Donna Partow

Have you ever been so busy you forgot to eat?  Sometimes I even forget to drink, which can have serious consequences since I live in the desert.  Dehydration sets in.  I feel exhausted, drained and dizzy.   I can’t think straight!  Sometimes, we can get spiritually dehydrated, especially when we’re so busy coming and going that we forget to just stop the madness.  Everyone talks about the hectic pace of life in the 21st Century and that’s certainly true.  But it’s pretty obvious that the disciples kept up a fairly hectic pace themselves. 

In Mark 6, Jesus sent the twelve disciples out on a ministry trip. “They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them” (Mark 6:12-13).  They returned, no doubt excited but also drained from the spiritual battles they had just waged.  Shortly after their return, John the Baptist was beheaded.  That must have been quite an emotional blow to this group of men who believed standing with Jesus meant a bright future, not beheading.  Now, they were sobered.

Knowing this, Jesus invited them to come away and rest.  Even God knows we all need a well-deserved break from time to time.  But on their way to peace and quiet, the disciples encountered a massive crowd.  When they suggested sending everyone away (hey, don’t be too tough on them, it was Jesus’ idea for them to get away from it all), Jesus instead instructed them to feed 5,000 men (plus their families!).  Does that sound like your idea of a nap?

The book of Mark doesn’t reveal exactly when the disciples finally got a break, but we can be certain that when Jesus expressed his concern and acknowledged their need to “come away and rest,” he arranged time for that to happen.  I’m sure it wasn’t easy.  It’s never easy to get away and rest.  It wasn’t then.  It isn’t now.  But it’s vitally important for our long-term effectiveness that we find ways to balance solitude and service.

In recent years, I’ve become increasingly aware of my desperate need to balance Christ’s seemingly contradictory commands:
 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”  (Matt. 11:28)
 “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” (Mark 16:15)

Sometimes I’ve wanted to say, “Jesus, make up your mind!  Which one is?  Come or go?!?!”  I’ve had seasons in my life where I’ve done too much ‘going’ – trying to save the world and driving myself half-crazy in the process.  I would become so consumed with outreach I neglected my health, my family and even my spirit.  Then I’ve swung to the other extreme, resting to the point of spiritual selfishness, where Christianity became all about me and my private journey with God. 

Many devoted follows of Christ struggle to find that balance as well.  The command of God has always been to both come and go.  There have always been those who willingly come, who sit at his feet and learn, and learn, and learn.  But they never get up out of the pew to go.  Then there are others who gladly go, but who sometimes do more harm then good because they do not first seek God, are not securely grounded in him, and don’t return to him before they are entirely depleted.  God calls us to experience a divine rhythm:

 Come to God to get our needs met, go to meet the needs of others
 Come to learn, go to teach
 Come to be filled, go to pour forth
 Come to be ministered to, go to minister
There’s a need for both inward spiritual reality and practical outreach.  Again, some churches emphasize outreach and feature countless social programs; unfortunately, they fail to emphasize the importance of what might be termed the deeper spiritual life.  Prayer, fasting, meditation are all written-off as unproductive.  Other churches offer intense spiritual programs, but the members rarely leave the building. There’s even a divide within many churches—the outreach department fighting for bulletin space with the spiritual enrichment department, each sincerely convinced that the other has the wrong set of priorities.

We need both.  We need balance and we need each other to help us stay balanced.   But practically speaking, how is that accomplished?  Deitrich Bonhoffer, before he was executed by the Nazis, said the church would experience revival through the emergence of what he called a new monasticism. By that, he meant the blending of a quiet, contemplative devotional life with an outreach-minded, service-oriented faith that’s an active, contagious demonstration of God’s power. 

If the idea of becoming a monk doesn’t immediately appeal to you, it’s probably because you’re unfamiliar with the new monasticism. Its focus is not so much on celibacy—although that movement is gaining momentum, particularly among young people in Europe—but upon community.  The basic premise is that the power of God—the power to transform us inwardly and the power to transform society as we reach outwardly—requires a radical commitment. It’s believed that commitment is most effectively carried out within the context of a close-knit Christian community that balances the need for inward spiritual reality with the vital importance of ministry.

While traveling in Turkey  in 2005, I met a remarkable Anglican priest, John Skinner, who is taking the call to a new monasticism seriously.  He and his wife,  Linda, are best-known as co-founders of an innovative monastic community in Northumbria, England.  The Northumbria Community takes its inspiration from the island of Lindisfarne, often called Holy Island.  At times, Lindisfarne is entirely surrounded by water, but at other times it is actually a peninsula.  More than a thousand years ago, Celtic monks began inhabiting this beautiful island-peninsula.  During the island-times of isolation, they focused on seeking God wholeheartedly through study and meditation, while deepening their relationships with one another.  But then, when the land bridge formed, the monks crossed over to the world beyond, sharing the gospel, ministering to the practical needs of the people and demonstrating the miraculous power of God through healing and head-to-head battles with Druid priests and pagan gods.

Celtic monks weren’t self-centered isolationists.  They weren’t communing with God for the sake of communing with God, but were instead finding rest for their souls in preparation for taking the gospel into all the world.  They were very missions-minded and outreach-oriented.  As a result of discovering a beautiful balance of resting and serving, coming-and-going, inward spiritual reality and practical outreach, Celtic monks were among the most effective evangelists in church history. They not only treasured and preserved scripture and early church history, they took the gospel all over Europe.  On foot and in tiny, makeshift boats, they ultimately traveled as far west as Russia and as far East as Greenland, Iceland, and there’s even compelling evidence that they made it to North America.  They fulfilled Christ’s command to make disciples, with signs and wonders following.

Celtic monks were powerfully effective in fulfilling the Great Commission precisely because they discovered what they called the ebb and flow–the divine rhythm.  It’s a rhythm of rest and service. It’s a rhythm of coming and going. It’s a rhythm that knows sometimes we must be entirely surrounded by the Living Water.  We must allow the spirit of God to wash over us, healing and restoring our lives as we quietly rest in his presence.  It’s the only cure for spiritual dehydration!  But then there are times when we must go forth, taking the Living Water to a parched world. 

It’s a rhythm that’s sadly lacking among Christians today.  And I truly believe that’s why we are not experiencing power-packed faith in our lives to the degree that God desires. We need to re-discover the ebb and flow; we need to discover the divine rhythm of life.

If you sense a need for divine rhythm in your life, you might want to pray this prayer:

Dear heavenly Father , I need your wisdom and grace to live in accordance with divine rhythm.  I want to walk in obedience, and in a balanced way, carrying out your commands to come and to go.  Holy Spirit, help me to heed your voice.  I trust you to tell me when its time to sit and learn; when it’s time to be completely surrounded by the Living Water.  But also, to discern when it’s time to go forth in ministry. Teach me the divine rhythm of life.   Amen.

I’d love to hear how you are balancing Christ’s calls to come and go.  If you enjoyed today’s post, you might want to obtain a copy of my book from which it is excerpted:  Becoming a Vessel of God’s Power.

Blessings

Donna