Year A
Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
Psalm 45: 11-18
Romans 7:15-25a
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My yoke is easy\u2026 and my burden is light\u2026<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s difficult\u2026 for me at least\u2026 to hear this passage from Genesis without thinking about patriarchy\u2026 that Abraham sent his servant back to Abraham’s country and kindred\u2026 to get a wife for Isaac\u2026 made the servant swear by the God of heaven and earth\u2026 that although God promised the land of Canaan to Abraham\u2026 that his servant would not get a wife for Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites\u2026 and to risk bumping even further into the women-as-property theme\u2026 when Rebekah responded as the servant prayed she would\u2026 he put a ring on her nose and bracelets on her arms\u2026 and while the text says nothing about whether Rebekah loved Isaac\u2026 at least it says that he loved her\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And perhaps it’s not overly foolish to say that while the Christian scriptures contain stories of interruptions\u2026 as Jesus points out that both he and John the Baptist interrupt the status quo<\/em>\u2026 and are players in God\u2019s history who are hard to categorize and difficult to accept\u2026 the Jewish scriptures contain stories of continuities\u2026 and while in our time\u2026 when there are discussions about a return to biblical family values\u2026 we can almost all certainly agree that for the Bible\u2026 family commitments are a value\u2026 the relationships between men and women\u2026 the birth of children\u2026 the dying of parents and the taking of spouses\u2026 and these days\u2026 those whose deepest commitments are to another person of the same gender\u2026 all this is part of the way in which God ensures that God\u2019s creation continues\u2026 and that God\u2019s story is told\u2026 from generation to generation\u2026 even when some of those stories may feel like burdens we carry\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And I’m confident that almost all of you have seen how men and women in third world and other countries carry heavy loads\u2026 sometimes by piling them on their backs… on their heads\u2026 but also by hanging them from a long rod or branch that’s placed across their shoulders\u2026 it makes carrying larger loads possible\u2026 and while it may be hard work\u2026 it’s more efficient hard work\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if you’ve ever spent much time on a farm\u2026 you may have noticed two oxen working together in a field\u2026 and often\u2026 they’re held together by a yoke\u2026 a large wooden bar that connects their heads\u2026 sometimes that goes around their heads\u2026 so that when one moves\u2026 the other is compelled to move in the same direction\u2026 but if one of them is as stubborn as a mule\u2026 if it digs in its heels\u2026 well its hoofs\u2026 both literally and figuratively\u2026 the work may get bogged down or stopped all together\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n In this morning’s reading from Romans\u2026 Paul laments\u2026 For I do not do what I want\u2026 but I do the very thing I hate<\/em>\u2026 I think this must be part of the human condition\u2026 and as Natalie Wigg-Stevenson writes\u2026 it’s a metaphysical battle more than an ethical one\u2026 one that bears intimate witness to the tension between everything we humans are\u2026 and everything we can be\u2026 by God’s grace\u2026 I mean\u2026 I cannot claim that I always and only do what I want\u2026 and never do anything which I don’t\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n On June 18\u2026 we heard in Matthew’s Gospel\u2026 about how Jesus prepared the Twelve to be sent out and do his work\u2026 to cure the sick\u2026 cleanse the lepers\u2026 cast out demons\u2026 and raise the dead\u2026 this preparation is also recorded in Mark’s and Luke’s Gospel\u2026 and Mark specifies that Jesus sent them out\u2026 two by two\u2026 yoked as it were\u2026 an example of what working together is all about\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus asks\u2026 what’s this generation like\u2026 and he observes that it’s like stubborn children who won’t play together\u2026 he calls us contrary\u2026 fault finders\u2026 and too often\u2026 nothing is good enough\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n John didn’t come eating or drinking\u2026 but you didn’t like his call to repentance\u2026 you didn’t want to turn from your ways\u2026 so you dismissed him by saying he was possessed\u2026 and while the Son of Man did eat and drink\u2026 you didn’t like those with whom he hung out\u2026 so you dismissed his teaching\u2026 his Wisdom\u2026 and called him a glutton and a drunkard\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Theologian John Shea writes\u2026 nothing can please these people\u2026 they respond negatively to every invitation\u2026 what they do best is to sit in the marketplace and make judgments\u2026 fabricating reasons\u2026 and smokescreens\u2026 to camouflage and justify their paralysis\u2026 the real reason they refuse the invitation to change\u2026 is that they are the privileged\u2026 the way the system is set up\u2026 sets them up\u2026 and most of what they’re doing\u2026 is protecting their status\u2026 holding on tightly to what they have\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Wisdom\u2026 God’s Truth\u2026 is not vindicated by the reception it receives from people who will neither wail nor dance\u2026 Wisdom is justified by the things it does\u2026 by the fruit it bears\u2026 so don’t gauge Jesus by how this generation avoids his invitation\u2026 look at his deeds themselves\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Rev. Heidi Haverkamp writes\u2026 much of human thought was influenced by the fact that people didn’t have refrigerators\u2026 because food can be extremely perishable\u2026 and in ancient kitchens\u2026 meat\u2026 bread\u2026 and produce lasted only so long\u2026 before they became inedible\u2026 human bodies were much the same\u2026 there were no antibiotics\u2026 emergency rooms\u2026 or dentists\u2026 and people got scars and lesions\u2026 lost fingers\u2026 toes\u2026 and teeth\u2026 they died from what we now consider minor infections and illnesses\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so today\u2026 we’re protected from physical decay and death in a way that Paul and his neighbors were not\u2026 we have well-lit produce sections\u2026 with blemish-free fruits and vegetables\u2026 and in our culture\u2026 we’re surrounded by images and examples of perfection\u2026 but perfection is impossible for human beings\u2026 Paul showed us\u2026 that the true breakthrough in learning to be Christian\u2026 comes not when we succeed at perfection\u2026 but when we realize that we will always fail\u2026 Paul calls out the sinner cowering inside us\u2026 afraid to be discovered and shamed\u2026 afraid that if we show our imperfections\u2026 we’ll be thrown away like rotted fruit\u2026 because Empire really deeply dislikes failure\u2026 and now as then\u2026 there are leaders\u2026 who aggressively reject any notion of failure\u2026 because they’re like stubborn children\u2026 who for reasons they devise\u2026 remain focused on manufactured diversions to justify their inactivity and paralysis\u2026 and drag their feet when it comes to social justice issues\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n There’s a recent translation of the Christian scriptures called the First Nations Version\u2026 translated according to the story-telling practices of indigenous peoples\u2026 it’s been out for about two years now\u2026 and offers a poetic and fresh perspective on some of the passages with which we’re familiar\u2026 Matthew 11:28-30 from today’s Gospel reads\u2026 Come close to my side, you whose hearts are on the ground, you who are pushed down and worn out, and I will refresh you. Then he lifted his eyes to the horizon as if he were speaking to all the world. Follow my teachings and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest from your troubled thoughts. Walk side by side with me and I will share in your heavy load and make it light.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fr. Richard Rohr understands that the crosses we bear are the burdens of our own experiences\u2026 and while we sometimes have to carry heavy things\u2026\u00a0 from one room to another\u2026\u00a0 or one home to another\u2026\u00a0 it’s more likely that the heaviness which burdens us\u2026\u00a0 are the invisible items that we carry in our hearts and minds\u2026\u00a0 like antiquated laws\u2026\u00a0 imposed responsibilities\u2026\u00a0 familial obligations\u2026\u00a0 unspoken expectations…\u00a0 misguided regret\u2026\u00a0 dysfunctional guilt\u2026\u00a0 and cultural shame\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n And while teamwork of many kinds\u2026 makes it easier to accomplish what needs to be done\u2026 ] for the ancient rabbis\u2026 their yoke was their teaching\u2026 and so in v. 29 Jesus says\u2026 Learn from me<\/em>\u2026 Jesus asks us to continue to learn\u2026 and I think the more we learn\u2026 the more Wisdom we embody\u2026 it’s almost like having spontaneous right action\u2026 and the more fruit we bear\u2026 the lighter our burden is\u2026 and this is the real freedom to which we’re called\u2026 and why Jesus can say that his yoke is easy\u2026 and his burden light\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67 Psalm 45: 11-18 Romans 7:15-25a Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 My yoke is easy\u2026 and my burden is light\u2026 It’s difficult\u2026 for me at least\u2026 to hear this passage from Genesis without thinking about patriarchy\u2026 that Abraham sent his servant back to Abraham’s country and kindred\u2026 to get a wife for Isaac\u2026 made the servant swear by the God of heaven and earth\u2026 that although God promised the land of Canaan to Abraham\u2026 that his servant would not get a wife for Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites\u2026 and to risk bumping even further into the women-as-property theme\u2026 when Rebekah responded as the servant prayed she would\u2026 he put a ring on her nose and bracelets on her arms\u2026 and while the text says nothing about whether Rebekah loved Isaac\u2026 at least it says that he loved her\u2026 And perhaps it’s not overly foolish to say that while the Christian scriptures contain stories of interruptions\u2026 as Jesus points out that both he and John the Baptist interrupt the status quo\u2026 and are players in God\u2019s history who are hard to categorize and difficult to accept\u2026 the Jewish scriptures contain stories of continuities\u2026 and while in our time\u2026 when there are discussions about a return to biblical family values\u2026 we can almost all certainly agree that for the Bible\u2026 family commitments are a value\u2026 the relationships between men and women\u2026 the birth of children\u2026 the dying of parents and the taking of spouses\u2026 and these days\u2026 those whose deepest commitments are to another person of the same gender\u2026 all this is part of the way in which God ensures that God\u2019s creation continues\u2026 and that God\u2019s story is told\u2026 from generation to generation\u2026 even when some of those stories may feel like burdens we carry\u2026 And I’m confident that almost all of you have seen how men and women in third world and other countries carry heavy loads\u2026 sometimes by piling them on their backs… on their heads\u2026 but also by hanging them from a long rod or branch that’s placed across their shoulders\u2026 it makes carrying larger loads possible\u2026 and while it may be hard work\u2026 it’s more efficient hard work\u2026 And if you’ve ever spent much time on a farm\u2026 you may have noticed two oxen working together in a field\u2026 and often\u2026 they’re held together by a yoke\u2026 a large wooden bar that connects their heads\u2026 sometimes that goes around their heads\u2026 so that when one moves\u2026 the other is compelled to move in the same direction\u2026 but if one of them is as stubborn as a mule\u2026 if it digs in its heels\u2026 well its hoofs\u2026 both literally and figuratively\u2026 the work may get bogged down or stopped all together\u2026 In this morning’s reading from Romans\u2026 Paul laments\u2026 For I do not do what I want\u2026 but I do the very thing I hate\u2026 I think this must be part of the human condition\u2026 and as Natalie Wigg-Stevenson writes\u2026 it’s a metaphysical battle more than an ethical one\u2026 one that bears intimate witness to the tension between everything we humans are\u2026 and everything we can be\u2026 by God’s grace\u2026 I mean\u2026 I cannot claim that I always and only do what I want\u2026 and never do anything which I don’t\u2026 On June 18\u2026 we heard in Matthew’s Gospel\u2026 about how Jesus prepared the Twelve to be sent out and do his work\u2026 to cure the sick\u2026 cleanse the lepers\u2026 cast out demons\u2026 and raise the dead\u2026 this preparation is also recorded in Mark’s and Luke’s Gospel\u2026 and Mark specifies that Jesus sent them out\u2026 two by two\u2026 yoked as it were\u2026 an example of what working together is all about\u2026 Jesus asks\u2026 what’s this generation like\u2026 and he observes that it’s like stubborn children who won’t play together\u2026 he calls us contrary\u2026 fault finders\u2026 and too often\u2026 nothing is good enough\u2026 John didn’t come eating or drinking\u2026 but you didn’t like his call to repentance\u2026 you didn’t want to turn from your ways\u2026 so you dismissed him by saying he was possessed\u2026 and while the Son of Man did eat and drink\u2026 you didn’t like those with whom he hung out\u2026 so you dismissed his teaching\u2026 his Wisdom\u2026 and called him a glutton and a drunkard\u2026 Theologian John Shea writes\u2026 nothing can please these people\u2026 they respond negatively to every invitation\u2026 what they do best is to sit in the marketplace and make judgments\u2026 fabricating reasons\u2026 and smokescreens\u2026 to camouflage and justify their paralysis\u2026 the real reason they refuse the invitation to change\u2026 is that they are the privileged\u2026 the way the system is set up\u2026 sets them up\u2026 and most of what they’re doing\u2026 is protecting their status\u2026 holding on tightly to what they have\u2026 But Wisdom\u2026 God’s Truth\u2026 is not vindicated by the reception it receives from people who will neither wail nor dance\u2026 Wisdom is justified by the things it does\u2026 by the fruit it bears\u2026 so don’t gauge Jesus by how this generation avoids his invitation\u2026 look at his deeds themselves\u2026 The Rev. Heidi Haverkamp writes\u2026 much of human thought was influenced by the fact that people didn’t have refrigerators\u2026 because food can be extremely perishable\u2026 and in ancient kitchens\u2026 meat\u2026 bread\u2026 and produce lasted only so long\u2026 before they became inedible\u2026 human bodies were much the same\u2026 there were no antibiotics\u2026 emergency rooms\u2026 or dentists\u2026 and people got scars and lesions\u2026 lost fingers\u2026 toes\u2026 and teeth\u2026 they died from what we now consider minor infections and illnesses\u2026 And so today\u2026 we’re protected from physical decay and death in a way that Paul and his neighbors were not\u2026 we have well-lit produce sections\u2026 with blemish-free fruits and vegetables\u2026 and in our culture\u2026 we’re surrounded by images and examples of perfection\u2026 but perfection is impossible for human beings\u2026 Paul showed us\u2026 that the true breakthrough in learning to be Christian\u2026 comes not when we succeed at perfection\u2026 but when we realize that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[264,265],"class_list":["post-2122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons","tag-6th-sunday-after-pentecost","tag-i-will-give-you-rest"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2122"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2123,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2122\/revisions\/2123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}