Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, come.  Take my lips and speak with them.  Take our minds and think with them.  Take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you.  In Christ’s name, we ask it.  Amen

Chris Gottbrath is an astronomer and computer engineer who wrote an academic treatise that he fondly calls "The Slack Paper”.  In this essay which is on the value of literally being a slacker, Gottbrath unleashes a barrage of high-powered mathematical calculations to answer this timeless question: If you're running a long race, should you take the slow and steady approach, or chill at the back of the pack and then sprint from behind to win?

As you remember from his fable about the turtle and the rabbit, Aesop favored the methodical pace of the turtle over the rabbit's last minute energy spurt.  But Gottbrath begs to differ.  He mathematically calculated that a more successful strategy in problem solving begins with actually slacking off.  That's right.  Don't dare touch that project or paper for a while. Rent a kayak on Town Lake.  Hit the snooze button a few more times.  Sure you can go downtown on a Monday night.  Kick your feet up.  As “Frankie Goes to Hollywood” reminded us in the 80’s just relax.

Now, I hope you know, I’m kind of kidding.  Gottbrath's research is really as much about rapidly improving technology as it is about slacking off.  He argues in his treatise that with the way that technology improves so quickly one is better off "slacking," or waiting for some period of time, before purchasing a new computer and beginning some project. Waiting to purchase and therefore being able to work on the newest, fastest computer will make you more productive in the end than if you were to plod along on some soon-to-be obsolete machine for a longer period of time.  So at least in the world of high-tech problem solving, if you want to beat the competition and be the most productive person possible, you must first be willing to slack off.

And Gottbrath is not alone in his call for intentional slacking in life, many others in the world of time management advise common sense slacking strategies, helpful even to those not in the mathematics and high-tech fields. One expert in the book “Turn It Off” argues that our long-term effectiveness as employees or entrepreneurs or even students is at risk if we don't occasionally turn off our computers, cell phones and brains.

Come on now…who here will honestly admit they are a slave to their cell phone…my wife gets so understandably irritated when I check email at the dinner table or worse take calls?  I mean if I can’t check my email when I am on vacation I practically freak out!

As I am sure you are aware, this past Wednesday we began once again the season of Lent.  Among other things, Lent reminds us that disengaging from the busyness of the world including our compulsive desire to be connected to all people at all times might actually be a good thing for a while.  Lent suggests to us that it might be spiritually edifying to slack off, if you will, from some things that seem to consume our time, in order to pay more attention to other things that don’t get much of our attention like our relationship with God and even perhaps some friends and family.  As I like to say, Lent is our yearly reminder to at least for 40 days out of 365 take our spiritual lives seriously. 

One seminary professor is quoted as saying, “We can talk on the phone…as we eat fast food…while using the ATM.  We are better at multi-tasking than ever and becoming more and more productive and efficient.  However, along with this increased pace, more is required of us.  So we hurtle through life faster and faster, becoming busier and busier. And the result is that in our busyness we are becoming increasingly efficient at leading meaningless lives.”  Sadly on certain levels I think this is true.  But it doesn’t have to be. 

Lent reminds us that to have any real success at finding meaning in life, we must slow down.  We must reprioritize our time and energy so that we are not overly consumed by making perfect grades or making more money or whatever; but, instead, be focused on things that make us better lovers to the people around us…things that more deeply connect us to God who is the true object of our hearts’ desire.  So Lent invites us once again to slack off a bit—to give up something in our busy and overly connected lives to take on something else—to grow and go in a new direction.

Now the truth is many people treat Lent as Plan B for failed New Year's Resolutions.  But I assure Jesus did not venture into the wilderness in today’s Gospel lesson to lower his fat intake or curb a slight Face book addiction.  He “was led” into the wilderness by the Spirit to develop an attitude that slacked away from the cares and preoccupations of this world to instead focus on knowing God more deeply.  And of course that is exactly what occurred. 

In fact, we see in the Gospel lesson that Jesus becomes so deeply connected to God as his only source for meaning that he is able to resist the Devil’s tempting.  And we are not talking about being tempted by fast food or ice cream.  Jesus is tempted by the three biggies of material comfort, fame, and unimaginable power—three things that consume the time and energy of so many in our world.  Money, fame, power…three things that so often get in our own way of learning to be better lovers to the people around us—three things that so often get in our way of trusting and knowing God more deeply. 

After well over a month of little or no food the Devil reminds Jesus, “You know, you could turn these stones into loaves of bread.  Crusty, chewy, extraordinarily tasty bread.”  Well of course he could.  Water into wine.  Stones into bread.  What's the difference?  Yet the whole point of Jesus’ time in the wilderness was to become less dependent on the material comforts the world offers and ever more dependent on his Father in heaven. He could turn stones into bread, sure, but bread is not everything.  One does not live by bread alone. 

Next the devil flatters him. “You could fling yourself off the pinnacle of the temple, and armies of angels will swoop down and save you at the snap of your fingers. How cool is that—people will love you—your name will become famous all over the world?” But you see Jesus was more interested in knowing God’s love personally than having the admiration of the world, and he knew better than to test God with games. 

Finally, the devil tempts him with unimaginable power: “You're the man, Jesus.  You can take control of the whole world.”  I imagine the Devil with an arm casually tossed around Jesus’ shoulder, egging him on, “One day all this could be yours,” as if the Devil were the one who really owned it all.  Jesus could have crushed the power of the world's most sophisticated armies, richest treasuries and smartest think tanks.  But instead, he waved Satan off like a pesky fly, remembering the commandment: “Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”  Jesus' retreat out of the world and into the wilderness reminds us of the importance of being totally tethered to God—the one who ultimately feeds us, protects us, and owns us.  Like Jesus on his own 40 day journey, if we will slack off a bit from being consumed by all the world offers, we too can discover a freedom from its empty temptations. 

Now I want to say at this point that the temptations of money, fame, and power—or anything for that matter that the world offers—are not in and of themselves bad.  Money can build hospitals and schools that serve the underserved, famous people like U2’s Bono can bring needed attention to great problems in our world like the Aids epidemic in Africa, and power can be used to create a more just society where the dignity of every human being is respected.  However, problems arise for us when they themselves become the things we love most, worship with our time, or become that which gives us our sense of value and meaning.  If this is where you find yourself today, eventually you will learn that in the end you are lost and empty.

What is consuming your energy?  What or who do you love most?  What do you worship with your time?  Where do you find your sense of value and meaning?  Lent reminds us that the answers to these questions are found when we will take the time to develop a deeply connected relationship with God in Christ.

So as we begin again our own Lenten journeys, I give you permission to slack off a bit, at least, from those things that cause you anxiety in order to create space in your life for some God time—whatever that may look like for you.  Lent invites us into a season of letting go of some preoccupations in order to make room for the most important things. And the truth we discover, as we unplug and unwind, is the fact that the Spirit continues to lead human beings to a place of spiritual rest so that we might prepare for what lies ahead.  When we are tethered only to God, we come to realize what truly nourishes and feeds us even in the lonely places of life.  Amen.

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