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Cultivating Your Sacred Rhythm
Sacred Rhythms - Part 7
Sunday, February 14, 2021
John 15:1-11, Isaiah 58:13-14, Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, Psalm 92:1-5
I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5
Earlier in the fall, my family and I took a few days to get away at the beach. We love going in the fall because the room rates are affordable enough for us to get a balcony overlooking the ocean, which in my opinion is one of the only thing that makes a beach trip worthwhile. I’m not much for the sand, but I love the ocean view, especially at sunrise (or sunset if you are on the west coast). It wasn’t really a vacation as much as it was a small break to get out of the house. Our daughter continued to do school remotely and my wife and I worked, and we took the evenings and the weekend off to relax.
Working from the balcony throughout the day, you begin to notice certain rhythms on the beach below.
First thing in the morning, before dawn, you begin to notice a few people with flashlights presumably looking for shells, sharks teeth, or other ocean treasures before they are trampled and buried by the crowds. As the sky begins to brighten, a few more people begin to populate the shoreline and the pier to catch fish. An then come the sun watchers. I confess that by the second day I had decided to join this particular group. I’m not much of a morning person, but I thoroughly enjoy nature photography and I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to get a great series of sunrise photos over and through the nearby pier. The cover photo for this series is one of nearly 100 from that collection. Once the sun is up, a few small children begin to find their way out to chase the baby seagulls around the sand, along with their parents and an occasional dog walker or jogger. By mid-morning everything has changed. The smooth sand has been covered over with beach umbrellas and blankets as far as the eye can see. Sandcastles begin to emerge with varying degrees of expertise and the body boarders make their way out into the waves. In the afternoon people continue to play or simply lay out to work on their tan and as evening draws near, the umbrellas slowly begin to disappear. A few people remain on their blankets or beach chairs trying to catch every last ray of sun and then there are the quieter families like mine who take advantage of this less crowded hour to read while our six year old practices cartwheels along the edge of the water. As the sun sets and the last family has left for their evening meal, only a few late night beach walkers with flashlights remain. Everything is quiet except for the crashing waves that can no longer be seen from the balcony because it is too dark. And into this stillness morning breaks anew and the cycle starts all over again.
So what does such an ordinary day at the beach have to do with sacred rhythms?
The answer is in the question. It is one of the most obvious places to experience true rhythm in life. Time flows differently at the beach, or in the mountains or at other vacation spots. The days are slower and more relaxed. The schedule is determined more by the position of the sun than by the buzzing of an alarm. There is something more natural, more freeing, and more restful about it, even if you are still working.
It reminds me of a silent retreat I went on a few years ago where our day revolved around the hours of prayer much like they would in a monastery. We spent the days in silent reflection and prayer, journaling, hiking in the woods, walking the labyrinth, sitting by the fire, along with any number of other spiritual practices, but every few hours the chime would ring and we would gather in the chapel to practice silence and centering prayer together and pray through the liturgy of the hours, morning, midday, evening, and at the close of the day. There was something refreshing about knowing these chimes would ring without our having to focus on when we had to be at a certain place at a certain time. Like the sun at the beach, the chime ordered our days and kept us from straying too far into our own agendas. If we had drawn close to God in the silence during that segment of the day, our corporate prayer time became an extension of it. If we had gotten too distracted and lost in our own thoughts and worries, the chime would call us back, remind us of God’s presence and God’s mercy, and invite us to start again for the next set of hours.
Keeping such rhythms in our ordinarily hectic schedules seems absurd, and may likely be impossible. Nevertheless, such experiences remind us that we were created for rhythm. We were created for regular practices, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually, where we steal away from the pressures of our routine and re-center in the stillness of God’s presence. Over the past several weeks we have examine a few key spiritual practices which God has given us to help maintain such rhythms of grace. If you are just joining us, you can listen to all of these messages here. The message below from this Sunday draws all of these practices together and invites us to cultivate our own sacred rhythms. They may not be as structured or as frequent as a chime for prayer four times per day, but we all need some regular practices throughout our days and weeks to keep us grounded and to remind us that we are not in control. Ancient monastic communities refer to such rhythms as a “rule of life.”
It is not a rule to make us feel guilty when we fall short. It is more like a guide to keep us on the right path. Some have described it as the trellis on which the branches can grow properly along the vine so that they can receive the best care, the best sunlight, the best water, and everything else they need to produce good fruit. Everyone’s trellis or rule is different, but I invite you as we enter this Lent season together to carve out some time and reflect on your own sacred rhythms.
The truth is you already have a rule of life. You may just not be aware of it. You have certain routines you practice when you wake up or after work or when you go to bed. Some may be healthy, like a time for exercise or bible reading, and others may suck the life out of you like waking up to the negativity of a social media feed before you even get out of bed. Some parts of our routine or rhythm should be cut out or at least cut back and others should be given room to flourish. Maybe our reflections on spiritual practices these past few months have given you some new ideas to add to your trellis and help you grow stronger in Christ. Whatever it looks like, start small and give yourself grace. The point is not perfection or becoming a spiritual giant. It is simply about our intentionality and our desire to abide in Christ and stay connected to the vine through regular rhythms and practices given to us by Jesus and by the saints who have gone before us.
What will your rule of life look like? What sacred rhythms is God inviting you to?
Below the sermon you will find several resources to dig deeper into your rule of life and even a simple template to help you get started as you discern the practices that will be most valuable to your own spiritual growth in this season of your life. May God richly bless you on the journey, and may the Holy Spirit cultivate in your life the sacred rhythms which will sustain you and create space for real spiritual transformation as you become more like Christ.
Listen to this week’s sermon here:
Resources for cultivating your Sacred Rhythms
A powerful message on “Unhurrying with a Rule of Life” from Pastor John Mark Comer (Bridgetown Church, Portland OR)
Spiritual Practices - https://practicingtheway.org/
Developing a Rule of Life - https://practicingtheway.org/practices/unhurry
Video of the complete worship service available at http://asburyumc-huntersville.com/live