Tuesday 29 May 2007

Today we again move into material by Walter Brueggemann that focuses on Matthew 11:28: Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

So what is it that makes people like us weary? It is not working too hard that makes us weary. It is rather, I submit, living a life that is against the grain of our true creatureliness, living a ministry that is against the grain of our true vocation, being placed in a false position so that our day-to-day operation requires us to contradict what we know best about ourselves and what we love most about our life as children of God. Exhaustion comes from the demand that we be, in some measure, other than we truly are; such an alienation requires too much energy to navigate.

I suppose whenever our lives are driven by something we think we must become, we will become weary. And yet, I'm not so sure we understand what weary is. It seems as though we hear so often about what people have "made of themselves" it is as though that is what our lives must be...a never-ending attempt to make something of ourselves - become someone. In reality we begin every day already being somebody - children of God. One of the text from this past Sunday would remind us that by being these children of God - adopted by God - we are also heirs of the Reign of God. It is from that position of our reality that we walk into this day. It is not with puffed up heads. Rather it is with a sense of worth that can place us in a position of rest. That rest, must be nurtured because it is there in that position handed to us by God that we are able to separate ourselves from that ever-pressing need to be like the rest of the world that is moving in a whirlwind of business in order to be someone.

Connection: The simple discipline of breathing deeply could serve as a reminder of who we are in the middle of the ways we try to press more life into our living. It is like a sabbath - a reminder - a sanctuary in time - a step back into a word of promise and hope. There are many ways to take that kind of breath and to refocus or redirect ourselves for now.

Come, Spirit of peace, and breathe with us. Remind us of the pattern of your breath of life that brings rest and hope and renewal and then breaks us into moments of grand imagination and meaningful work. Amen.