Patrick Comerford
We are more than a week into the Season of Advent, the real countdown to Christmas has gathered pace. This week began with the Second Sunday of Advent (Advent II, 8 December 2024). Later today, I hope to take part in a meeting of local clergy at Saint Mary’s Church, Bletchley, which promises to be a festive gathering, with crackers and sparkle. While I am without permission to officiate in the Diocese of Oxford, these meetings have provided spiritual support and sustenance, as well as being times of prayer.
In the evening, I hope to be involved in the choir rehearsals in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford.
But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Matthew 11: 28-30 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 28 ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’
Today’s reflection:
I lost my mobile phone on the train one day during summer. I tripped in the carriage trying to get off at Tamworth and found myself on my hands and feet between Tamworth and Lichfield, searching for it on the floor. Eventually, I decided I had to get off at Lichfield Trent Valley rather than risk travelling on not merely to Rugeley but ending up at the end of the line in Crewe.
For days after that, I spent hours on end trying to recover contacts and apps, and reload them onto a new phone. I had lost contacts and passwords, and it seemed that every time I try to upload a new or old apps, I come across barriers that became overwhelming burdens.
Who is so perfect that they have a different password for each app – and can remember each one in times of calm, never mind when we are stressed and under pressure?
Of course, I was worried that someone else would find my phone, guess my passwords and security codes, and gain access to all my contacts, my details and my savings.
As I bought a new phone and began to reload everything I still feared for what was lost, and I wondered all thast week why it all had to be so difficult.
Of course, as I was reminded time and again, it was all for my own good, for my security and for my protection.
Indeed, as I was reminded day after day in the week that followed, these are the terms and conditions.
The short Gospel reading in the lectionary this morning (Matthew 11: 28-30) is particularly short. But it is a very appropriate reading for many people as they try to balance their work and their lives, seeking a work/life balance.
But the offer and the promise in this morning’s Gospel reading hold out hope.
In the law of contract, there are two important elements … offer and acceptance.
This morning, Christ invites all of us who are tired, frazzled and bothered, weary and heavy-laden, to come to him – and, if we do, he offers us rest. That’s the offer.
What about acceptance?
He simply asks that we take his yoke and learn from him.
Ah, but many may ask, ‘What about the terms and conditions?’
As you know – as the banks and our mobile phone services constantly remind us – all contracts are subject to terms and conditions.
Well, the terms and conditions are quite simple: for his yoke is easy and his burden is light.
I still remember how the former Dean of Lismore, the late Bill Beare, once challenged a clergy meeting in the Diocese of Cashel and Ossory in words like: Who said you couldn’t dump everything at the foot of the cross?
In all of my befuzzlement and the frustrations that came with the burdens of losing phones and the yoke of setting up a new phone with all the apps and finding their passwords in recent days, I was reminded how I ought to dump everything at the foot of the cross and get back into the joys of the present moment.
‘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.’
Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 11 December 2024):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Peace – Advent’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with Reflections by the Revd Nitano Muller, Canon for Worship and Welcome, Coventry Cathedral.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 11 December 2024) invites us to pray:
Let us pray for an amplification of prophetic voices, calling out injustice.
The Collect:
O Lord, raise up, we pray, your power
and come among us,
and with great might succour us;
that whereas, through our sins and wickedness
we are grievously hindered
in running the race that is set before us,
your bountiful grace and mercy
may speedily help and deliver us;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit,
be honour and glory, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Father in heaven,
who sent your Son to redeem the world
and will send him again to be our judge:
give us grace so to imitate him
in the humility and purity of his first coming
that, when he comes again,
we may be ready to greet him
with joyful love and firm faith;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Almighty God,
purify our hearts and minds,
that when your Son Jesus Christ comes again
as judge and saviour
we may be ready to receive him,
who is our Lord and our God.
Yesterday’s Reflection
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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