A Special Service of Lament, Prayer, and Hope - June 2020
One of my favorite parts of the service of Compline is one of the recommended readings, a portion of Matthew chapter 11 where Jesus says, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” We hear this just before going to bed, as a reminder that it is God whom we rest in. No matter the challenges of the day that we face, no matter the heaviness of our fragile human existence, God’s rest and God’s grace change our reality.
If I am honest, I haven’t really felt that lately. As I watch our families struggling with the economic realities of 2020, or the burdens placed on our families who care for loved ones in long-term care facilities, there is a stress that seems new. As our country grapples with a 400-year history of violence on people of color and how we as people of faith can respond to our Baptismal Covenant to respect the dignity of every human being, it feels heavy. As a pandemic continues to spread, and our energy and willingness to fight it wanes, it feels heavy. How can we, as people of faith, continue the work of caring for others, of striving for justice and peace, of working to make systems more just, of dismantling racism, of doing the hard work of exploring our own brokenness and sinfulness so that we can receive the grace of God?
In the words of the prophet Micah, “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
How do we do this? I think we begin with prayer. We lament all of the things that we wish were different. We recognize that our dependence in this life comes from God. As we do in almost every service (except in the season of Easter), we confess as a community. In the words of Enriching Our Worship 1, we confess of the evil that enslaves us. We confess to God that “we have denied your goodness in each other, in ourselves, and in the world you have created.” Then we remember that it is God that restores us all, so that we can begin once again to work to see the kingdom of God manifest here on earth. We all have burdens, and we let God help us carry them.
Place your rock on this outdoor chapel altar at Saint Stephen’s between now and Tuesday, June 16, at 3pm.
I invite you to pick up a rock and carry it some this week, to represent the weight of the burdens you carry. Before next Tuesday at 3pm, you are invited to place your rock - as a symbol of your burdens - on the altar of the outdoor chapel at Saint Stephen’s. Here is a picture of the site.
At 6:30pm on Wednesday, June 17, we will stream a service of Lament, Prayer, and Hope from the Parish Hall. Patty Pilon will provide music on the cello. There is much heaviness around us, and when we acknowledge God’s grace, it is my hope that we can have the strength to live out our faith during this challenging time.
Faithfully,
John+