Rhythm is a musical term referring to flow. It suggest that music flows from one point to another. I have found it helpful to apply this to how our Christian life moves from day to day.
Reading the Gospel of Luke the sixth chapter, I got a glimpse of how Jesus went about his life and ministry. Luke first makes reference to Jesus going to the mountain at night to pray, then in the morning He called His disciples, and thirdly He came with them to do ministry. Luke also makes reference later that this pattern repeats itself throughout Jesus’ life and ministry.
The rhythm that I see is that Jesus begins by being in communion with His father. After His baptism the spirit drove Him into the wilderness where He sought God’s wisdom on what His ministry should be. We find Jesus frequently going to the Father in prayer.
The second thing that happened was His calling His disciples, his support group. They were the folks that the He relied on for support and sharing in the task of serving ministry.
The third part of Jesus’ rhythm of life and ministry was to do ministry, to teach and to heal folks. When the power goes out of Him during ministry, Luke makes reference to Jesus going by Himself to be in communion with God and seeking comfort in the company of His disciples, His support group. Then back to ministry.
For me the rhythm of the Christian life is to follow in Jesus footsteps. We need to first be in communion with God, as well as frequently return to God in prayer to seek God’s call to us to what we are to be about in ministry. Second, we need to cultivate a support community to be with us in ministry. Then and only then are we able to be effective in ministry responding to God’s particular call to me. When we become exhausted in doing ministry we need to repeat praying, seeking support before participating once again in ministry. Amen.