Passage for reflection: Matthew 11: 16 - 19 and 25 to the end of the chapter.
I write this on the evening of July 4. Today for many people, as restrictions have eased, has seen a trip out to do things they haven’t been able to do for over three months.
So Boris says “come and spend, but safely. Let’s get the economy going again.”
So the pubs say “come and drink, sit at a table, give us your details and we will serve you.”
So the hairdressers say “we have appointments!” I know of men’s barbers where this morning there were three hour long queues in the street before even getting in the shop.
So museums and cinemas and tourist places and restaurants say “come back, it’s safe.”
And even some churches are reopening this Sunday.
“Come to us.”
This period has seen people miss so much of what they need for life to be enjoyable, so today there has been savouring of a cool pint, a long overdue haircut, a meal out, a film, and for some thinking about returning to a place of worship. Despite how weird that will be!
But please remember those of us who cannot respond to today’s invitation to come. I’d love a pint in a pub, I’d love a meal out - or at least one I haven’t had to cook - I’m long overdue a haircut, and I’d love to think I can enter a church building soon and lead public worship and even give communion following the mountain of what I’m not allowed to do with that.
But I can’t come and join the party today. I’m part of that group that is still being told to shield. On Monday I’m allowed to be in a group of six outside keeping my distance but that’s all until the beginning of August. But I’m looking forward this coming week to perhaps suggesting to some folk we might meet outside...
And then well, I’m not sure... it’s all very uncertain and seeing pictures on social media today of friends having haircuts and dinners out and with pints in their hands and planning holidays has been very hard. I feel like some of us are being left behind and if we don’t feel ready to join the party and get on with life soon, we will be forgotten. So we stay inside relying on the supermarket delivery people once a week, and the person who gets our medication and watching a box set of All Creatures Great And Small, (dear God - how old is Mrs Pumphrey and how old is Tricky Woo?)
I’m also writing my blogs and my book,(now on the third chapter on journeying with tradition); reading (books on the go about ministry and the future of the Church), and going on my rambles where I film myself wittering. I’m glad over 200 people watch them each week. That’s amazing! I can’t believe how many people seem to appreciate them. I’ve said they will continue until I do the last one when it’s safe inside my largest church to be: live from Allhallowgate, Ripon. That feels a long time off...
This mad time, which is far from over yet, has made people think what is important in life. I quite understand people excited today getting a taste of what they have missed.
It’s quite understandable as the last three months have seen our liberties taken away. But let’s hope people haven’t gone mad as the Daily Star headline implies! Free sick bags... let’s not forget Chris Whitty pleading for caution...
This time has also made all of us think about what matters. And that is also true about spiritual questions and the future of the Church. The questions about the future of the Church is not just about how we open buildings safely, but about how we are Church more effectively from now. Perhaps this enforced period of having to change how we operate will have made us healthier.
In the midst of the invitations of pubs and restaurants and hairdressers and hotels saying “come”, Jesus gives that invitation too. “Come unto me all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you a pint, no, a haircut, no, a curry, no, I will give you rest.” Rest!
But I want to say to Jesus I don’t want to rest. I’m fed up of resting, I’m not needing a recuperative year any more, I want to go back to work, I don’t want to have to shield just because I’m on asthma meds and I’ve had steroids and I get a flu jab. I want to be part of society again just like everyone else.
But maybe I need to think what Jesus’ invitation means. What is his rest? His simple promise to us is audacious!
“Come to me.”
”The only way,” someone said, “this isn’t megalomaniacal lunacy is if Jesus is who he claims to be: the eternal Word made flesh, our Creator. His promise implies a power behind it more than sufficient to lift what weighs us down.”
The “Faith and Worship” website puts the power of the invitation well:
“Jesus offered something revolutionary, much easier to carry because it had its source in his love and mercy. The Greek word for ‘easy’ can mean ‘well-fitting’. An ox yoke was fitted to a particular animal. The rough-hewn wood shaped and smoothed so that it was a bit like a bespoke made-to-measure suit! Jesus offers not a lifelong burden but a life made-to-measure, one that suits the person. It may not always be without effort, but Jesus’ yoke is laid upon our shoulders in love.
Many people come to faith because they have been at the lowest point in their lives, weighed down by the burden of living, or by troubles, illness or depression. They have reached the point where they can go no further in their own strength.”
And we can come to him, whether we are stuck inside when it feels like everyone else is rushing on. But this invitation to come lasts longer than that first pint in ages or meal out... and it comes to give us peace and comfort and hope even when we are feeling fed up. Thank God!
So what does coming to Jesus mean? Three things I think...
1. For the church, permission to have new priorities. I’m glad this past week at its Conference, the Methodist Church has committed itself to evangelism and inclusivity. We need to share the offer of Jesus to a world that needs someone they can trust. We need to say to people who’ve been marginalised or abused, you matter and you are welcome.
2. For ourselves, a lightness of spirit. What really matters in our lives? We need to hold tight those who are important to us, and have a new commitment to respect others and to enjoy community again. And we need to laugh more because life is too short! What makes you laugh until you ache? This weekend is the 40th anniversary of the film Airplane. The funniest film ever!
Ted Striker: These people need to go to a hospital.
Elaine Dickinson: What is it?
Ted Striker: It's a big place where sick people go
And the best one!
Dr. Rumack: Can you fly this plane and land it?
Ted Striker: Surely you can't be serious?
Dr. Rumack: I am serious, and don't call me Shirley.
And 3. For the world a confident hope. We rest in him. No matter what is going on, we rest in him. We cannot know the future and it is frustrating. I am meant to begin a new appointment in September and haven’t a clue what shape that will take because things are so bizarre. But I rest in him! We need to be open to his possibility even in our confusion and fed upness.
So let me commend a book which arrived today:
“Virus as a Summons to Faith” by Walter Bruggemann. This little book is Bruggemann’s biblical reflections in a time of grief, loss and anxiety. He suggests Jesus knows pain and hurt on the cross and it is from there he invites us to something new. “We can embrace a new normal that is God’s gift to us.”
“Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and you will find rest for your souls.”
“Great are you, O Lord, and exceedingly worthy of praise; your power is immense, and your wisdom beyond reckoning. And so we, who are a due part of your creation, long to praise you – we also carry our mortality about with us, carry the evidence of our sin and with it the proof that you thwart the proud. You arouse us so that praising you may bring us joy because you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
Saint Augustine “Confessions”
And a prayer I wrote on this day at 2.30am four years ago in Shetland:
God of calm seas, sailing boats, orange skies and quiet places at rest, come tonight with your peace.
Jesus Christ, crucified on a cross, embracing all the pain and confusion of the world and defeating it, come tonight with your hope.
Holy Spirit, inspirer and giver of vibrant colour to life, tonight I ask you to give direction to a situation I had to deal with today; give courage to those who are trying to sort out big stuff , and continue to help me celebrate the sudden and unexpected emergence of joy in my life that has come. Come tonight with your love.
Holy God, peaceful presence, transforming power, and giver of surprises and lovely things, come...
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