Slowing

For the second Sunday of Advent, I preached a sermon called "Waiting Deficiency" based on the Lectionary passage for the day, 2 Peter 3:8-15a.  In the sermon I challenged our folks to use Advent's slow walk toward Christmas as a spiritual exercise in "Slowing."  This discipline comes out of John Ortberg's book (one of my favorite's), The Life You've Always Wanted.  Here are some examples of slowing I used in the sermon.


--Deliberately look for the farthest parking space at the mall rather than circling until the closest one comes open.   You may walk a few extra yards – but see how it helps your spirit as you release the desire to be first.
--When you are at all of these Christmas parties – eat your food slowly.  This has the added benefit of needing to eat as much during a time when we are eating a lot anyway.
--For the next week – when you checking out at Wal-Mart or best buy or the Mall of GA – intentionally force yourself to get into the longest line.  Let one person go ahead of you.  


Why do I mention this?  Well, its rarely that I have people remember my sermons from one week to next. [I can barely remember on Monday mornings].  For this sermon, though, I've had a number of people text, email or talk to me about attempting to practice "Slowing" in their lives.

• One friend parked his car a good ways away from the grocery store.  Great idea.  Until he remembered his wife is pregnant!
• Another friend has been practicing slowing while at Disney World.  Talk about some challenging circumstances.
• I had another friend tell me they were reminded of this sermon one morning as they were trying to wake up for the day.  They spent another hour in bed.
• Finally, another friend remembered the sermon one day while driving and the person in front of her failed to go on green - simply sitting there at the intersections.  She ended up using the horn to help her practice waiting.  

I view sermons as a part of our spiritual formation ... I hope they bring to light God's Word in  a way that allows us to be transformed by this Word.  For this sermon, the thread through all of the various stories - funny, serious - was that God is working on us.  Slowly challenging our tendencies and seeking to make us more like Christ.  If we take just one small step toward the Way of Christ this Advent and Christmas what a glorious season this will be.