“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

(the following was published in the St James PlainDealer, 4/30/2020 edition) 

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen

We are tired. We are tired of waiting; tired of watching the latest news reports and statistics; tired of doing things differently; tired of fear and anxiety. We are tired.

Many yearn to go back to the ‘way it was,’ forgetting the complaints we had prior to the ‘way it is.’ Now, experiencing our current weariness, we view our previous weariness with nostalgia.

Human beings are funny creatures. In winter we complain about the cold. In summer we complain about the heat. We can always focus on something less than desirable in the present and remember something more desirable from the past. Even the Israelites managed to recall their time of slavery and oppression in Egypt through eyes of nostalgia while wandering the desert.

There is weariness in every time and in every place and always has been. The disciples experienced weariness. They were tired of being rejected; tired of being confused; tired of waiting. Christ said to them, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

No matter what the cause for the weariness, the ability of Christ to carry those burdens remains the same. Christ carries your weariness and gives you rest. Christ carries your burden of sin and death to the cross. He frees you by the resurrection. His yoke is new life. Jesus places that yoke upon you and gives you rest – now and forever. Amen.

Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. ⁸ Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. ¹⁰ And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. ¹¹ To him be the power forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:7-11)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen

We are living in an anxious time. We are weary, afraid, confused, uncertain, and concerned. We are inundated daily with an overabundance of fluctuating facts, statistics, theories, and speculations. This fills our ears and brains with uncertainty and worry.

Anxiety is defined by the dictionary, “a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.” Right now, many of us have feelings of worry, nervousness, and unease. We are anticipating the imminent worst possible outcome, while agonizingly aware that the outcome is very uncertain. On top of this, we have the sense that the outcome may depend largely upon our own actions. We then multiply this feeling of anxiety over the masses and we have our current situation.

We have heard a little bit about how viruses mutate, especially at the beginning of this crisis. Anxiety, especially mass or cultural anxiety, can also mutate. That sense of worry and unease can easily turn into other destructive emotions. How often does anxiety mutate into hysteria, hopelessness, despair, apathy…? What effect on a community commence when those emotions become widespread?

The early disciples were quite familiar with anxiety. They lived in fear of the Jews, the Romans, even their own family members. It was not uncommon for family members to out their loved ones as followers of ‘the Way’ (as early Christians were dubbed) in last ditch efforts to ‘bring them back to their senses.’ They faced arrest, persecution, and rejection from their peers, families, and civic leaders. Many even faced physical death.

In spite of anxiety and persecution, ‘the Way’ did not dissipate. It flourished. “Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord” (Acts 5:14a). God was still in control and God was using those anxious early Christians to bring more people to faith. In the midst of all those anxiety producing challenges, God gave grace and peace.

Both Paul and Peter experienced this firsthand. They both faced arrest, sufferings, hardships, and eventual physical death. Peter was crucified. Paul presumably died in Rome under house arrest. Yet they saw these hardships are opportunities to share the Good News in Jesus Christ. They knew a force more powerful than the hardships of this world. No matter what befell them, God was with them.

It takes discipline to combat anxiety before it mutates into anything worse. Peter’s words in his letter are still applicable today. In the face of anxiety, we stay alert and discipline ourselves to face whatever hardship or faith challenge that may come our way. We use the gifts God has given us to resist the lure for that anxiety to morph into something more detrimental to our very souls. We find ways to remind one another that there is a savior infinitely more powerful than anything we can imagine. We retell one another that God is in control – God is fighting for us. We cling to those words, “my grace is sufficient for you.” God’s grace is sufficient for you in all our weakness and anxiety. His grace makes you whole. As we face the coming days, never forget – the power of Christ dwells in you, cast all your anxieties on Him.

The grace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

 …but he (Jesus) said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. ¹⁰ Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)