INTERRUGNUM-INTERREGNA
INTERRUGNUM-INTERREGNA
“After he had dismissed the crowd, he went up to the mountain
by himself to pray.” (Mt. 14: 24)
On its face, this little sentence seems pro forma. Our Lord leaves the masses and prays. Even Jesus needs space. To respond to their needs-to offer direction- to think of new strategies that will manifest his vision-to call out to a higher source for support and direction necessitate temporary separation and/or withdrawal. Going up to the mountain puts flesh on Psalm 121:2. More than lifting his eyes to the hills, the Son of God goes there for private conversation with God. Is it not his duty to so do? The Supreme Exemplar and soon to be Paschal Lamb dare not fail to practice what he preaches. Nothing annihilates the message of the messenger to his disciples and the crowd quicker that an inability to “walk the talk.”
More is at stake in Jesus’ time of prayer than practicing what one preaches. His religious movement is in crisis. Protests abound. Rome does not understand. Neither do the folks who belong to Jesus’ hometown synagogue in Nazareth. Plus his disciples are not always supportive. Something must be done to respond to the criticism. In Spiritual Retreat, he seeks direction. Christ can halt his movement. He can change his goals so that they are no longer in conflict with the powers that be. Or, Christ may proceed with his movement fully aware that his support will dissipate and objections increase as he seeks to do God’s will and none other. One may speculate that the struggle with focus is directly responsible for Christ dismissing the crowd and stealing away to the garden of prayer.
Quite frankly, Jesus’ desire to pray and be alone is the continuation of an earlier quiet and prayerful time that had been interrupted. When our Lord heard the news that King Herod had killed John the Baptist, he got in a boat and withdrew to a deserted place. Losing John the Baptist was devastating. When Jesus’ boat landed on the other side of the lake, the crowd interrupted his prayer time. They wanted spiritual and physical food. Though Christ needed to pray, he fed the 5000 and taught them. Soon after, Christ dismissed the disciples and the crowd and retired to the mountain. To continue his work-to know how to lead-to get resourced; he had to pray wherever the opportunity presented itself. Accomplishing John 3:16 was a mammoth task as was making disciples for Jesus Christ. But Christ knew that prayer changed things.
In our active ministry in Michigan, much has been done. And there is much to be done. I’m a witness. Rare is the day or hour when the crowd by physical presence, letter, e-mail, cell or land phone, text messages, web sites, periodicals, magazines, meetings with staff, area committees, bishops, general agencies and family responsibilities demand so little attention that prayer time necessary to lead Christ and his church is abundant. Like our Lord, the demands of ministry have forced me to pray in between numerous harried moments of responsibility and demand. To stay the course- to remain true to the vision that claims me, I have needed God’s help more than ever. “Watch and pray” has given over to “Work and pray.” Jesus’ withdrawal to the mountain suggested that his leaders and/or disciples must make good use of time, particularly time which fits the words “interregnum or interregna.”
Interregnum and interregna are singular and plural meaning “the relationship of what comes before and what comes after in sequence.” No matter what we do to slow down, take a day off, the wants and needs of ministry break in on “sweet hours of prayer.” Christ demonstrates that that the demands of ministry cannot eliminate all opportunities for conversation with God. At best, one must take advantage of planned times for God talk provided by retreats, renewal and sick leaves and/or a Sabbath day of rest. Also, one must take advantage of unplanned times for prayer when the demands of the day offer moments where an interregnum-interregna are short-lived. Pray at the computer, on recess between business sessions, in the midst of conflict, when there is scant time to prepare, think, rest, plan, before another moment of ministry requires something of you. Regardless of the incessant demands of ministry or our work, interregnum/interregna (gaps and/or vacant spaces) are always available. We have to take the time to be Holy. Waking or sleeping, we need the guidance of God.
Note: Try as I might, I have been not been able to vanquish the term “interregnum” from my head. It nagged me so that I had to write about it. Perhaps, interregnum-interregna expose my deep need for a renewed time and pray and fasting for the Michigan Area when so little time planned time seems to exist for anything but work. “Hear our prayer, O Lord. Incline thine ear to us, and grant us thy peace.” For that two sentence interregnum at the end of this article, Lord I give you thanks and praise.