Sermon for October 20, 2024: Imagine Together: A Rested Church and Community based upon Matthew 11:28-30

Matthew 11:28-30

‘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.’

---

     Yokes are heavy. They are made of dense wood, rope, and/or strong metal, like iron. Yokes are stout enough to bind together pairs of strong draft animals: oxen, Clydesdales, mules.  They are tools that allow us smaller creatures to constrain and direct the movements of much larger ones for our benefit. With yokes and the animals, we have trained to do the work, we plow fields, move goods, haul wood, and transport people. Yokes are heavy. No human who has been asked to carry one will dispute that.

     As I sat down to write this sermon on rest, I remembered that I’d read somewhere that American workers have become far more productive over the last several decades but that their incomes haven’t risen in the same way. I dug around to see if I could find the article where I saw that. I found some information from the Economic Policy Institute. I’ll share the whole article with my sermon notes later in the week. When they talk about worker “productivity,” they mean “how much economywide income is generated in an average hour of work.” They looked at a bunch of data and crafted a chart that starts in 1948.

     The data they gathered shows a workforce that has steadily grown more productive, generating more income per hour, since shortly after World War II. They say that workers are almost 81% more productive now than they were in 1948. But, workers’ pay is not 81% more than it was in 1948. When adjusted to today’s money, workers’ pay has only gone up 29% in that same era. Apparently, increase in pay as compared to increase in productivity has been particularly slow since the late 1970’s, when economic policies that had helped pay keep pace with productivity began to be dismantled. Now, I’m not an economist. But, it seems to me like that isn’t particularly fair.

     “Every shut eye ain’t asleep. I am resting my eyes and listening for what God wants to tell me.” This is what theologian Tricia Hersey shares that her grandmother Ora would tell her when asked about her daily 30-minute meditation session. She was one of the many African-Americans who fled the particular violent, impoverishing racism of Mississippi and moved to Chicago in the 1950’s. Even with eight children and the pressures of avoiding poverty and the racism and pressures of the city, she insisted on these 30 minutes of restful attention to God. In a world that often denies marginalized people rest, Hersey continues to be inspired by her grandmother’s radical insistence on taking time for her own soul and body.

     When Hersey was in seminary and synthesizing in her heart and mind the Jim Crow South history she was studying, she would fall asleep while reading. She came to see that as a gift from her grandmother, who showed her how rest, and even sleep, could open the door to the Spirit, bringing her healing and insight. For years now, she has been developing what she calls The Nap Ministry. While the name, at first blush, might seem slight, she takes rest very seriously. She says in her book Rest is Resistance, “If we are not resting, we will not make it.” Particularly for those from backgrounds of poverty and/or racialized violence or for those who, right now, are doing exhausting, under-compensated work, it is vital to claim rest as something good and necessary for cultivating the rich, whole life God desires for us.

     It is odd for Jesus to call a yoke “easy” and to call following him light burden. Especially when, in other parts of the Gospel, Jesus says that following him will be hard, like carrying a large, wooden cross (which, incidentally, is heavier than a yoke). Dr. Courtney Buggs points this out in a commentary on this text. She says, “When we consider the broader requirements of the Way, which involves leaving family; sacrificing self and one’s own interests; even at the risk of one’s life, would this be considered easy?” Dr. Buggs returns to the original Greek for insight.

     She notes that the Greek word we read translated as “easy” is chrestos and it usually means something more like “useful, serviceable, effective, kind.” The word we heard translated as “light,” elafros, can mean “slight, insignificant, or agile.” With those alternate translations in mind, she offers this reading of our scripture, “for my discipleship is characterized by divine kindness, usefulness, and serviceability, and my burden or load is slight, insignificant, and agile.” She believes that it is wise to consider these words not as a statement that following Jesus is simple, but as a remind that God is defined by kindness and trustworthiness. Those qualities can help us transform that which is a challenge into that which is reasonable and manageable... the way that 30 minutes of rest a day made the challenges raising eight children as a Black woman in 1950’s manageable for Hersey’s grandmother Ora.

     Perhaps the easy yoke is the counter point to the heavy cross. Our walk with Jesus will include both rest and sacrifice as a counterbalance. The sacrifice can be more easily born because of the rest that is offered alongside it. Jesus is not a CEO, laying off hundreds of workers, wearing down those who remain with added uncompensated labor, in order to pad his own pockets. Jesus is in the fields with his friends, gleaning, teaching, healing, praying, eating, and resting. With Jesus, there will be work, but there will also be rest.
Tricia Hersey, in her work as a spiritual director and theologian, has worked with so many people who are both exhausted and unable to take time to rest. In Rest is Resistance, she talks about hearing “I would love to rest more but I have bills. How is it possible?” This is one of the impossibilities of this very moment. Many people, particularly those who are most vulnerable, have little space for the rest they need to survive. And, our churches, which can be places for respite, can also be sites of over-work. Who here has needed a break from the responsibilities you have accepted as a part of this church? I bet a bunch of people here have. And, that’s fair.

     In her book, Kersey reminds us that “our worth is not connected to how much labor we can withstand.” Perhaps a word we can take from this as folks who love our church, our neighbors, and Jesus, but are also tired, is that we need to build systems, both within our churches and in the world, that don’t demand sacrifice without sabbath. Dr. Buggs lifts up two examples of churches offering rest and service in her commentary. The first is a church that had regular group of people who did not have homes but did feel welcomed by the church. The pastor and congregation had a breakfast before worship and a small changing room where people could pick up fresh clothes. They’d give anyone who could use it $5 as they came in the sanctuary, too. And, everyone, regular parishioners and people who started coming just for breakfast and funds, but opted to stay for worship, sat together as one body of Christ.

     The second example comes from her own life, as a young adult who had grown-up in the church, when Dr. Buggs got her first job out of college, she began to tithe to the church to support their ministry. She explains that after a year of trying very hard to manage her expenses, she was struggling to make ends meet. Though she was working, she wasn’t even always sure she’d have money for food. When she shared this with her pastor, the pastor helped in two ways. One, she told Dr. Buggs not to tithe for three months. And, two, she gave her food.

     This is a world where a small group of people benefit from large groups of people being worked too hard. Systems that required increased productivity without increased pay or increased support are systems that run counter to Jesus’ promise of rest that restores us for service. Today’s reading is a call to Imagine Together a rested church and community. May we make the time to rest within our church community. And, in times of service, make sure that our neighbors can rest, too.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Courtney Buggs’ commentary in the Imagine Together stewardship material
Marvin A. Sweeney’s entry on yokes in in Harper Collins Bible Dictionary, Paul Achetemeier, ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1996)
Productivity pay gap: https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/
Tricia Hersey, Rest is Resistance (New York: Little, Brown Spark, 2022)