2017-10 Burdens and Yokes (Matthew 11 16-30)

In this final week of field education at the Carlsbad-By-The Sea (CBTS) retirement home I prayed and thought about the sermon for the coming Sunday based on the Gospel reading of Matthew 11:16-19 and 25-30.

In our Gospel reading today there are two parts that identify both the rejection of Jesus, and how He can ease our burdens.

The people who are rejecting Jesus are like children who cannot decide which game to play and form teams or take sides.

Jesus compares this to how the message of both He and John the Baptist were rejected. John, focused on judgment and repentance which provoked strong reactions, while Jesus, like John, announces the coming of the kingdom of heaven but was not as harsh and abrasive.

The people He was addressing find reason to take offense at their messages and do not act like Christians. Like today, we too can reject the message and division can also show up in our day to day lives.

On the radio I heard a report that said we still have a divided society but whilst a few decades ago the divisions were about race or economics, todays divisions are mainly about which political party a person supports. They said that polls have identified people in one party are actually afraid of people in the other party. Political discussion, even between friends and family is causing argument.

Last week in the over 55’s resort where we are staying one political association had a list of all their members and had planted American flags in their front yards. Initially we thought this was just the Home Owners Association (HOA) being patriotic but then we noticed the flags were not on every yard.

In talking to someone we knew who had been in the resort many years, it appeared that the “flagless” were very upset because being without flags made them seem unpatriotic.

They also did not want to play the others game or be mistakenly seen as part of that group by planting their own flags.

Just little gestures like this without thinking of the impact on others causes divisions between friends and neighbors which may require some healing.

It is easy for us to forget that the game to which Jesus call us is not about division, but is about doing the work of God in the world.

In the second part of our gospel, Jesus mocks the religious leaders and the elites who oppose Jesus. They claim intelligence and wisdom which only blinds them to what God is really doing. These leaders place these heavy burdens on the shoulders of others but they are unwilling to help people cope.

Today, the world has become exceedingly sophisticated in laying heavy burdens upon us and constant marketing tries to make us believe we are deficient in some way. The largest companies in the world deploy psychology to encourage us to buy into a lifestyle or feel inadequate if we cannot or do not buy their products. And then there are the burdens and stress we impose on ourselves through “to do” lists and daily plans.

As in our world the people Jesus addressed were also weighed down by temptation to sin, oppressive rules and regulations so He invites them (and us) "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light"

It’s easy for us to interpret this passage as an offer from Jesus to take care of all our problems without us having to work.  Jesus is not saying that if we come to him and follow him we will be able to take off our yoke and walk through the rest of our lives completely unburdened.

When Jesus invites us to be “yoked” to him, to walk with Him, to learn from Him, to do God’s will with Him, Jesus is not asking us to take on more and more tasks. He is asking us to carry out our own tasks in a different way, with compassion, with empathy, humbly and with sisterly and brotherly love for the people we work alongside.

Here at CBTS we are so blessed to have a community made up of many Christian denominations, living, worshiping and praying side-by-side as a common body. We also have non-Christian residents who also need spiritual guidance and pastoral care.

At the start of this field assignment in pastoral care I saw the tasks as burdensome and difficult. I did not know how I would cope with providing pastoral care to a community I did not know or how I would react being placed in situations I was unprepared for.

On reflection I now know I had to learn to take on Jesus’s yoke and reflect His teachings as I carried out my daily tasks.  At the start and end of each day I had to pause, think, learn and most importantly pray.

Looking back over the past 12 weeks of this field assignment it was more “formation” than “education”. The education part was through the mentoring I received from various people on topics such as how to develop and deliver sermons, conducting services (of the word), providing pastoral care, and how to participate as part of the team within the CBTS environment.

In reflection some key topics I prayed about and discussed with residents in this community were:

·         Jesus draws near to us sometimes and we are unaware. He meets us in our visits, prayers and worship, and He talks to us in many different ways so we need to actively listen. He stays with us always, so we just need to invite Him in and be comforted,

·         People, like sheep, cannot be treated as tasks on a project plan. God is not on our timeline and schedule so although there are some things that happen as planned many do not,

·         With each exposure to God’s Word and presence in our lives, the Holy Spirit is actively changing us,

·         Looking back on all our life experiences allows us to recognize how we see and feel God’s glory in our words and deeds,

·         We are all within a sheepfold and are being guided to do God’s will,

·         Whilst in this world there are some mysteries we will never fully understand, but having some understanding of the Holy Trinity deepens our worship and helps us to be specific in directing our prayers,

·         We all have varied talents and skills but as we bring people to God we should also focus on making differences, even small ones, to one person at a time,

·         We need to welcome all strangers, support all our community members in what they are trying to do and carry out even the smallest of tasks in love,

·         There will be times we are fearful but we should remember the depth of God’s love, remember Jesus’s words “Do not be afraid!”, and pray until we focus on God and His will rather than ourselves,

·         Be aware of how the things we say and do can cause division within our friends and family and we may need to act or communicate in a different way,

·         Let Jesus lift that heavy burden from our shoulders by asking for forgiveness of our sins and for help resisting temptation to sin again,

·         We need to learn to take on Jesus yoke

·         Trust Jesus, share His yoke which is far easier than the ones we make for ourselves, and reflect His teachings as we carry out our daily tasks,

·         Preaching the Word should not be rushed and it is one of the most important things we can do each week.

If we do all the above I feel that we will start to love all our neighbors in thought, word and deed

I am very pleased that this field assignment has provided formation and has affirmed and strengthened my calling. It has now presented me with the opportunity to continue in service in the role of Chaplain at CBTS and as Pastoral Care assistant at St Michaels-By-The -on a permanent rather than volunteer basis.

Thanks be to God!!!

2017-9 Welcoming Change (Matthew 10: 40-42)

In this last week of my summer field education assignment at the Carlsbad-By-The Sea (CBTS) retirement home I prayed and thought about the sermon for the coming Sunday based on the Gospel reading of Matthew 10:40 to 42. The idea of welcoming strangers, how we work each day and how the unsung heroes in our community are recognized and rewarded started to form very early in the week.

At the Monday morning management meeting, Joan, the Exec Director, read out a card from one of the residents who had noticed that due to staff schedules all the Directors were volunteering to take on tasks outside of their management roles such as clearing tables, serving meals, staffing the front desk, helping put up and take down equipment for residents events. This card stated that this had been noticed by many residents and they were so grateful and blessed to have such a team helping them. The faces of the management team lit up and I could see that this is the type of reward that reflects a calling rather than a job. It meant so much to the management team it will make them even more determined to make sure any staff shortages did not impact the residents.

As I reflected on this week Gospel, I thought that the passage is not talking about anybody in particular but about all the anonymous people who work hard, carry out God’s will but get little recognition. In our three small but powerful verses this week we see:

·         “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me” has a focus on how we see Jesus in all the strangers that join our community, how we welcoming Him and let God into our lives. There is an emphasis on inclusion of all, and of building up a group of strangers into a welcoming community of neighbors,

·          “Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward” is explaining that those welcoming, providing hospitality and support to any of God’s workers will receive the same reward as the person they are supporting. Here at CBTS we have many people working and being seen by the residents but also we have an army of people working in the background. Despite not being seen the residents know they are there and value what they bring to the team effort. The thoughts and thanks expressed in the card that Joan read out at the Directors meeting was also an expression of thanks (a reward) for all the team, seen and unseen. Joan intends to read this card out to all the staff at the next employees meeting. Apart from being paid this is exactly the reward that all the employees are striving for,

·         “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” provides a strong conditional statement of the actions we all take on a daily basis. There may be people who seek to do something great but overlook what they accomplish by their countless small deeds undertaken with self-sacrifice and love. The size of a loving deed is not what counts the most it is the motive behind it and the sacrifice that accompanies it. God notices every good deed we do or don't do as if He were the one receiving it.

When I observed the welcoming, the small deeds, support, and rewards it takes to build and maintain our community at CBTS I was reminded of St. Paul’s statement in Romans 12 that the body is comprised of interdependent parts that cannot function alone.

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith;  if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;  if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully”

Later in the week we had a Chapel Committee meeting about the weekly worship service and I was pleased to notice that the members were now comfortable with me and trust me to the extent that they felt they could suggest changes. These included such changes as having someone from the community witness something in their life rather than my homily each week, multiple people reading the prayers of the people, some new Lesson and Psalm readers, and including a violin solo at the offering.  Unfortunately, as the team now trusted me they were also comfortable with disagreeing with change. It reminded me that St. Peter and St. Paul did not always agree on many things, and I suspect their supporters (their unsung heroes) also disagreed with each other.

Peter insisted that the early believers must follow the old ways, must be circumcised, and must adhere to the Jewish Law as defined in the Torah. Paul’s vision led him to proclaim faith in a risen Christ and urging believers to conform their lives to Jesus’s New Covenant. What they had in common, though, was that both understood that the welcome of God was an invitation to a place in God’s kingdom.

At this time in our maturing CBTS worship community we are also seeing the same sort of division between people who do not want change and others who want to expand what we are doing spiritually and in worship. As this is a multi-denominational community we do have some people who are conservative in their religious background gravitating to what they know and others with a more evangelical background wanting a less formal and changing environment.

My role in this situation is to bring them all together the best I can as a welcoming and worshiping community irrespective of their backgrounds and the deeds they do, especially those on the Chapel Committee who others look up to.

Jesus didn’t say that we have to agree on everything, but He did tell us to be welcoming.

Here at CBTS we are so blessed to have a community made up of many Christian denominations, living, worshiping and praying side-by-side as a common body.

As with St. Peter and St. Paul, we won’t all agree on everything and we may agree to disagree on some things on our faith journeys but we are called to be welcoming.

In my sermon at the end of the week I urged the community to:

·         Welcome all you meet, including strangers,

·         Support all community members, irrespective of their ability, in what they are trying to do,

·         Carry out even the smallest of tasks in love and look forward to God’s reward.

As we do this each week I can see that we do love all our neighbors in thought, word and deed!.