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A man went to the doctor for a check -up, and the doctor was not pleased.

How to Be a Busy Christian: See Grace in the Race - Psalm 139: 7-12; Luke 22: 14-23 ­October 4, 2009 - Cicero United Methodist Church - Everett J. Bassett

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A man went to the doctor for a check -up, and the doctor was not pleased. "You have got to start exercising," said the doctor. "But I don't know how to start," said the man. And the doctor said, "Here's what I want you to do. I want you to walk three miles every day for the next thirty days. And then I want you to call me and tell me you did it. You understand?" "Three miles every day for the next thirty days." "That's right." So they shook hands and parted. Thirty days later, the doctor got his phone call from the man. "Did you do what I said?" "Yes," said the man, "I walked three miles every day for the last thirty days. But I don't know what to do now." "What do you mean?" asked the doctor. "Well, now I'm ninety miles away and I don't know how to get back home!"

Of course that's a ridiculous story, but it is not a bad parable for the approach to spiritual life many people are taking these days. There are a lot of busy people today who are running farther and farther from home base, and don't know how to get back. That is exactly what I talked about two weeks ago, when I kicked off this sermon series about being a busy Christian. Last week, we looked at the example of Jesus, who managed to find, even in the midst of a demanding life, time to talk to God. And I hope I made the case that even in the busiest life, prayer is essential, even if it's only for ten minutes a day. That discipline of stepping back out of the rat race for uninterrupted time with God is how we stay in touch with home base. It is essential, I believe, to our wellbeing, and it is the least we could offer to the One who gave us life and salvation.

But it is not the whole story. In fact, it would be a pretty sad story if that one daily prayer time was the only time in the day we paid attention to God. I believe that there are, in every single day we live, thousands of opportunities to see God at work. We just forget, too often, to put those glasses on. The writer of Psalm 139 said this to God:

"Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in the land of the dead ... even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast." That psalm-writer playfully couches those words in the form of a complaint: ·"God, I can't get away from you." But make no mistake: this is wonderful news. God is with us. Wherever we are, we are held fast in the hands of God.

And that is great news for busy Christians. What it says is that while there is no substitute for a carefully observed prayer time with God, God is also right there beside us during the other times - the times we're on the run; the times we're producing and keeping appointments, and going from place to place. And if we just take the time to look, we'll see plenty of grace in the race. God is at work; we just have to look. This morning I want to talk about three methods for seeing the grace around us.

The first is to take advantage of the small moments for praise. To introduce that one, I want to turn to one of the Sermon Helper forms that many of you filled out a couple weeks ago. The question was, How do you stay spiritually strong during busy times? And this was one of the answers: "I try to use the little blocks of time to focus on family, God, and myself - rather than searching for other tasks to complete." I think that's wonderful advice. In the course of our daily routines, no matter how carefully we plan things, these little blocks of idle time show up: sitting in a traffic line, waiting for the microwave to ding, on hold on the telephone, walking to class, and so on.

Often we fill those times with technology - we pick up the remote control, or we crank up the radio, or we check our inbox. But maybe those unplanned moments are the ideal time for appreciation. Maybe someone has made you smile today, and you can say Thank you to God for that person. Maybe you're looking at a tree whose leaves are turning - Thank you, God. Or maybe it's a lousy day, and you've been in a bad mood. Using those few minutes to think of something good can be the attitude adjustment you need to put your day on a different track.

Here are some other things some of you wrote: "I have a 'God box' - where I turn things over to God." "I listen to Christian music." Or, "I purposely turn off my car radio and use my driving time to 'reconnect' with Jesus as I navigate through these busy times!" Or, "I stop and hug my children and husband." Or, one more, "Breathe! Stop micromanaging life, enjoy those moments in the day that make you smile." This is great advice. Even if it's been a terrible day - especially if it's been a terrible day - when the free moment comes, take a step back, breathe, and pray: "Lord, this has been a trainwreck of a day. But I'm still breathing. The sun is still shining - somewhere (It is Central New York.)" There is blessing in the worse day, if we look for it. The way we do that is to connect those small moments of prayer throughout our day.

That leads to the second tip I would give for seeing grace in the race: love the ordinary. There's a dishonest voice that calls through our culture to tell us to live for the spectacular: win the lottery; break the record; make a million; become famous; be the most popular kid in class. Now don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with having high goals - unless you strive for them so hard that you kill your love for ordinary things. There's a great deception there, that the wisest people see through - and that is that you have to score big to be happy. But read the lives of lottery winners, or movie stars, or celebrities - there is as much misery in those stories as there is happiness. Broken relationships, substance abuse, self-destructive behavior are more than common among those who live spectacular lives. The reason is, I believe, that happiness is not found in spectacular things. Happiness is found in loving the ordinary things - a laugh shared between friends, a stroll in a park, a child's question, the leaves turning in Onondaga County, a kind gesture by a stranger.

A Buddhist proverb says, "If you have to move one inch from where you are to be happy, you won't be." And that's because joy is not in some unattainable world; the potential for joy is in noticing the beauty and grace that is around you at any moment.

So let's say it's been a stressful day. You have been just keeping up. You feel depleted, and there's no end in sight. Again, the ideal would be to step back and breathe and pray. But you can't do that right now. But maybe you can ask this: How is God providing for me right now? What am I not noticing in the ordinary things around me? Is it the scenery I'm driving past - central New York is a beautiful part of creation to drive through. Have I noticed that lately? Is it the child that's fussing and demanding my attention in the back seat? What an amazing blessing to have a child that can fuss, and that wants your attention. Is it the cold you're fighting off? What an amazing thing to have a body that fights off colds. You get the idea - what a great thing to have a job, or a friend, or a responsibility, or a garden, or any of the number of ordinary things that can often demand things from us and make life seem hectic and even unmanageable - until you think about what life would be like if we lost those ordinary things.

And there's one more idea I'll throw out this morning - and that is, love the work. I know, work is a four-letter word. And I know the Bible even suggests, in one of its first stories, that work is a punishment - You ate the forbidden fruit; from now on you'll earn your keep by the sweat of your brow. I also remember that on Labor Day Sunday this year, as I gave the children's sermon, I took a poll of everyone in the church as to whether they would rather work or play, and play won by a landslide.

And yet, I still want to suggest that work is one of the great blessings in life. We are here this morning worshipping in the name of a carpenter, who was descended from a shepherd, who called fishermen and tax collectors to follow him, and whose main apostle was a tent maker. And, of course, all of them had new jobs in God's story of faith, but I don't believe it any accident that they were all people who worked with their hands. The work we do makes us co-creators and partners with God.

Think of the last supper of Jesus, as we do today on World Communion Sunday.

Jesus lifted up a loaf of bread and said, "This is my body, given for you." That moment, of course, was unique to Jesus. But it was still a partnership. Before Jesus raised that bread, somebody tilled a field; and then planted seeds, and watched over them as wheat grew, and harvested the wheat. And somebody ground that wheat and made it into flour, and someone made the flour into dough and kneaded it and baked it and brought it to the table - and all of that effort was there when Jesus lifted the loaf that night.

Day by day, most of us have the opportunity to accomplish things - whether it's homework, or a job that pays the bills, or what you do around the house, or at church, or as a volunteer in the community. They're not always fun things; they can fill life with a busy routine. But they are still a gift - to get to the end of the day and be able to say, I accomplished something today; I made something today; I learned something today. We don't acknowledge that blessing enough, nor the blessing of what the work of others makes possible in our lives every day.

Finally, I want to put in a word for saying grace before meals - whether you join hands as a family, or simply close your eyes for a second or two in your private thoughts. There is a good reason for that traditional practice, beyond the fact that God deserves our thanks. It fulfills everything I've mentioned this morning: it is one of those prayer ­moments we can seize; it celebrates the simple, everyday gift of food, and it acknowledges the work of many hands.

It's not easy to stay spiritually strong today, when life is moving so fast, and times can get so busy. But as one of you wrote a couple weeks ago, "Without God, what does it matter anyway? I need Jesus." We all do. Take the time, make the time, to let him in.