Mark Carey Writes:

Mark Carey writes

There are many opportunities but fewer callings. In Mark 1 we find Jesus, in a busy, demanding place that is very fruitful with many people getting healed and delivered. You’d have thought he would stick around longer – the disciples came to find him telling him “everyone is looking for you” – they expected he would respond to the demands and the opportunities. Instead, he said “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 

Jesus had a clear idea of what he was supposed to do – he knew his ‘why’. The expectations upon him and around him didn’t get in the way. How did this happen? How did he stay so focussed? We all recognise how troublesome the expectations of others are, how difficult it is not to be distracted…. What was Jesus’s secret?  “He … went off to a solitary place, to pray”.

Jesus clearly had the discipline and habit of taking himself deliberately to the place of prayer, the solitary place - it is quite a contrast to what we do - someone once said "Jesus ran away from the crowds to pray. We run after the crowds and don't pray". 

Do try to find the solitary place, the place where you can re-centre yourself back to your ‘why’. Later Jesus would say ..."apart from me you can do nothing" and invite for us to abide in him. It's where everything we need is found.... in the solitary place of intimacy with God. 

"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world" (Karl Barth)

The Rev Canon Mark Carey - Christ Church Bridlington Network