In his Ash Wednesday sermon, the Dean of King’s College, Cambridge tells us to slow our lives down.
God is always first, always prior, always ahead of us. As R.S. Thomas put it, ours is ‘such a fast God’. God is certainly faster than we are.
And it is because God is fast that we can afford to slow down. A few years ago I encouraged people to give up busyness for Lent. The call is still a serious one. We rush about so much that we are in danger of experiencing everything, but missing the meaning. Materialism is a spiritual danger for us all; we are so easily tempted to value the material or financial world as if they are all that matter; but our sins these days are just as often to do with time as with things or wealth.
We underestimate the richness and depth of the present moment as we rush on to the next thing or squeeze in another trivial task or passing pleasure. We routinely create demands for ourselves or our colleagues that are impossible to achieve without distorting the basic balance of life or making us scrimp on time that should be devoted to things that are intrinsically worthwhile – people, art, and contemplation. ‘What is this life if full of care we have no time to stand and stare?’
Stephen Cherry, Dean of King’s College, Cambridge
The full sermon can be read on Stephen’s blog.
Stephen Cherry is the author of two Beyond Busyness books (Time Wisdom for Ministry and Time Wisdom in an Hour), and launched www.notbusy.co.uk to help people give up busyness for Lent.
