“When the universe is telling you to take a break” 

By Rev Dr Fei Taule’ale’ausumai 

Many of you here in this congregation have retired and I know most of you are finally getting that rest that you earned and deserve after years of working and paying taxes, now you can literally sit back and rest.  Although I am also aware that for some of you retirement is even busier than when you were working, but whose fault is that.  I’ve said it before “everything is important, but nothing matters”.  No matter what you are doing or how important things are in your life, when you are suddenly confronted with a personal medical situation, nothing else matters.  Everything is put on hold.  Joe Biden even said that the only thing that will stop him from running for President for a second term is a medical situation.  The universe is telling him to stop but he is not listening.   

 There is a minister in his 90’s who continues to minister to his congregation that he has led for over 60 years.  How can this be, surely his overseeing governing body, church hierarchy should step in and tell him to retire?  Well, quite a few years ago when their church was under the authority of the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa, the minister’s daughter who is a prominent lawyer had secretly signed the church building, the manse and the land everything was built on under the name of her father the minister and not the mother church.  The rule of the CCCS church is that when you reach 70 years of age you must retire.  This minister however refused to.  So, when he was forced to retire he chose to leave the church and he did so by taking the church properties with him and half the congregation.  He became independent and continued to minister to his now independent flock.  Today they continue to pay him his fortnightly alofa which means love offering and they still continue to worship as a congregation today.  Sadly, this minister is now in his 90’s (I’m not suggesting 90 is a bad age I’m not being ageist, but for this man, he can’t stand to preach anymore, he has to be escorted up onto the stage and someone has to hold on to him.   His voice is but a whisper you can’t hear him when he talks, and his preaching is all over the place.  The congregation are embarrassed for him, and they have compassion for him, but no one has the heart to tell him to stop.  Afterall, it is his church, and he insists that he will die behind the pulpit doing the work of God until his last breath.   

It’s amazing how much power one has when they own everything.  He is accountable to no-one, he says he is accountable only to God, but I’m sure God is equally frustrated too.   

It is purely coincidence that my theme is timely with what is happening in US politics this past week, but this has not been the reason why I have chosen this theme, it just happens to link in with our Markan reading about needing to stop and rest.   

The Gospel of Mark proceeds from the account of Herod Antipas’ birthday party last week to the feeding of the 5000. The Lectionary handles the feeding of the 5,000 miracle next week, using the version found in John 6, so that we are given just the few verses which precede the feeding and then the summary of activities which follows both the feeding and the walking on the water. 

It is important to see that verses that we read 6:30-34 is not simply the introduction to the feeding of the 5000. It begins with the return of the twelve disciples from their mission. In between is the account of John the Baptist’s murder, which, as Mark notes, happened some time earlier.  

The disciples have been carrying out their mission of healing, exorcism and teaching.  They return hungry and tired and Jesus takes them aside and says “Come with me to a quiet place and get some rest”.  They were being inundated with throngs of people and the demands required to meet the needs of the people whilst trying to get rest in between.  That’s the desire and the hope but not often the reality.   

Jesus’ response is to call them aside to have a rest because many were coming and going and they had no time to eat.’ With little effort I know many of us will be able to identify with the busy life, the throng of demands, the ongoing needs and many of us will also be able to identify with the dangers – even about not eating properly or at all and the dangers of not getting enough rest.  

I was telling our Cuppa and chat group on Wednesday that I came home from the office on Tuesday evening and I was so tired I kept nodding off at the wheel while I was driving, not a good thing to do.  So when I arrived home I literally kicked off my shoes and jumped into bed, the time was 5pm.  When I awoke I looked at my watch and it was 6.30.  I usually wake up at 6.30 every morning, I jumped out of bed and saw that I had slept right through the night fully clothed, I walked out to the lounge and realised that the sliding door had been opened all night and that Snoopy had not been fed.  I grabbed the tv remote and thought I would turn Breakfast on and watch the news.  The news was on but the people leading the news were not the breakfast crew it was the evening crew.  It was the 6’oclock evening news. I had only slept 1 ½ hours thinking I had slept over 12 hours.  I was so disorientated and I very seldom sleep so deep like that.  I definitely surprised myself.  A little unnerving I must add.  I was obviously overtired.  Unfortunately Snoopy cannot speak and he cannot tell me when to slow down.  It can be particularly hard for those of us who do not have another human in our lives to keep us on track.   

The point however, is so simple as to be almost trivial.  Perhaps the important aspect is to find out why it is that some of us may choose not to rest. I have a friend who never stops, she never slows down even though her body is contradicting her mind and desire to keep moving.  I believe in a nutshell she needs to be needed.  It can be so annoying like watching a car crash in slow motion. 

So here, Jesus was encouraging the disciples to take care of themselves, not to feel they must respond to every cry. They are not God. They are not the saviours of the world. They are limited human beings who need to rest. When Jesus was in Capernaum, he was not in Tiberius. His own ministry helped many, but also left many more unhelped. This is just part of human reality.  

We can’t do everything.  No body can be in two places at the same time.  I remember the CEO of Best Training saying to me when I was teaching the Chistian Diploma at Best Training a course.  I had written the curriculum, she said “ I wish I could clone you”.  As much as that was a compliment it gives you an indication of how busy and demanding this particular course was for me.   

For yourselves, in hindsight, or retrospectively, did you notice any signs that were telling you to either take a break or stop?  When my dad turned 60 he had to retire he had no choice.  Mum even though she was younger could also retire alongside him.  She did not want to but we her children encouraged her to given that she had a medical scare and ended up in hospital.  In her case she had to be told.  Did someone else have to tell you?  I know some ministers who were preaching the Easter story at Christmas and vice versa for the congregation that was the last straw and they demanded he retire gracefully before he was sacked ungracefully.   

I believe Ross preached about Sabbatical recently, I’m not sure what he said but do you know that for myself, in 33 years of ministry I have never had a sabbatical?  I’m not proud of this but none of the ministries I was in could afford to replace me while I took a break, very sad I know.  So I just had to treat my in-between job ministries space as a break.  It is now written into my ministers review plan for the next 3 years and so I am planning to take study leave or a sabbatical sometime early next year once Central Presbytery and Parish Council have approved it.  I know when we are too busy to stop and take a break and have a rest when we finally decide to go on holiday we spend our holiday in bed sick because our bodies have crashed.   

Those of us who are ministers our role if done faithfully, is one of the most taxing jobs in the world. It demands so many skills. It’s emotionally taxing. And it’s both so regular and so variable (who can predict funerals, illnesses, or various crises among our congregation and those we are called to minister to?)

I’m sure many of you took sabbaticals during your careers.  I believe sabbaticals are specifically aimed at reinvigorating and renewing the mind and heart through research, purposeful travel, writing, etc. 

This reflection is not about me, but it is a reminder for all of us whether we are retired or still working to read our bodies, to listen to our guts, to allow our partners to speak openly and honestly about their observations about how you seem to be doing life.  Like Jesus did in this story, he took the disciples aside and said come with me to a quiet place and get some rest.   

We are all being reminded in this gospel narrative to discern our own lives and the lives of those around us whom we have been called to care for to be in relationship with.  When you notice the signs that one is bordering on break down or crashing then that is the time to be honest and tell them to stop and hope they listen before its too late.   

Go well this week and watch out of one another.  Amen.  

Audio of selected readings and reflections

Audio of the complete service