I don’t mean to alarm you if you are in my church; I’m not talking about myself. In Mark 6 Jesus says to his disciples, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” We think often of Jesus’ public ministry of teaching and healing, and I find it fascinating that he, along with his disciples needed rest. (It is equally fascinating that when he got to his secret place of “rest,” many people were there waiting on him, and he dove in to care for them.)
Later that chapter he went up on a mountainside to pray (v. 46). And in chapter 9, “Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples (v. 30).” I will never forget a message I heard from John Stott who suggested every pastor should take one day a month, and one week a year to be alone—to rest, pray, study, read and plan. I had one such morning (a good start at least) yesterday, and I am finding more and more that these are so critical to recharging and refocusing me to that which is most important.
One of the church fathers, St. Jerome pastured a large church and we can only imagine he was an extremely busy man (c.347-420). One day he went to his congregation and said, “Now it is of necessity that the New Testament should be translated, you must find another preacher.”
Now I have no immediate plans to write a new English translation of the Bible. But whether it is for special study, to spend time with family, extensive prayer, or translation work, it is so important for pastors to take breaks, and for their churches to support them in it.
No comments:
Post a Comment