Pentecost 8B 19/07/2015 We live in what has been called the “Information Age.” We have more information at our disposal than any generation before us. We are flooded with bits of information, or should I say “bytes”? I think a much better description of our time would be the “Age of Distraction.” Everybody and everything are out to get our attention. And one way to do that is to distract us from whatever we may have been doing or are trying to do. A case in point, I particularly dislike the scroll at the bottom of ABC 24 hrs television news. I can barely concentrate on what the broadcaster is reporting, because the latest news is being run across the screen at the same time. P o p - u p m e s s a g e s o n t h e computer screen is another needless bother, if you ask me. I know some of those messages are supposed to be for my benefit. But I’d rather not be interrupted when I’m trying to concentrate on sending an email to a friend or at work on a sermon. Mobile phones are the worst of all, for they are almost universal. A church not too far from here hit a new low during a Palm Sunday processional when a member of the choir was seen answering a message on the mobile phone as the choir made its way to the chancel during the opening hymn. Now, even at wedding rehearsals, the priest has added a new item to the list of reminders- all mobile phones to be switched off! The sad thing is that since we are so bombarded with so many messages from so many sources that those sending them constantly have to up the tempo and increase the volume to enable the messages to get through. Even various emergency services over the years have changed their sirens because we have become so numbed to their presence. All this can become rather personal. For one reason or another, we can become more distracted than usual. We flit from one thing to the next before we’ve finished the first. Sometimes it’s even difficult to accomplish simple things like making a cup of tea. We don’t even seem to be able to go through the process without stopping in the middle and doing something else that has caught our attention. We find ourselves doing things like forgetting to pour the water from the kettle because the rubbish caught our attention and we took care of that instead. How not to become distracted is not just a title for a sermon, but a very much needed way of survival for us right now. I wish I had the definitive answer to all this. I’m not sure I do. But, if not the answer, I do plan to give us some hope by the end of this sermon. I not only want to help myself, but all who are within hearing distance, as well. I don’t think for a moment that we’re alone in this problem. We all live in a world where it’s getting easier and easier not to concentrate and ever harder to focus our attention.
We all have this problem. The scripture is today’s Gospel from the common lectionary. The Gospel was chosen a long time ago, but as it turned out, it could not have come at a better time. This scripture speaks as if it had been written for us personally this morning. God must have sent this text into our life. We desperately need to hear what it has to say. This Gospel reading from Mark is a clear picture of the Christian life. In it, Jesus calls his disciples apart so that he and they can get away from the crowds and the cacophony of requests which have been coming to him. They need a break, a time apart to be alone with Jesus and to refocus themselves on the work that lies before them. After a while, sooner than planned, the needs of the crowds again press in on them and they, and Jesus, are back to work. In our lives as disciples of Jesus, we find that we need to follow this same pattern if we are to keep from coming apart at the seams. We are in need of that time apart to be alone with Jesus, to cut out the cacophony of sounds and words. We need to leave the call of the world behind and to come and sit at the feet of the Master so that we can be refreshed. We need to place our lives in Jesus’ presence so that we can be healed, encouraged, and strengthened. We need to be reminded of what our mission is and for whom we are working. I’m afraid in this confusing world of ours, focusing is becoming a lost art. Sometimes it’s helpful to see something in the extreme to get a better idea of it. In the movie, Aviator, Leonardo De Caprio stars as Howard Hughes, the genius, and as the film has it, a genius afflicted with OCD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Dr. Jeffery Schwartz from the Westwood Institute for Anxiety Disorders in California served as a consultant on the film. Dr. Schwartz has come up with a treatment for OCD that involves what he calls “mindful awareness.” There are four steps to the treatment, but the step he calls “Refocus” seems to me to be the key to getting back on track. (1) In one scene of the movie, Hughes is in the middle of a big business deal. He becomes distracted by a piece of lint on the jacket of a client’s suit. The business deal cannot proceed. It comes to a standstill as Hughes insists that the piece of lint be removed. Had Hughes been able to refocus his attention and bring it back to matters at hand, the deal would have proceeded normally. It’s amazing that Hughes was as successful as he was, given all the mental torment he went through. The better part we must choose is to be able to focus on what really matters at the moment. To sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from him. That’s something
that will last long after all the pressing chores and life’s distractions. It’s something we need to learn today as never before. Our well being depends on it; maybe even our sanity. I venture that’s why Jesus is so insistent on it. Fr Robert Newton
1) Jeffery M. Schwartz, Brain Lock. New York: Regan Books, 1996, p.4.