If you want to dig deeper in your spiritual journey, check out Ruth Haley Barton’s book here.
Longing for More
Sacred Rhythms - Part 1
Sunday, January 3, 2021
Mark 10:46-52, Mark 6:30-32
Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man said, “Teacher, I want to see.”Mark 10:51
Many people were coming and going, so there was no time to eat. He said to the apostles, “Come by yourselves to a secluded place and rest for a while.”Mark 6:31
“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asks the blind man. Bartimaeus didn’t ask for money or food or any other basic necessity as he had every day on the streets. Instead, Bartimaeus asked for the impossible. He asked for the deepest longing of his heart, not just to get by for another day, but to see clearly for the rest of his life.
Jesus blessed this man’s faith and restored his sight. Today as we begin this new year, Jesus is asking us the same question… “What do you want me to do for you?”
Our answer to this question is often far too small. We are begging for a daily handout from God. We might pray for someone to get over being sick or for traveling mercies or for peace for someone who is grieving, and these are all good things. But all of these prayers are temporary. They are the kinds of things that just get us through from one day to the next.
Do we dare to imagine genuine lifelong transformation? Do we dare to believe that Jesus might restore our sight so that we can see ourselves and others through God’s eyes? Do we even want such transformation, or would we rather hide in the comfort of our daily routines, scraping and striving and praying for just enough to get through another day?
German theologian Meister Eckhart says, “The reason we do not see God is because of the faintness of our desire.”
What if the reason we struggle so much in life is not because our expectations are too high, but rather too low? We take small temporary delights in the things of this world, but do we truly delight in the Lord. As the Psalmist writes:
Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4
Join us over the next several weeks as we seek to restore and deepen our delight in the Lord through the ancient practices and sacred rhythms God gave us through scripture and through the saints who have gone before us. We will be learning what it means to meditate on scripture and immerse ourselves in the living word. We will practice silence and solitude that we might truly be still and know that God is God. We will experience the rhythms of sabbath, self-examination, discernment, and even physical health. There is nothing new or magical about these practices, but it is only in practicing such disciplines regularly that we will discover sacred rhythms in our lives through which we are more readily able to encounter the presence of God.
If you want to dig deeper into these practices, I recommend the book “Sacred Rhythms” by Ruth Haley Barton, on which this series is based.
For this week, let us simply seek to answer Jesus’ question, “What do you want me to do for you?” What is the deepest longing of your heart? Is your first desire for God, or have you settled for something less?
You can listen to this week’s entire message below, but first let us pray together this prayer from Thomas Merton as we enter this new year with an increased desire to please God and to delight in God’s loving presence each and every day…
Listen to this week’s sermon here:
Video of the complete worship service available at http://asburyumc-huntersville.com/live
“Transcendent” - Image shown during Holy Communion
God is higher than the heavens above AND God sits with us at the table to enjoy creation with us.