Generous Quietude and Fighting the Frenzy: Fourth Sunday of Pentecost, Year A

Gathering Meditation: Generous Quietude (Based on Matthew 11:28-30)

Carry a little quiet inside you
while the world continues
in rush and rage
fighting and frenzy.

Carry a little quiet inside you
so that the worry and war
trouble and tumult
do not capture you in their grip.

Tarry in the Son-filled meadow of the heart
beside the still waters
where God's Spirit refreshes and renews.

Carry so much quiet inside you
that you have some extra calm
to share with me.

Responsive Reading: Fighting the Frenzy
(Based on Matthew 11:28-30; May be used as a responsive reading with leader and congregation, as a conversation with multiple readers, or as visio divina with text and images on screens)

Leader: When did the frenzy begin?
When did it become more virtuous
to rip and tear and run than to be silent before God?
When did we decide that it was better to wear out than to rust out?
Who told us to keep church people so busy lest they stop coming to church?
Somebody tell me when did the frenzy begin?

People: Perhaps we caught it from the culture
a frenzied culture
stuck in motion
frozen in busyness
intent on movement.

Leader: No matter where we got it
we can't seem to stop.
Wear your watch.
beat the clock.
be on time.
never time to rest.
look at the words of Jesus
Come to me all you that are weary

People: yes we are weary,
we have worn ourselves out,
like boxers beating the air
always struggling, always flailing,
hardly ever connecting with our goals.

All: Jesus said: "Come to me, all you that are weary." We come.

From the Africana Worship Book for Year A. Used with permission.