Rhythms | 2024

The last two times we have gathered, we just kind of jumped right in to the service, the text, the talk, etc. And it has been so so enjoyable for me. So today, I wanted to take a step back so to speak and talk more about why we are doing the things they way we are doing things.

The passage for today starts with Jesus asking “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion?” Yes. I think all of us in this room can relate to some degree. Most of you know that we had a very uncomfortable and undesired separation from our church about 2 years ago. And I had a LOT of feelings about it. I wished this was different, I wanted more of that, I was hurt and felt unwelcome. You get the idea, there was a laundry list of things I didn’t like about the situation and frankly the big C church in general. And its so easy to get trapped there. But a good friend asked me a question that Jesus asked his disciples frequently—“What do you want?” Because its all well and good to have your list of frustrations, but “What do you want?”

We had two years to think about this question. To pray and talk with dear friends. To listen and hope and dream. At some point I read this passage from Matthew and was struck by this phrase, “the unforced rhythms of grace.” What is that? I was like that, THAT is what I want, unforced rhythms of grace. Rhythms that pattern themselves after the life of Jesus. Rhythms that have been used by the church for centuries.

Slowly but surely, we started hashing out what that could look like in real life, starting with the chuch calendar. I spoke a little bit about it last month. For those of us who grew up in low church, it can feel a little mysterious and awkward at first. So here is a quick overview:

Advent marks the beginning of the calendar. It begins on the fourth Sunday leading up to Christmas. In Advent, the Church anticipates that even in our current dark days, God has promised to return and finally put everything right.

Christmas season begins on December 25 and then lasts for twelve days (hence the song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas”). At Christmas, we celebrate the Incarnation, the idea the Almighty God entered time and space in the person of Jesus.

Epiphany starts on January 6th and lasts until Ash Wednesday. Epiphany extends the grand hospitality of God that salvation is for the entire world. 

Lent begins the cycle of seasons focusing us on the death and resurrection of Jesus. Ash Wednesday begins Lent, 40 days prior to Easter, and Lent marks a 40-day journey to the cross. It corresponds to the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness being tempted. It offers us time to self-reflect on the unexamined sin in our own lives and in the world around us. 

At Easter we party. At Easter, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. While the fast of Lent lasts 40 days, Easter lasts for 50 days. With the resurrection, we remember God’s ultimate victory over Sin and Death. The risen Jesus is making everything new. Everything is joy.

Pentecost occurs 50 days after Easter. At Pentecost, we remember the beginning of the Church with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:1–13. This is God’s next great movement in the story. With Pentecost, the Church is God’s answer to “Now what?” after the resurrection. Pentecost forms the Church as the people of God bearing witness to God’s story in the world, for the whole world.

And finally, Ordinary Time, which is basically everything else. Ordinary Time propels the church into mission. Because God has acted in the Incarnation (Advent/Christmas/Epiphany), and because God has acted in the Resurrection (Lent/Easter/Pentecost), now the Church gets to participate with God in the world. 

At The Sabbath life, Robert Webber says, “A calendar shapes your identity, whether you’re aware of it or not. If you count the days till Spring Break, graduation, and summer vacation, you’re likely a student. If you celebrate Opening Day, the Super Bowl, and March Madness, you live a sports story. If you buy turkey and cranberries in November, fireworks in July, and don’t work on a day called “Labor Day,” then you’re a citizen of the United States.”

This idea that calendar shapes our identity was an eye opener for me. If you looked at my iCal app, you would probably be able to tell I was a nurse, a mom and a homeschool teacher. But that is not the whole story. I love the idea that loosely following a church calendar connects us to the people of God all around the world. But the church calendar is just one part of a much bigger picture.

For so many years, we have found ourselves defining a follower of Jesus as one who attends church on Sundays. Usually that means music and teaching on Sundays, and maybe an occasional small group or bible study. So much focus was solely on our relationship with God, to the neglect of our relationships with each other and our neighbors and neighborhoods. When I was thinking about What do I want, I realized that while I loved the music and hearing good teaching, I wanted more than that. I kept hearing Jesus promise that life with him feels light and free. My weekly church obligations often didn’t feel like “unforced rhythms of grace.” So what could those be? What could faith look like if the big stage was no longer centered?

Years ago, I heard about Mike Breen and his ideas about discipleship. If being a disciple means becoming more like Jesus, than he says we ought to look at what Jesus actually did. Using a passage from Luke 6, Breen described Jesus’ life in this cyclical pattern. Luke says that first Jesus spent the night in prayer and communion with God. Then he immediately called his 12 disciples by name and spent a lot of time teaching them and simply living his life with them. And then he also went out into the villages and communities healing people and teaching them about God. So Breen sets this pattern up visually as a triangle. Jesus moves UP toward God, IN towards his disciples, and OUT towards his community. All are vital, none are more important than the other. We want to embody those relational movements in our community too not just in word, but in the very structure of our church.

And so we came up with these rhythms, which are also our values:

UP | We grow in our love of God as we focus on our connection to God.

IN | We grow in our love of God as we know and are known by each other.

OUT | We grow in our love of God as we serve our community together.

Once a month, we devote time to one of these three rhythms. So we have talked about the annual rhythms of the church calendar, and the monthly rhythms of Integrated Faith.

You might have noticed that we snuck one more in there. When the author of the Gospel of John writes “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood,” and when Jesus says “love your neighbor” I think they meant our ACTUAL neighbor and neighborhood. There is a lot that can be said about God and place, but we will have to save it for another day. Suffice it to say, we we read the arch of the Bible, from the Garden, to God’s covenant with Abraham, to Moses leading the Israelites into the Promised Land; from the exile into Babylon to the promise of a new Heaven and New Earth in Revelation, its clear that God’s design is for us to be rooted in place and community. And so we have our fourth rhythm/value:

DEEP | We grow in our love of God as we deepen our love for the place we live.

For me, DEEP is what infuses all our other rhythms. Its at the intersection of the sacred and familiar. Its a reflection of God’s playfulness and God’s invitation to get off the hamster wheel. When we start to see our everyday lives: at home, at work, at school, when we see them as THE life with God, rather than distractions from a life with God, that is when we learn to live freely and lightly with Jesus.

When we talk about structuring our lives around following Jesus, I don’t know about you but my mind immediately goes to duty and obligation. Because that was the picture that was painted for me as a teenager and young adult. Rigidity, discipline, virtue signaling and shame for not following through. But that seems to contradictory to Jesus saying that he won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on us.

So I keep coming back to this idea of rhythms. Because we already live a life full of rhythms. There are things that we do every day, every week, every month, every year. We brush our teeth and take our vitamins, maybe we go to the gym or ride our bikes and snowboards, we go on dates with our spouses and take our kids to rehearsals and games. We go to church and pray and try and fail to read the entire New Testament every year. Oh wait, that maybe that’s just me. We are already being formed by these rhythms. So what do we do when they aren’t serving us, and aren’t leading us into a life with Jesus? We could talk about spiritual practices and rules of life, and I’m happy to talk more about those with anyone who wants to. I’m still learning this stuff but I do know some good resources.

I just want to offer two things. One is that these rhythms—the church calendar, the rhythms of Integrated Faith, and our own personal rhythms, are meant to give us life, not hold us back. They are meant to be a framework for life with Jesus, the trellis for the vine to grow on, if you will. And the second thing I would like to offer is and ancient eastern saying. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step.” One small step. Lent begins this month with Ash Wednesday on February 14. Many people choose to participate by either giving something up or taking something up. Over the years I have given up buying things, or social media, or fasting once a week. And I have taken up going for prayer walks and reading a Psalm a day and calling an older relative once a week. The point is to take one small step towards a connection with Jesus.

I am going to let Jesus have the last word today. As I reread the passage, let these words settle into you. Hear the gentle invitation to a life of grace and peace.

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.

Matthew 11:28-30