FINDING YOUR COMFORT ZONE

A sermon by the Rev. Dr. James G. Kirk

Harundale Presbyterian Church

Glen Burnie, Maryland

July 20, 2003

Text: “Come away to a deserted place.” (Mark 6:31

First Reading: Psalm 89:20-37

Second Reading: Ephesians 2:11-22

If anyone needed scripture to tell you to go away and get some rest, this is the verse. The disciples had just returned from the countryside where they had been doing as Jesus had told them. They were teaching, casting out demons and healing the afflicted. From the sounds of things they were probably excited and exhausted at the same time. We can identify with that. It’s been a particularly hectic week. Mary’s unexpected death has taken a lot out of all of us. It was only two weeks ago that she stood in the sanctuary and told us that she was healed. The doctors could find no trace of disease in her body. Last Friday she had a recurrence of the blood virus that had attacked her before and within two days she was dead.

Plus the fact it’s the midst of summer. Yearly, we look forward to summer as a time for some down time. All the committees take a rest from meeting for a couple of months. We anticipate that things will slow down for awhile. At any rate, that used to be the case. However, it seems in the last few years that summer has been just as busy as any other season. The long anticipated down time hasn’t come. So, while we’re excited that Mary’s memorial service Friday was so well attended and all her friends turned out to support the family and thank God for Mary’s life, her death took a lot out of all of us.

In other words, Jesus’ words come at a good time. He recognizes what the disciples need and tells them to go to a deserted place all by themselves and rest a while. Then we hear the justification, “For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.” Many of us can identify with that fact as well. It seems that any more we grab a meal on the run. It’s very difficult to find time consistently to plan a meal, prepare the meal, take the time necessary to enjoy the meal and then to catch up with one another after the meal. Somehow mealtime has become something quick and easy, to get done with and out of the way, so that we can get on with what has to be done.

Last weekend we went to New York to see the kids. They belong to a swim club not far from home and they’ve had a wonderful time each afternoon taking a swim to beat the heat. We went with them on Friday and Saturday and Eric has become something of the “grill meister” for all of their friends. He loves to grill and has spent the summer reading various recipes, making sauces and then grilling chicken, ribs, steaks, Italian sausages and all those things we associate with summer. It was wonderful to watch him. He’d begin at home in the morning to gather all the ingredients he’d need for the day, marinate whatever meat he was going to cook, then about 2 o’clock we’d set out for the pool. Around 4 he’d head off to the grills and would spend the next two hours tending the coals, getting the meats and the vegetables ready and letting them cook with the necessary basting along the way. I thought to myself as I watched him that he’s doing what Mark’s telling the disciples they ought to be doing, taking the leisure even to eat.

Leisure has become one of those elusive qualities in our lives. Many of us don’t have time for it and some of us wouldn’t know what to do with it even if it were offered to us. Mark is very skillful in his description of what happens next. The disciples get in the boat and off they go to that deserted place by themselves. But, that’s not the end of it. We’re told that on shore “many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.”

In other words, the disciples are probably not going to get the leisure they sought, unless they can grab some of it on the boat ride over to the other shore. Because once they get there they’re going to be besieged once again by the crowds. It’s the same with our lives. Just when we think we’ve set aside some time just for ourselves something happens or someone has a crisis to which we need to attend.

All of which begs the question, in the midst of busy days where do you find your comfort zone? Where do you find that time you need to refresh, to re-create, to renew yourselves when it seems as though there’s always going to be someone or something demanding your time? Jesus knew the disciples needed it. We know we all need it. The question is how do we find it?

Take a clue from the story. Think for a moment that the boat is each one of us. Get in the boat. Take a look of yourselves. What do you need to relax? Each one’s boat will be different, but the first step is to know what your comfort zone is. You know we like to cruise. Before our last trip many people asked us how we could stand to be on a ship for twenty-one days. Either they couldn’t stand to be gone that long or the ship would be too confining for that many days. For us, it wasn’t long enough. We could have gone on for another week. Every person’s boat will be different. What for some is relaxing, for others will be shear boredom. You need to know yourselves well enough to know what it is that gives you comfort.

Then you’ve got to decide that you’re going to get in the boat. If the disciples hadn’t gotten in the boat nothing would have changed. As it was, once they got to the other side the crowds would be there. The crowds will always be there. There will always be demands on our time. That’s not the point. The point is in the midst of the demands, in the midst of the crowds, in the midst of whatever other people want of us, at some point we have to get in the boat.

The other day I did a service for this woman who died of cancer. For the last five years her daughter cared for her. Prior to that the daughter had cared for the father. In the midst of the demands both parents made upon her she had three children to care for. I asked her what she did in her leisure time. She just laughed at the question and said she hadn’t known what leisure was for the last ten years. I kept pressing her and next asked her what she did to re-energize herself, how did she retain her comfort level. She finally had to admit that caring for people was her comfort level. Care giving was her boat. The other side of the lake didn’t bother her. She was in her boat and her boat was caring for her father when he was so ill and then doing the same thing for her mother. In so doing she was always able to meet the demands of her children, which she was then able to put in perspective. She had no regrets at all.

That’s where Jesus wanted the disciples to be. That’s where God wants all of us to be. In the midst of all the demands that we place on ourselves and others place on us God doesn’t want us to have any regrets. So, find your boat, get in it and don’t worry about what awaits you on the other side of the lake. The crowds will always be there, but just like the disciples, when you get there you’ll be ready to minister to all of their needs.

Thanks be to God,

Amen