Reflection for July 13, 2015

"Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest."(Matthew 11:28)

In the Episcopal Rite I service we have what are called the comfortable words.  The above verse is one of them.

There is an invitation first and foremost to come.  So many of us need a come to Jesus moment.  That time when we face the truth about ourselves.  And one of those truths may be that we feel weary and that our lives are burdened.  I have certainly bad moments when I've felt that way.  Too much on my plate, so many demands on my time and feeling like there is no end in sight.  Be burdened by worries about my family, my finances, what is going on in the world around me.  All of it piling on and weighing heavily.

The first come to Jesus moment can be to let some of those burdens go.  Not all of them because we have a friend not a slave in Jesus.  The invitation is to put some things down for a moment and rest. And in that resting we can start to prioritize what is essential to us, and what are responsibilities that we need to take on.

Jesus later in this chapter invites us to take his yoke upon us.  We're not freed from a yoke, but it isn't as heavy as the yoke we put on ourselves or that others place upon us.

Blessings,
Ed