Where is God at work?

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Moderators White Paper Its a matter of
faith. 1. A matter of faith The spiritual
vitality of the Church 2. Disengagement
Individualism and congregationalism 3. Disunity
the woundedness of our Church 4. Loss of voice
A deafening silence 5. Professionalism Raising
the bar 6. The ethics of mission Checking our
motives for mission 7. Busyness A sickness of
the soul 8. Stewardship Giving an account
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"The busier they are, the more likely they will
get tired and cranky with each other. We can
have lots of fun when that happens. Keep them
busy, and they don't take time to talk to each
other.   Even better, keep them too busy to
listen to each other. We know things are going
our way when other people become an interruption
to them. Just keep reminding them that their
tasks are much more important than
people!   Keep them too busy to plan ahead. The
less planning and prioritising they do, the
better. We're especially in good shape when they
don't have time to evaluate what they're doing.
If their work isn't effective, we don't have
nearly as much to worry about."
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Busyness goes far deeper than activity, it is a
distractedness that produces muddle-mindedness
and ultimately deadens the human soul. Judy
Lief "Our hope is that if we keep all the
distractedness going, we will not have to look at
who we are, we will not have to feel what we
feel, we will not have to see what we see. When
we dont know where we are going, no measure will
tell us how we are going and any direction will
do.
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• What do we mean by busyness?
• Engaged in much activity or work occupied.
• A busy design may have much distracting detail.
• What Bible passages relate to busyness?
• Matthew 11 v 28-30 in the Message version
• Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion?
  Come to me. Get away with me and youll recover
  your life. Ill show you how to take a real
  rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how
  I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I
  wont lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.
  Keep company with me and youll learn to live
  freely and lightly.

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Luke chapter 10 38 As Jesus and the disciples
continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to
a certain village where a woman named Martha
welcomed him into her home. 39 Her sister, Mary,
sat at the Lords feet, listening to what he
taught. 40 But Martha was distracted by the big
dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus She
stood over them and said, Lord, doesnt it seem
unfair to you that my sister just sits here while
I do all the work? Tell her to come and help
me. 41 But the Lord said to her, My dear
Martha, you are worried and upset over all these
details! 42 There is only one thing worth being
concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it
will not be taken away from her.
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• What do we learn from this passage?
• We can feel for Martha.
• There was nothing wrong with serving.
• Her attitude, way of serving timing were wrong.

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Brother Lawrence taught that We ought to give
ourselves up to God with regard both to things
temporal earthly and spiritual, and seek our
satisfaction only in the fulfilling of His will,
whether He lead us by suffering or by consolation
encouragement. Make it your study, before
taking up any task, to look to God, be it only
for a moment to recognise Gods presence and to
practice his presence/to connect with his
presence.
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Kitchen Prayer (attributed to Brother
Lawrence) Lord of all pots and pans and
things, since I've no time to be a great saint by
doing lovely things, or watching late with
Thee, or dreaming in the dawn light, or storming
heaven's gates, make me a saint by getting
meals, and washing up the plates. Thou who didst
love to give men food, in room, or by the
sea, accept the service that I do, I do it unto
Thee. Amen
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Busyness is about filling our lives with so many
tasks and activities that we leave no time or too
little time for reflection, rest or
relationships or in a Christian context, no time
for prayer, for reflection, rest relationship
with God. These are three Rs of a healthy
Christ-like life. .otherwise Busyness can become
a sickness of the soul.
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Possible ways forward Before beginning any new
ministry, ask what two ministries you are willing
to stop. Rediscover the spiritual discipline of
silence (corporate and individual). Conduct a
busyness audit on your congregation to assess
the health of your congregation. Focus on the
spiritual disciplines of renewal. Ask why are
we doing this? Send all ministers on an annual
spiritual retreat (this is not their holiday!)
Reduce the number of church meetings. There are
some Questions for dialogue