Rhythms for Life (part 1)

UPward to God

Have you ever heard music that you just can’t find the groove of? You can’t do that thing that usually comes so naturally… tap your toe, nod your head, keep time on the steering wheel, conduct?

Well, sometimes I have struggled to find my rhythm… in fact, during the beginning of 2020, one of the words that was constantly coming up for me, in conversation, in my counselling appointments, and in session with my spiritual director was the word RHYTHM. Now, this is understandable.

I was living in a new city, doing a new job, learning a new church community, etc. etc. and I felt like I was spinning around, hearing bit of music here, bits over here, but I was still trying to find a groove.

And then, of course, COVID hit. And whatever patterns had started to emerge quickly unravelled…got swallowed up by daily case counts, tracking protocols, writing safety plans, learning Zoom, etc.

But somewhere along the way, I received an invitation to be part of a book launch… and I jumped at the chance, because an Anglican priest from Vancouver had written a book called RHYTHMS FOR LIFE: Spiritual Practices for Who God Made You to Be. I started reading my advance copy - and it was really good. Really helpful.

The Rhythms for Life book, that a group of us studied over this past fall and winter, is a fantastic resource written by Alastair Sterne who is an Anglican priest in Vancouver. And I really do recommend it to you as a personal study, or even something to work through with a friend or in a small group.

The first half of the book guides the reading through aspects of identity, and then the second half is about developing those rhythms or those practices that will help you flourish, but while taking into account WHO you are and how you’re wired. So, this isn’t a one size fits all sort of thing. But as we look at the practices, we divide them into four directions. And ultimately, it is the four direction in which we long to grow, or in SWCC language, the four directions in which we long for deeper connection.

Our mission statement is that we are a community who seeks to live and love like Jesus. And we do that by seeking to deepen our connection to God (up), to one another (in & with) and with a cause (out). Up to God, in to self, with in community, and out in mission.

Rhythms for Life

Rhythm - an event repeating regularly over time (claps, heart beats, sunrise/sunset, etc)

Rhythms for Life - what are the regularly repeated events of our lives that help us to flourish as human beings?

When I think of trying to find a sustainable rhythm for my life, I often think about what I do. What events repeat regularly over time in my own life. Both those I have some control over as well as those rhythms that are beyond my control. Seasonal rhythms, weekly and daily rhythms.

But here’s the really dangerous thing. This series of four messages thinking about the way we engage in rhythms that bring about spiritual and human flourishing…well, this could end up being a series of sermons that simply lengthen your to do list. Or give you a spiritual report card that is almost certainly showing room for improvement. But that’s not what this series is about. This series is about invitation to notice the rhythms that are built into life. To recognize the different directions of our spiritual attentiveness. And to learn how to hear the rhythm of God … and how to just tap our toe to the beats we begin to hear.

Let me show you what I mean. There is an artist who I have been following just a little over the last couple of years. His name is Jacob Collier and he is an incredible musician. He hears and sees things in music that blow me away. And I think this video in which he breaks down the different parts of one of the tracks on one of his albums will give you a sense of what I’m talking about.

So, before we watch this, let me be clear. This series is NOT about us learning how to do all the things that Jacob is doing in the video. This series is an opportunity for us to realize how beautiful and intricate the rhythms of God are… and to just learn to appreciate them. To tap our toes. To nod our heads. To let the music wash over us.

Jacob Collier.

Rhythm - an event repeating regularly over time

Rhythms for Life - what are the regularly repeated events or practices of our lives that help us to flourish as human beings?

How do we recognize that God is at work forming Christ in us? And then how do we learn to pay attention? How do we cooperate?

Over the centuries, spiritual practices have emerged among the people of God. Sometimes, certain practices have been neglected or elevated, but there are a few that have persisted. And over the next four weeks, we’ll look at 12 of them.

We’ll listen for the rhythms that are part of the movement of God. We’ll learn how to notice the patterns or the repetitions and to see where they intersect with our own lives and our own spiritual practice.

I’m choosing to use the words “practice” for a couple of reasons.

#1 It highlights that mastery isn’t really the goal. Instead, we practice things we want to learn, acknowledging that there isn’t really a destination. There’s only a trajectory.

#2 It highlights the reality that we will do this things over and over again. In different seasons, and during different kinds of circumstances.

#3 It is a term that makes sense both inside and outside of the church.

This week, we look at the UP direction. What are the practices that help us pay attention in an UPward, a God-ward movement?

There are three as promised. So let’s look at each one briefly.

Solitude .

Gratitude.

Sabbath.

Now, a quick reminder, this is not a checklist. These are invitations. So there are no grades. There is only invitation.

To see where you are already practicing these AND a beckoning to maybe deepen a practice or to try it a different way than have before.

Or maybe even an invitation to discover its rhythm already present, but just unnoticed in your life.

First: Solitude.

Solitude is about withdrawing from busyness and the regular demands of our lives to spend intentional time with God.

Solitude isn’t just being alone. We can be alone and not practice solitude. The idea here is around taking time (which will vary depending on who you are and what your life looks like) but taking time to notice that when you are alone, you are still in the presence of God.

It can look different for different people, but when we hear people tell us about how they do it, there do seem to be some common components: Scripture and prayer are basic building blocks, and setting a time and a place seem to be key factors.

This could look like: having a chair in which you always sit, perhaps you light a candle and sit in silence, or maybe it’s going for a walk, or I know for a season when I had a commute, I would listen to a podcast that led me through a brief time of silence and prayer and scripture… I would listen to it as soon as I dropped off the kids in the morning and my car became a sacred space - a place of solitude where I could meet with God.

Some of you likely have a devotional book you like to use - I know that some of you like to use the Daily Bread readings that get delivered to the church, and others of you have used the Common Prayer for Ordinary Radicals or you read the daily lectionary passages set out for you… Seasons will also affect the way your solitude looks… for me, it’s usually a first thing in the morning kind of thing, which in the dead of winter means lighting a candle and cradling a hot cup of coffee while I sit and look out at the snowy dark. Getting a puppy has changed my morning routine quite drastically, and so I have gone back to the podcast idea so that I can head out on a slow morning walk with a bouncy puppy and discover solitude in that space as I see the sun already up and the light on the hills - different every single morning.

Solitude can look like a lot of different things - and there are daily practices, but also more seasonal ones… maybe a monthly or quarterly “quiet day” or a yearly solo retreat or just taking a whole morning to sit and read and pray and be. But in the solitude, we begin to hear a bit of the music and can begin to tap a toe...

What about gratitude?

Gratitude is a practice that you may feel you’ve had some experience with. Give thanks…

Gratitude is not calling something good that is actually not good. It’s not starting sentences with “at least” in order to take something terrible and somehow how that by being thankful, the terribleness will dissipate.

But gratitude is a posture and a practice of noticing what is in our hands, what has been given, what has been provided. And gratitude changes us. Listen to what Ken Shigematsu writes in his chapter on Gratitude in Survival Guide for the Soul:

“When we give thanks to God… we will find God’s presence feels nearer to us. Even though God is everywhere, the Bible tells us that God mysteriously inhabits the praises of his people (Psalm 22:3). When we thank and praise God, his presence inhabits our lives more and more. We might think of thanksgiving as a portal to the presence of God.

To be clear, it is okay to complain to God (Psalm 13), even to scream and shake your fist like Job. God can handle our emotional honesty. But if the ONLY way we communicate with God is by complaining, cursing, or whining, we will feel alienated from God. Conversely, when we take time to thank God and affirm his goodness, we will draw closer to him. And as we draw closer to God, enjoying his presence and the gift of his friendship, we will be transformed.” (Shigematsu, 117-8)

This could look like: Writing lists perhaps, or just whispering “thank you” throughout the day as you experience small and large things that are gifts from our Provider. It might look like praying the examen, which is simply looking back over a period of time, some people seek to do this daily or weekly, asking when did I feel most alive? When did I experience joy? When did I feel most connected to the Creator? It quite naturally leads to gratitude - as you can imagine, or as some of you have experienced.

Solitude. Gratitude. These practices help us to hear the rhythm…Can you hear it even faintly? If you’re hearing judgment or condemnation or not-enoughness… you’re listening to something other than the rhythm of God. Do you hear invitation? Ah. Tap your toe. Sway your body.

Now, thirdly, Sabbath.

Sabbath is a tricky practice in our modern society.

But I would argue that Sabbath has never been more relevant.

To stop. To rest.

To take one day in seven to be a creature in a world we didn’t create and cannot sustain. Now, we are always such a creature, but God seems to know that work is to be bookended with rest. And so rest is woven into creation.

But where does Sabbath come from? Well, it’s right there in Genesis, in our origin story. God creates, God works. And then God rests. God rests...

Later, God gives the Law to God’s people and Sabbath is named there. Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy. But that’s not where it begins. Sabbath came before the Law. Rest precedes.

God rested. People are invited to rest. We are invited to take break from running the world. To wake up at least once per week in a posture of rest, rather than running things, rather than functioning as mini-deities. Back to being creatures. Pastor Mandy Smith writes this:

“The more we practice [Sabbath], the more the rest stays with us even when we’re productive. We begin to do our work with an awareness that we’re not making this world but joining God in the work of remaking it.” (Unfettered, 28)

Rest. Creatureliness. In a world that is fixated on work and productivity, mastery and control.

This might look like: a day to play and rest, to do things that restore you, to take a nap or to go for a walk, to put down the to do list and maybe to turn off your email or your phone altogether. This will have to look different in different seasons. In retirement, it’s not seven days of Sabbath. There are still chores to be done, there are still things you need to do. But rest, that comes in some rhythm, some regularly repeated event is key to our flourishing.

Sterne puts it this way, “sabbath is marked by three qualities: it promotes life, it’s restorative, and it’s worshipful.”

As we seek to grow UPward - we are invited into these three practices: solitude, gratitude and sabbath.

And again, these aren’t three new ways to measure your spiritual success. These are three invitations. Three places where the music of God can be heard more clearly. Where we are given space to quiet our souls and listen for God.

I wonder if there is one of these that particularly resonates with you today. Is there one that you really sense an INVITATION?

Take a moment to write that down. Tell God about it. And if you need resources or help or encouragement, tell a friend. Or get in touch with someone who you think has walked this path a little more than you have. And I’m always here as a resource or encouragement if you are ready to respond to God’s invitation.

Let’s pray…