Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28
A week ago today, I was walking the streets of Istanbul, Turkey. It was a Saturday morning in a city that rarely sleeps. The streets were mostly empty. Felicia and I had traveled through Greece and Turkey with a group of 35 Trinity Lutheran Church pilgrims on a journey in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul. Some 30 years ago at the catacombs of Rome, a TLC group was accompanied by a small but jovial Catholic Priest who acted as our guide. He said, “I love sharing these sites with rich people.” We were taken aback. He then said, “How do I know that you are rich people? Cause poor people don’t take tours like this.” He was correct of course, he held up a mirror and, in our reflection, we could see our privileged position in the world. A world that does not look like Whidbey Island, a world that God so loved that he gave his only begotten son.
I was walking the streets of Istanbul on a Saturday morning, one of our pilgrims was looking for a souvenir Starbucks mug. It was then that I saw him coming my way. He was old, or at least weathered beyond his years. He was hunched over, heavily laden by life and the baskets that he balanced on achy shoulders. He would hawk his bread as he moved along, stopping every third of a block to catch his breath and rest his weary shoulders. I know nothing of his story, he did not speak English. I might have imagined that he was tired of work, that he would have liked to have stayed in bed like the rest of the city, that this labor was a burden. But I know no such thing. I simply saw this old Muslim man and thought of Jesus.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Though we are privileged, rich, and in many ways blessed, we are still bent over and disfigured from the burdens that are uniquely ours and striking similar to those carried by our sisters and brothers of every land, race, and religion. We come each week to the sanctuary of TLC. We come to a safe place, to rest, to pray, to reflect on our place in God’s creation.
When you come to church tomorrow, I hope that you will hold the image of this old man in Istanbul in your heart. You see that old man will be sitting next to you. He may be disguised as an elderly woman dressed in fine apparel. He may be a teenager worried about climate change. He may have driven an expensive car to church consumed by an ominous medical diagnosis. The old man will be there, you can count on that. You may never know the full extent of his story, but he shares our humanity. He deserves our love and respect. He is a child of God, broken, beautiful, frail, insecure, putting one foot in front of the other, longing for rest, hungry for hope.
One privileged beggar, telling another where to find bread, I am your,
Pastor Jim
If you would like to email Pastor Jim direct please send a note to: [email protected]
