Sermons
"Come to Me All You Who Are Heavy Laden."
Prayer
Please be seated.
Good Morning.
A week ago Friday
I performed a wedding
up in Libertyville.
You may recall that Friday
was the hottest day
on record in six years.
At six thirty pm in Libertyville
-it was still 92 degrees.
This was not a wedding
in a cool stone church
or an air-conditioned hotel
-rather it was an outdoor event
at Independence Grove Forest Preserve.
And lest you be deluded
into thinking that the nuptial festivities
took place
in a densely wooded pine forest
or
a shade soaked oak grove
-let me assure you
that the wedding was scheduled
and did occur in the prairie portion
-the paved prairie portion
of the forest preserve
-where the day's heat
rebounded and radiated
off the decorative brick stones
-creating an atmosphere
suitable for baking pizzas
-extra cheese-hold the anchovies.
My vestments
have never felt so goodÖ
The forest preserve wedding planners
with their wealth of experience
-they'd had a hot one
the weekend before
where the bride passed out
-decided to flip flop
the ceremony with the cocktail hour
-delaying the ceremony an hour
and offering the guests
an opportunity to hydrate themselves. Which they all did
-from the open bar
-not exactly
achieving the results
the wedding planners intended
- however true enough
- -it was five degrees cooler
- when the wedding started
- and the guests
now thoroughly satiated
were sweating swimming pools,
but feeling no pain.
I can only imagine
what their parched throats
must have felt like the morning after.
In the midst of this wedding
on the high plains
I had the opportunity
to observe and chat
with the grandmother of the bride
who happened to be
in her early nineties.
There she was
in this incredible heat
-riding around in a golf cart
in a beautiful pink suit
-complete with hat, jacket and panty hoes
as pleasant as could be
-delighting in the folks around her.
She was one of those people
who just exudes goodness.
You know how you can sometimes
quite accurately
look at someone
and know that they are a kind person.
Mildred was just that sort.
Enjoying the day
relatively impervious
to the heat around her.
Following the ceremony
we talked for a bit
and I asked her
-what she'd done right
that had enabled her
to live such a long life.
She smiled and said
-"Well it's probably just my genes
my mother lived to be 95
and her mother lived to be 93
-so I guess it's my genes."
Then she went on-
"Oh I certainly have seen a lot
just the other day
I was holding
my new great grand child and marveling
-here
she's just coming into the world
and I'm getting ready leave the world."
Then she looked at me and said,
"You know
I go to church all the time and I pray
-but still I worry
-because I just don't think I'm good enough."
As she said this
tears started inching down my face
-because I could tell-she was good enough.
I'm sure not perfect-but certainly-good enough.
Why was I crying?
She named my greatest fear.
For the better part of my life
I had lived
on and off
with the fear
that I am just not good enough.
I don't think I'm alone.
I wonder how many of us here
- like Mildred-are afraid
that we're not good enough for God?
Jesus said,
"Come to me all
you who are heavy laden
and I will give you rest."
God calls us,
"Come to me
all you who are heavy laden."
God calls us -
God calls each and every one of us-
because having been made
in the image and likeness of God
we are all always good enough.
Eugene Peterson, in his book The Message
translates this passage like this,
Are you tired?
Worn out?
Burned out by religion? Come to me.
Get away with me and you'll recover your life.
I'll show you
how to take a real rest.
Walk with me and work with me
-watch how I do it.
Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.
I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.
Keep company with me
and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.
Sinners-screw-ups-
individuals
who have uttered
more than one regrettable phrase
-God calls all of us
to come close
-to be close-
because for God we are good enough.
The reality of God's grace
is bestowed upon us
regardless of our many flaws and failings.
God always longs to be close to us
no matter what.
We however,
who are keeping track
of our manifold sins
and grievous misdoings
- frequently decline
God's invitation to draw near -
fearing rejection.
Yet salvation and hope
work in the exact opposite manner.
When we approach God
with our screw-ups evident-
when we allow God's love
to penetrate our defenses
-we feel less insecure
-less needy-
less brittle
and more are able to be in the world
in a kinder gentler way.
Finding rest
for our weary souls with God
-enables us to accept ourselves
-accept others
and to be
the gracious generous people
we long to be.
Remaining on the fringes
staying away from God
-continually judging ourselves
and others
-merely sets us up
to say and do
more things that fall
so very short of the greater glory of God.
It is approaching the holy
when we feel least worthy
that enables us to encounter
all that is worthy and holy within us.
It is
what enables us
to travel through life
-finding joy where we can
-and accepting what we cannot change.
Come to me
all you who are heavy-laden
and I will give you rest.
Words to live by on a hot summer day.
Amen.