A Prayer about Slowing Down

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’ Mark 6:31

Gentle and Wise Jesus,

You beckon us to rest, to slow, to still.

But we have things to do, places to go, people to see, 

(all for the sake of the kingdom for sure). 

There’s no time to stop!

Forgive us.

Draw us in to your Story, 

how John the Baptist, the disciples’ dear friend, 

had just been beheaded, 

how, though they didn’t know it, 

a huge crowd would be coming for dinner, 

of how your plan was being orchestrated 

all around them and in them 

through every moment (Mark 6:26-44). 

May we follow your lead as you rose

“while it was till dark…

and went off to a solitary place, 

where [you] prayed” (Mark 1:35). 

May we follow your lead 

as you “withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:15-16). 

This September Saturday, 

before the noise of the football games begins, 

after the busy morning of kids’ soccer games, 

may we spend some quiet time simply resting in you. 

And as we do, 

may we hear you whispering your delight in us, 

may we hear you

calling us into the work of love 

you have equipped us to do. 

In your calming name. Amen.

Read Mark 6:26-44; Mark 1:35; Luke 5:15-16.