confronted.
I wonder, how might a day of rest each week change your life? It might make navigating the wilderness of our busyness just a little bit easier. It might enable us to acquire a better perspective on what is important. It might be a sign that our hope is in God rather than frenetic activity. And, above all of these, it might save us from ourselves. Amen.
