Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Bob Henry
February 28, 2021
Good morning friends, it is good to be with you again this week. I pray this finds you safe and well this morning.
I started this week off on Monday morning in Greenwood, celebrating the life of our dear Friend and dedicated choir member, Jenny Morgan.
Before the brief service with family and friends, I was asked to meet with the Funeral Director. Usually, this is just a formality that all clergy go through to nail down logistics for the service.
As I entered the tech room, just outside the area we were gathering, I heard the funeral director sigh deeply as she sat down to run through her spiel.
I commented on their advanced technology set-up and said how impressed I was at how they had kept up with the demanding changes during this pandemic. Not knowing that this was solely her doing, she immediately changed her tone and began to share with me the difficult paradigm shift that her funeral business has undergone in the last year.
As she spoke, she shared of the challenges, the enormous weight she felt in helping people through such sensitive and important moments of life transition. I was now in full pastoral care mode. I took a listening posture and gave her this moment to share freely. The flood gates burst-open and she began to share the behind the-scenes stories that none of us would ever know about - what she has experienced this past year and its deep effect on her. My heart broke as I let her share.
And then with tears welling up in her eyes, over the mask obstructing the emotions of the rest of her face, she explained that in less than a year, she has directed 400+ funerals for Covid deaths alone (that does not include all the other deaths that have occurred that were not Covid related) – a few of those funerals have been in person, many on Zoom, and the most recent a beloved local teacher who died of Covid just a couple of weeks ago which she was still trying to process.
She sighed again heavily and said, “I am not sure why I am telling you this – you understand this. Pastors carry this same burden.” I realized in that moment she needed someone who could empathize with her burden to make it seem just a bit lighter.
Well, as I drove home from the gravesite service for Jenny, I deeply began processing that word the Funeral Director used – burden. The dictionary says a burden is a load, typically a heavy one or a duty or misfortune that causes hardship, anxiety, and grief. I think you can see just by the definition that her choice of this descriptive word was right on.
After returning home and settling into my chair after dinner, I decided to work on the self-led guide for this week. I sensed I was being nudged by the Spirit to look at that word, burden. But as I sat there, listening to my family busily working around me, struggling with the ongoing pandemic and daily challenges of virtual work and school, I began to have a spiritual awaking.
Not only did I ponder all the burdens that face me and my family, I also reflected on the people’s burdens I am privy to in our Meeting, our community, my neighborhood, my friend networks and pastoral groups.
I thought of the burdens of our nation, the burdens of Black, Indigenous and people of color, and specifically the Asian community, the elderly, the people with disabilities, the LGBTQ community, and how could I forget the current burden on healthcare works, teachers, front-line heroes and the families and friends of the now 500,000+ people who have lost their lives to COVID.
I sat there in silence overwhelmed by the burdens surrounding me on so many levels.
Now, I must be honest, even though as a pastor, I usually I am drawn to scripture, meditation, or prayer in these moments and I often guide others in this same path - in THIS moment, I just wanted to throw up my hands and cry out, saying “enough is enough.” I wanted to literally “cast these burdens upon God” – “cast” in the true sense of throwing them with great force at God.
I also know that if anyone would have known I was considering casting those burdens at God, they would quickly recite me another verse from bible like “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden (burdened) and I will give you rest…for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
But let’s be really honest, that all sounds wonderful, easy and quickly resolved, but I have never found it happens that way.
Burdens often abide – our casting them off may be better described by a fisherman’s line that is sent far across the water and then slowly comes back to us as we reel it in.
Yet, as I continued to ponder, I noticed again that line from the text from Matthew – his yoke is easy and his burden is light – it may be easy and light, but did you notice, IT IS STILL THERE?
Even Christ has a yoke and a burden! I think we miss that, but it helps greatly to feel a sense of connection with Christ. Even in scripture we too often write off the fact that Jesus was greatly burdened, he held such a heavy load that at one point he breaks down in tears looking out at Jerusalem and realizing their bad decisions, and on another occasion even runs away to the Garden of Gethsemane and with great force throws his burdens back at God. I can relate to this Jesus.
Folks, please hear me on this, we must get past the sugar-coated Christianity that leaves us with useless taglines and scripture soundbites, which we too often translate as “hope and possibility” - yet often leave us feeling empty or even more burdened.
Imagine, if I had simply said to that Funeral Director, “As a pastor, I think you should just cast your burdens on Christ or leave that at the feet of Jesus for him to take care of, or well, Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden is light.”
Folks, that would have been so out of place and inappropriate, yet sadly on occasion I have done just that. I have also heard good meaning Christians and Friends throw out flippant verses, taglines or soundbites with no context or explanation – often just filler for neglecting the deeper work.
But if this is how we respond, we have missed an opportunity – we have missed how God handles those burdens THROUGH US.
The author of the epistle to Galatians was having a hard time explaining this to the people. So, they wrote a letter to clarify, saying, “Carry one another’s burdens, and when you do this you are fulfilling the law of Christ.”
Wait a minute…I thought we could just send those off to Jesus and magically the burdens will be lifted, made lighter, made easier.
Sadly, too many people miss the fact that Jesus was clear that when he left this earth, we, his followers, were going to become his hands and feet and even do greater things than he did.
If we take this seriously, we are going to be the burden bearers.
Now, before we go to much further, we better take a moment and find out what the “law of Christ” is, in which the author of Galatians is referring?
If you remember, Jesus summed up his Law this way – starting with the Great Shema in Deuteronomy 6 and then adding his own spin…
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the law and prophets hang on these two commandments.”
When you begin to put this together, it is not hard to see why God would ask us to carry or bear the burdens of our neighbors. By doing so, we are loving our neighbors as ourselves. We are becoming the incarnate Christ to those around us.
I don’t know about you, but when I am facing a burden, I want some tangible help, I want someone to sit with me and listen, to understand, to give advice at times, to just be present with me, to empathize, to even be willing to help me lighten or even carry that load.
God is saying to each of us (and we Quakers know this), “I am in you and it is your job as my church to carry one another’s burdens so that you will fulfill what is the essence of our very nature – Love”
I find it interesting, have you ever noticed that often when a neighbor or friend is burdened, you seem to be able to help them carry that burden easier than the burdens you are carrying yourself? Some of the most burdened people I know are also the people who are able to lift the burdens of those around them.
I sense that is a part of our essence, the image of God within us. I believe humanity is divinely wired this way so we can take care of each other.
Folks, this shows how much we need one another. That our lives are not just dependent on our relationship with God, but they also are dependent on our relationship with one another.
Sadly, many of us, including myself, have too often woefully neglected the call to love our neighbor and carry their burden. We have looked the other way, given excuses, even blamed them for their own burdens. That is not living by the Law of Love.
We may celebrate our independence in this country, but it is going to be our dependence, love and willingness to carry one another’s burdens that is really going to bring us freedom and hope.
Folks, I will be the first to say that it is easier to seek comfort and lean on my own privilege, even point a finger at someone else instead of myself and focus on my own needs before helping carry someone else’s burden. But the reality is that for many of us, God has given us an abundance of resources to begin to lighten the loads of our neighbors.
I think it might be time to return to our Quaker Spices for a couple quick reminders. Our spices or testimonies speak directly to why we are called to carry one another’s burdens – let me point a little something out from each one:
Simplicity
Quakers have always felt they should live simply, tending to basic needs and avoiding luxuries. They were aware of the poverty around them, and that resources needed to be shared.
Peace and Nonviolence
Since most conflicts do not escalate to war...pursuit of peaceful approaches to conflict resolution in our personal lives and in the wider world is seen as a constant obligation.
Integrity and Truth
A manifestation of this testimony is often called “speaking truth to power.” Quakers are exhorted not to stand by, but to speak out about injustices they see.
Community
Quakers commit themselves to responding to the needs of others, and to the flourishing of local and global communities in all their diversity.
Equality
Also following from the principle that there is that of God in everyone is the notion that all people must be treated and cared for equally regardless of gender, ability, race, socio-economic status, sexuality and any number of other identifying characteristics for which people may be privileged or disadvantaged.
Stewardship
Stewardship is a not a choice it is a responsibility, it is what we owe the future. Three phrases used by Quakers to describe how we should take care of the Earth are “right sharing, right ordering and good stewardship”
Please remember these Spices or Quaker testimonies are the way we, Quakers, work for a connection between our inner and outer lives. They are the way Quakers take their relationship with the divine spirit and turn it into action.
They are also the foundation for why we, Friends, tangibly carry one another’s burdens and lighten each other’s load.
For the next few Sundays leading to Easter, I plan to unpack a little more each week just how these Spices speak to our condition and help us lift the burdens we each face.
For now, let us enter into waiting worship and ponder or meditate on the following queries:
Who are the people in my life that help carry my burdens, how have I connected with and thanked them lately?
How well am I living out my call as a “burden bearer”? Is there someone in my life currently that I am neglecting being the incarnate Christ to in their daily struggle?
Which of the S.P.I.C.E.S. challenge me the most and draw me to further exploration this week?