Easy and Light
I’m always happy to have Christmas and New Year’s done with. If you work in retail or hospitality - or for the airlines, I suppose - Christmas means nothing more than stress. Long hours, lot’s of activity, a crush of people. I have friends who work 12 hour days during December - 6 days a week - and still must find time for family and shopping and parties and whatever is left of their life after that. For 25 years I was ‘that guy’ and this is the first year I’ve been free of the overwhelming stress of Christmas. It’s been difficult to change my way of thinking about the holidays - our emotions have memory, too. For many people, though - and to a certain extent myself - what follows Christmas is more difficult that what precedes it. Many of us are, right now, in the midst of the Great Christmas Crash.
It’s understandable. There’s so much hype, so much build-up, so many parties, baking, travel, shopping, travel - and on and on - that when it’s all over we bottom out on the emotional roller coaster. There’s a particular and unique kind of exhaustion that sets in at this time of year - an exhaustion that seems to encompass our whole person; mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Seasonal Affective Disorder is a serious concern for many of us. For most of us, though, there’s a definite sense of struggling through these remaining weeks until light and life return. Here’s the good news: it will return, and each passing day brings us closer to the world being born again.
So what to do with all this? As John the Baptist languished in the darkness and despair of Herod’s prison he sent his disciples to Jesus with a simple question: “Are you the one?” Jesus responded by pointing to the evidence: people receiving healing, freedom and wholeness, people receiving hope. He speaks to John’s doubts before speaking to the unbelief of the everyday people - like you and I - who lived in Korazin and Bethsaida. Jesus also speaks to the unbelief of the religious leaders saying, ‘no matter what I do you’re not happy’. Through it all he’s speaking to a people who are burdened by the law, exhausted by the law, separated from God by the law they can’t possibly keep, forever under judgment and condemnation. Into this world of darkness, sorrow and longing Jesus says, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
I often find that much is made of the ‘yoke’ in this passage. I think that’s an exercise in missing the point. The yoke isn’t about working for Jesus, or even working with Jesus. He’s contrasting what the religious leaders of his world were doing to people - crushing them under rules and regulations - and what he offers, which is rest. Some commentators on this passage suggest the ‘yoke’ is Christ’s teaching. That may be so, but it’s hardly the point. The point is that he’s offering us rest.
Think about that for a moment. When was the last time you heard a sermon that suggested Jesus wants you to rest? When was the last time you were asked to do less for Jesus? Sometimes our lives are stressed to the max. Sometimes are lives are so busy that our to-do lists just keep getting longer and our inbox is never emptied and it seems like there’s not enough hours in the day or days in the week. Jesus stands in stark contrast to our obsession with doing more and, although we can work our way to wealth I think it’s pretty clear that we can’t work our way to rest. Jesus brings us to the precipice of a great truth here, namely, that we also can’t work our way to God. Instead, Jesus invites us to himself, and promises that we will find rest for our souls in him. I don’t think this is a one-time, sudden or miraculous event he’s talking about here. I think that he’s asking us to spend time with him and to allow him to teach us. He promises to be gentle with us, joining us in humility. What Jesus is asking us to do is to be present in him, and allow him to be fully present in us.
It’s difficult to grasp the full significance of what Jesus is offering. This is not a Jesus who is giving us a way to be better versions of ourselves, able to do better things for better reasons. He’s suggesting that we completely, totally and magnificently re-orient ourselves from the stress and strain of all our activity to the quiet stillness of being with him. It is the exact opposite of everything our world tells us. But those of us who are suffering under the burdens of that world need to make the change. Given the time and our willingness - and courage - to follow Jesus, real rest is possible; the kind of rest that lives within us, an ever present peace that exists not in separate from our life and circumstances but amidst them.
There’s one last thing I want to say about this ‘easy’ yoke and ‘light’ burden - something I’m going to try and keep uppermost in my mind this coming year. It’s simply this: If following Jesus is difficult then you’re doing it wrong. It’s that simple. When you need something it will be provided for you. When you need an answer it will be given to you. When you need to find your way the path will be revealed. Let Jesus be your guide.
God, Incognito
Our worship time on Sunday morning was a written response to a specific question. We all sat down with a piece of paper on which had been written only, “Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” And then, neatly lettered below was one word: therefore…
This single word, ‘therefore, is where our worship - our response to what God has done - begins. But sitting down with a piece of paper and writing doesn’t look like worship to everyone. That someone might not see this as worship is difficult to grasp for those of us who are familiar with Third Space. In another conversation on Sunday morning I said that we begin our ’service’ at 11:30 and was immediately reminded of something I knew but had simply forgotten - we begin at 11 AM, but we begin in community. People start arriving at 11 or shortly after and, before you know it, there’s a hub-bub of conversation in the room. It’s a great chance to catch up with our friends and it’s a real pleasure to introduce visitors and invite them into a conversation around the coffee pot. At 11:30 we continue through the rest of our Sunday morning. Standing in a circle with coffee in hand may not look like worship either, but I really think it is. The very fact that we’re in church on Sunday morning, and feel some kinship to those we meet with, is also a response to what God has done in our lives.
And our Sunday morning, amidst all the business and stress of the Christmas season, was a quiet, calm, reflective time. We decorated our Christmas tree together, we sang a few Christmas carols a cappella. We worshiped, gently, but powerfully, through our writing exercise, with some lovely music playing softly in the background. The scripture was read. We talked about what we had written. We prayed together. It doesn’t get any better than that - it really doesn’t. It doesn’t look like any big thing. What we do is underwhelming. It takes time to see the beauty of Third Space. It takes time to get past all of our ‘churchey’ expectations to see what is really going on here on a typical Sunday morning. (It took me the better part of a year). Everything about us goes against the norm of a typical evangelical church experience. Our small size allows us to do some really interesting things but there are challenges to being a small church as well - not the least of which is financial.
Why am I talking about all this? Well… this afternoon I was reading the Christmas story in Matthew. I began to wonder what it was like for the shepherds, when they found the stable with Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus. What did they see as they entered the scene? My guess is that they saw a weary young mother, an anxious father, a baby that looked like any other baby. But this wasn’t just any baby - this was the Christ Child, this was the incarnation. But here’s the question.. at that moment, do you think the Baby Jesus met or exceeded their expectations? An angelic choir announcing that the Son of God is born - that’s a lot of hype. Did they walk away from the stable that night, scratching their heads, wondering what all that commotion was about? Maybe that’s something like us. Maybe there isn’t anything immediately and obviously ’special’ about us here at Third Space. Maybe the extraordinary work of God is unfolding here in a way that is simply understated, gentle, quiet and unassuming, that frustrates our expectations of what church should be. And yet, though it may be difficult to recognize him, here Christ is, among us once again.
I’m not trying to suggest that we’re better than anyone else. What I’m trying to say is just this - I love being a part of this community. In the beginning I was like one of those shepherds. I encountered Third Space and said, “hey, let’s go see what this is about.” Now? There’s nowhere else I’d rather be. Third Space is Peterborough’s best-kept secret. I’d like to see that change. I’d like to share this experience with a lot more people. In the incarnation we see Jesus born as a fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies, and in reading Matthew’s genealogy this morning I really got a sense that the birth of Christ is a continuation of something God has been doing for a very long time. But there’s also a sense that God is doing something new with the birth of Christ. I hope that in the months ahead we see God creating something new in Third Space. But I hope that the story God’s been telling here doesn’t change either. And my heart’s desire, as I look beyond Christmas into the New Year, is that everything here will change… and everything will remain the same.
And I don’t think that’s too tall an order for God. After all, he’s done it before.