Devotion - Thursday, March 27

One of the Lenten disciplines I took up was to avoid the temptation to say, or give off the impression that I am "too busy."  My fear is that as you encounter the demons that need exorcising, and think it might be helpful to speak with your pastor about such that you may decide (out of consideration for my schedule) to go it alone.  A pastor should never be too busy for rituals of confession or absolution.

But a pastor must also not be so sterile of the unfinished business of life.

In Mark 6, Jesus and his disciples are experiencing the coming of so many that "they had no leisure even to eat."  Jesus leads them away, to a lonely place, by themselves.  The crowd sees them going, guesses where they will land, and rushes to get there ahead of them.  This is Mark's establishing of the situation into which it is necessary for Jesus to feed the 5,000 with a few loaves and fish.

Carlyle Marney writes this of how God's servants are to balance their own piety with their charge to care for others:
"All of us need our moments for solitude.  But sometimes we have to learn to pray while we go, to create as we sweep by, and to meditate between the acts.  A man who would live in this frenzied time without being himself in a frenzy must learn that life has enough room for solitude, and creation, but much of one's solitude is caught in a crowd.  We ought not overlook the creative potential of a busy life."