Living a life interrupted at God's pace

 One of my favourite podcasts to listen to is called ‘Back porch theology’ by Lisa Harper, and a couple of months ago she shared something that I have returned to a number of times. She shared a concept written about by a Japanese theologian called Koyama Kosuke. He asserted that Jesus did the majority of his ministry while travelling on foot as the average speed of walking is three miles an hour, Jesus’ ministry was done at the pace of three miles an hour. Ministry at this pace makes space for conversation, thought, cultivating relationships and even interruptions. This is a challenge for so many of us today who live life speeding from one thing to the next! Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life together talks about living a life open to interruptions.

“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and cancelling our plans by sending up people with claims and petitions. We may pass them by, preoccupied with our more important tasks…It is a strange fact that christians and even ministers frequently consider their work so important and urgent that they will allow nothing to disturb them. They think they are doing God a service in this, but actually they are disdaining God’s “crooked yet straight path.”

When we look to the bible we see Jesus was often interrupted and often out of those interruptions came great things. In Matthew 14:13-14 we read:

“When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

These verses come directly before the feeding of the 5 thousand. Jesus' willingness to be interrupted led to a mighty miracle.

Living an interruptible life at the pace of three miles an hour is not something I find easy. In fact it seems to go against my very nature! I regularly try to make this part of my life and ministry but it is always the first thing to go when life gets busy. Recently, after a break away, I attempted to return to work with the lessons learned of rest and simplicity at the forefront of my mind. I am ashamed to admit it didn’t even last 48 hours, with the pressure of ministry, study and caring for a daughter who has complex physical and learning difficulties! However God has a funny way of gently reminding us of right way to go and steering us in the right direction, and he did it in the most beautiful way. 

One day this week my daughter had a hospital appointment. It was a last minute thing with less than 24 hours notice, so it meant rearranging an already busy day in order to fit it in. Usually, before a hospital appointment we go to sainsbury’s cafe for a treat and to prepare her a little for what’s ahead. That day it had completely slipped my mind but I had planned to nip into the supermarket after the appointment to pick up some bread before returning home to the pile of work I had to do while she watched TV. After a successful appointment we went to sainsburys and it became clear that my daughter thought that she was about to have her treat! As we walked down the supermarket aisle I had a choice. I either continued as planned, dealt with the inevitable meltdown and returned home to do my work or I allowed myself to be interrupted and go to the cafe. I decided on an interruptible life, and I wasn’t disappointed! 

Our usual routine is that as I pay for our food and drink at the counter my daughter independently chooses which table we will sit out and makes herself comfortable. Today, however, it was busy and the table she wanted to sit at was occupied. She made herself at home at the table and I followed, flustered, reminding her that we only sit at a table we have been invited to sit at. One of the women insisted we joined them and as I looked up I saw what I found out to be a mother and her daughter who too had complex physical and learning difficulties. We sat down and began to chat, and although the lady didn’t have english as a first language, we were able to talk a little about our experiences of caring for children who need extra help. I shared with her a little about me being a christian and in broken english she asked me if I had found that my daughter is more in the spiritual world than our world here. I agreed that she has a spirituality deeper than most of us and after a few moments thought she replied. “Don’t you wish you were in that world too?” After talking a little while longer, we said goodbye and went on our way, but it was such a profound Holy moment, a moment I would have missed if I hadn’t been willing to be interrupted.

This was such a beautiful reminder of doing life at a slower pace, a pace that is willing to be interrupted and joining with God in what he is already doing.