Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, July 21, 2024

2 Samuel 7:1-14a+Psalm 89:20-37+Ephesians 2:11-22+Mark 6:30-34. 53-56

As I made my way through this week,  I could not get a line from a Wordsworth poem out of my head:

            The world is too much with us; late and soon,
            Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers -

 The world is...a lot these days. I know that Wordsworth was writing in the early days of the Industrial Revolution and already saw that people were entering a rat race and becoming disconnected from the natural world, such a major theme of the Romantic poets. That isn't why these lines haunted me this week, though.

It isn't that we are earning and spending so that we can earn and spend and have no leisure to enjoy our lives (although this is true for many, many people).

No, our getting and spending is more of the information variety, consuming news and social media and online sources about politics and Israel and Russia and all manner of things and turning around and talking about them incessantly or passing them on to others as our anxiety and disquietude grow, and we lay waste our conviction that we can do anything about it.

Friends, it's exhausting.

It's also a recipe for spiritual stagnation and despair.

But fear not! There is Good News to be had.

(Jesus) said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves
and rest a while.” (Mark 6:31)

Now, before you imagine that Jesus is inviting you to engage in a little self-care, maybe some time on the beach down at Asbury or sitting in the shade up in the Catskills, I don't think this is the kind of rest he is talking about.

A couple of weeks ago, Jesus sent the disciples out two by two with instructions to go into the towns and villages and heal and cast out demons. Then we had the interlude - or sandwich filling - of Herod's execution of John the Baptist. Today, we have the disciples returning from their adventures. It might help to imagine them practically falling over each other to tell Jesus about their exploits.

"You wouldn’t have believed it, Jesus. There was this guy who had been sick for days, and I prayed and laid hands on him and he got up and did a little dance!"

"Yeah, that's cool and all, but I ordered an unclean spirit out of a little girl, and that spirit was not happy, but off it went!"

"And I did this, Jesus. And I did this, Jesus."

"Guys, guys. Settle down. Let's go away where it's quiet for a little bit. I know you're excited, and you're new at this. You're going to exhaust yourself if you are relying on your own power, your own abilities. I gave you the authority to do that - authority that comes from God. Let's go reconnect to the source of our authority, the one who gives us these gifts, so that we can continue doing this work."

Maybe on the boat ride to the other side, or in the little bit of time they had before the crowds caught up with them, maybe they had time to share their experiences and to pray and to have Jesus teach them about this power they had been given and what it will mean to sustain themselves as they go from place to place.

I like to think this is what happened, because friends, there was to be no getting away to a quiet place for rest. The crowds followed. They wanted more of what Jesus and his band of apostles were offering.

Jesus does not seem to mind. Our text tells is he has compassion for them.

When this old world is too much with us, remember Jesus's invitation to come away. Reconnect. Remember who and whose you are. And have compassion for those who interrupt or don’t understand or need something that only you can provide them. That's the Jesus Way. Maybe the invitation to us is to imagine that it is Jesus who has invited us here - because he has - who has invited us to come away for a while, if only for an hour or so, to have our spirits renewed through Word and Sacrament, right here at All Saints, week in and week out, especially when the world out there is just too much with us.

This morning as we welcome little Freddy into the household of God through baptism, it will be up to us to help him remember whose he is as he grows up. When I meet parents of those to be baptized, as I did with Freddy’s parents last week, I tell them that we will give them a candle to help them remember this day, to remind Freddy of this second birthday.

There is a birthday prayer in the Book of Common Prayer that works equally as well on a baptism day. Especially as we hear Jesus inviting us to rest in him for a while, I pray this prayer for Freddy and for all of us as the world swirls around us and tries to catch us up in its chaos.

Watch over thy child, O Lord, as his days increase; bless and
guide him wherever he may be. Strengthen him when he
stands; comfort him when discouraged or sorrowful; raise
him up if he fall; and in his heart may thy peace which
passeth understanding abide all the days of his life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.     (BCP 830)