6 Pentecost

July 9, 2023

 Matthew 11.16-19, 25-30

 + A lot of people seem to think there are secrets to the Priesthood.

 I think people think it’s a secret society, like the Masons or something.

 They think there are secrets prayers and rituals, etc.

 I am occasionally asked what those “secrets” are.

 And I guess I don’t help the situation, because my usual response is: “they’re between God and me.”

 Actually, there aren’t many secrets to a priests’ life.

 But there are things you might not know about.

 For example, what most of you might not know is that all these vestments…well, each one is put on with a prayer.

 Each of these vestments a priest wears has a prayer that goes along with it.

 As the priest puts on each articles of clothing, she or he can say a prayer to remind them that each article of clothing has symbolic meaning.

 If you go into the undercroft, you’ll see on the wall there by the vestments the vesting prayers on the wall.

 And I don’t know if  Deacon Suzanne or Deacon John pray some of these prayers when their vesting as well when they vest in their Deacon’s vestments.

 The prayers are actually good things for someone like me.

 I need such things in my life to help me get centered.

 I like the fact that I am essentially being clothed in prayer when I pray those prayers while vesting.

 And I really do love the symbolism of them.

 The prayers are interesting in and of themselves.

 For example, when I put on the alb, which is the white robe under these vestments, I pray,

 “Make me clean as snow, O Lord, and cleanse my heart; that being made clean in the blood of the Lamb I may deserve an eternal reward.”

 When I put on the stole, the scarf-like vestment I wear around my neck, I pray:

 “Restore unto me, O Lord, the stole of immortality which I lost through the sins of my first parents and, although, unworthy to approach Thy sacred Mystery, may I nevertheless attain to joy eternal.”

 And when I put on this chasuble, this green vestment I wear over it all, I pray a prayer that directly quotes our Gospel reading for today.

 The prayer I pray when I put on the chasuble is,

 “O Lord, who hast said, ‘My yoke is sweet and my burden light,’ grant that I may carry it to merit Thy grace.”

 The chasuble, in this sense, really is symbolic of the yoke.

 Now the word of the day today is a strange one.

 Yoke.

 It’s one we  really don’t want to have to ponder, because, let’s face it, no one wants a yoke.

 When we think of a yoke, we no doubt think of something that weighs heavily upon us.

 We think of something a beast of burden carries on their backs.

 We can’t imagine anything worse for us.

 Why would we want an extra burden in our lives?

 We have enough burdens as it is.

 We are all truly “weary and carrying heavy burdens.”

 And sometimes these heavy burdens truly affect our bodies.

 As some of you know, I have very terrible back issues.

 These came from fractured bones I received in car accidents over the years.

 I can’t stand for long periods.

 Or sit on a hard surface for prolonged periods.

 Every time I go to my chiropractor about these issues, they say things to me like, “Father, you’ve been carrying some heavy burdens on your back, haven’t you?”

 Well, we all do, don’t we?

 We are all carrying around things we probably should have allowed ourselves to get rid of some time ago.

 So, the last thing we want at this time in our lives is to take on another burden.

 And not just a burden.

 But a burden that is put on us to essentially control us.

 I think, most of us, even us Christians, still bristle when we describe our faith and many of those standards that go along with our faith as a yoke.

 A yoke on our backs confines us.

 It does not allow us freedom.

 And we, as humans, and especially as Americans, love our freedom.

 (Remember what holiday we just observed last Tuesday?)

 We love “elbow room.”

 We don’t like anyone telling us what to do and forcing us to go places we don’t want to go.

 But the fact is, when we take our yoke from Jesus, we find all our notions of personal freedom and independence gone from us.

 No longer do we have our own personal freedom

 No longer do we have our own personal independence.

 What we have is independence as a follower of Jesus.

 What we have is freedom as a follower of Jesus.

 Our lives are not our own.

 Our job as followers of Jesus is to go to the places Jesus leads us to  and do the things a follower of Jesus is expected to do.

 It is to live in certain ways that show we are not like everyone else in the world.  

 It is our duty to be a “beast of burden” as followers of Jesus.

 Now I say all of this to you as though I am fine with all of this.

 I say this to you as though I have completely surrendered myself as his beast of burden.

 But, I’ll be brutally honest with you.

 I find much of this very difficult to bear as well.

 I have always been one of those independently-minded people myself. I know that’s not a surprise to any of you.  

 I have never liked being told what to do or what to say by anyone.

 I have always preferred doing things on my own.

 And for years I struggled with this scripture in my own life.

 I did not want to surrender my personal independence and my personal sense of freedom.

 Which is why that prayer I pray when I put on my chasuble is not always a prayer I want to pray.

 Certainly, in many ways this prayer defines for me what ministry is all about.

 When I put on this garment, symbolic of my ministry as a priest, I am reminded of the yoke, of the burden, I carry every day.

 In a sense, as a priest, my life is not my own.

 I’m not complaining about that.

 I knew the rules of the game when I entered the priesthood.

 But the reality is that my life is fully and completely God’s.

 As a priest, I don’t always get to do what I want, or go where I always want to go.

 There are standards.

 There are boundaries.

 It’s not a free-for-all. 

 And for those clergy who think it is—well, they’re the ones, we all know, who get in trouble.

 I strive to do what God wants and I strive to go where God leads me as a follower of Jesus.

 The key word there is “strive.”

 I try to do what God wants and try to go where God leads.

 More often than not, my own arrogance gets in the way, my own fears and anxieties cause me to shrug off this yoke, and my own selfishness leads me to do only what I want to do.

 All ministry is a yoke.

 And ministry, as we all know, doesn’t just happen out of the blue.

  Our ministry that we do stems directly from our baptism.

 It is a response to the promises that were made for us when we were baptized and which we re-affirm on a regular basis.

 So, when I talk about my life not being my own, it is not confined to just me as an ordained priest in the Church.

 Rather, through baptism, we are all called to ministry.

 We have all, through our baptism, taken on this yoke.

 Because, through baptism, we realize we are God’s beloved child, and we have been given a yoke that we cannot shrug off.

 Our lives are not our own.

 Through baptism, we are children of God—and our lives belong completely and fully to God.

 Now all of this might seem difficult to accept, but Jesus says, in no uncertain terms, that his yoke is not quite like the yoke put on a beast.

 While that yoke is heavy and unwieldy—it is a tedious weight to bear for the animal—for us, he tells us, his yoke is light and the burden easy.

 It is a burden that we should gladly take on because it leads us to a place of joy and gladness.

 It is a yoke that directs us to a place to which we, without it, would not be able to find on our own.

 We, in our arrogance, in our self-centeredness, in our selfishness, cannot find the Kingdom of God on our own.

 Only in following Jesus can we be truly led there.

 The yoke is, in an outward sense, a simple one to bear.

 The yoke consists of loving God and loving our neighbor as our selves.

 It is these two commandments that have been laid on our backs and by allowing ourselves to be led by  them, they are what will bring us and those whom we encounter in this life to that place of joy.

 So, let us gladly embrace the yoke laid upon us at baptism.

 For taking on these burdens will not be just another burden to bear.

 It won’t cause us any real pain.

 It won’t give us aches and pains that will settle in our backs and necks, like the others burdens we carry around with us in this life.

 But rather, the yoke is what frees us in a way we cannot even begin to understand.

 It is a freedom that we find in following Jesus.

 “Take my yoke upon you,” Jesus says to us, “and you will find rest for your souls.”

 Let us take this yoke upon ourselves with graciousness, and, when we do, we too will find that rest for our souls as well.

 Let us pray.

 Holy and loving God, give us strength to bear what we must bear, and to go where we must go, so that in doing so, we may follow your Son, Jesus; in whose name we pray. Amen.