Spiritual Disciplines for Every Season

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

These are the beginning words to our scripture for this Sunday's message from Ecclesiastes 3. The title of the message is "Time for Every Matter." As we are coming to the conclusion of our sermon series- "Busy: Reconnecting to an Unhurried God," I want us to take a look at the "Trinity of Funerals" and the consequences of viewing them through only one lens.

"The Trinity of Funerals" are these: Reading Psalm 23, reading from Ecclesiastes 3, and singing "Amazing Grace." At some point, you may have attended a funeral or memorial service that had at least one of these elements, and probably some that have had all three. They speak to people who are religious or not. The share with those grieving the care of a God who has not only created us, numbered our days, who understands our loss, and who promises that death does not have the final word, but God's grace does.

What if, however, we looked through all three in a different "season" of our lives? For example, what if we examined Psalm 23 to see our Provider, Comforter, and Sustainer when death is not the season? What would it mean for us in the midst of joyful times to remember a lot of stuff happens- good and bad — and in any season. What if we looked at God's amazing grace in the midst of our hurried lives?

This Sunday we will look at the consequences of not being present to God in our hurried, busy lives.

Frank Powell in Church Leaders, describes the seven consequences of living a hurried, busy life. I hope you will consider this list, but also consider that in this Lenten "Season" how your spiritual disciplines you have been offered each week have helped you to deal with "everything under the sun."

1) A hurried life destroys your relationship with God.

2) A hurried life feeds "approval addiction."

3) A hurried life decreases your capacity to love others.

4) A hurried life increases the power of temptation.

5) A hurried life numbs you to injustices that break God's heart.

6) A hurried life increases narrow-mindedness and legalism.

7) A hurried life clouds your purpose and diminishes your passion

I conclude with these words from Powell — "A hurried life looks externally for answers to life's big questions. But a life at God's pace looks internally for these answers. Your life's pace matters. Unless you move at God's speed, you won't see the world through God's lens."

Pastor Steve