Teaching #2
Read Matthew 2:22-26
Unnatural Trees
“He looked up and said, ‘I see people; they look like trees walking around.’” (vs.24)
Don’t really understand what is going on here: why it appears that Jesus fails to heal the man the first time
But what I do know is that the image of a walking tree is unnatural
Consider how our modern lives bend us into an unnatural way of living, encouraging us to run around frantically rather than be rooted and well
Inner Exhaustion
From Ruth Haley Barton’s Sacred Rhythms
Relates her experience at a silent retreat
Eating lunch at tables with chairs facing windows
Walks in and immediately starts to cry, not even understanding why
Feels immense relief that she will not have to do anything for anyone or perform in any way
Barton says, “All of a sudden, I was awake and alert to a level of overstimulation and exhaustion that I had come to associate with normal Christian living. As I let my emotions flow without censoring them or trying to talk myself out of them, I could feel the weight of Christian expectations that I had been carrying around unawares.”