We’re here. In the new house, I mean. After two days of hard labor. Well, OK, after weeks of hard labor and two days of insanely hard labor, we have relocated. Change your address books once again. The Weber’s are no longer on Candlewick Drive. We have moved about 5 miles and world away. Our new address will be printed in the bulletin next Sunday at Aldersgate, or you can get it from us directly. (Sorry for not posting it here, but can’t be too careful these days. Give me a call (our home phone number stayed the same) and I’ll let you know what it is, as soon as you fill out these here forms in triplicate – no sorry, just kidding there.)
Anyway, we are all here. Two tired and a little bit grumpy teenagers, two loud and nearly crazy terriers, one extremely surly cat and a kitten who’s just in it for the adventure. Plus two adults who are older than we thought we were when we started this process. What’s old cliche? I’ve places that are sore that I didn’t know were places. Or something like that. It doesn’t sound right, but I’m not in the mood to look it up right now.
Oh there is still a lot to do. We still can’t get the cars in the garage. Every room is a virtual obstacle course getting around the boxes and unassembled furniture. We don’t where things are going to go, but we know it isn’t going to stay the way it is for very long. Count on it!
Of course the only reason we are as far along as we are is because of the many friends and relatives who came to help us out. Special thanks have to go to Greg Childs who came and helped both days, and was a whiz at packing the truck. Dr. Ron Scheeringa, who came from rounds with an open bed trailer and took two loads of bulky outdoor/garage stuff to the new house. Rhys’ two school friends, Aaron and Chris who hefted boxes like they were lifting weights in the gym. Maddie’s friend Maddy (and don’t think that wasn’t confusing) who worked as hard as any of the boys. Then my brother and his wife showed up from South Bend and Hank is simply non-stop energy and strength, and Carlene managed to find ways to pack stuff we didn’t think could be packed.
On Friday, Bob Kent and Nancy Shantz came with pick-up trucks and loaded in stuff so fast that I hardly could keep track of them. Roberta Watson came and helped unload clothes and stuff off the U-Haul, though I did resist her suggestion of driving it on the lawn to get it closer to the door. Derek Gulley showed up to help us get some of the final rearranging done here at the new house. He and Rhys were tossing couches around like they were styrofoam. (Oddly enough, the movers who were hired for the big stuff (Hoover the Movers - cute, eh?) had a Derek on the team too. So for a while yesterday afternoon we had three Derek’s in the house!)
Of course the toting and carrying wasn’t the whole story of the help provided. Amy Smith arrived early Friday morning with a wonderful breakfast, Suzi Lundergan brought a delicious dinner with precise heating instructions that even bleary-eyed workers could figure out. And lunch was delivered while I was at the other house, but I believe it was Aldersgate’s UMW at work again, with enough to feed the movers and the workers and a couple of folks who just wandered by. Many others provided drinks to keep us hydrated on hot and sweaty days. And Heather Bleeke dropped in with flowers and candy, Lisa Floyd brought some needed groceries and Dee Gulley brought joy and moral support. It was a real community couple of days.
But now I’m beat. And can hardly think straight. And need to come up with a sermon for this fourth of July weekend. And I’m a little worried about it. Then I read the scripture I chose a month or so ago. And not for the first time, I wondered Who is really in charge here?
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 "But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, 17 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.' 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon'; 19 the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds." ... At that time Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 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."
Rest. That’s what sounds wonderful right now. Not just sleep, though that would be good too. New house, new sounds, things forgotten and undone in all the mess (sorry Covington Commons), aches and pains that make it hard to relax completely. No, sleep would be a good thing.
But I have never thought that Jesus was inviting us to come and take a nap on His couch. As great as that would be, I don’t think that is the offer. “Come unto me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” There’s more to it than pulling a comforter over your head and dozing off. Especially since the next line is “Take my yoke.”
Wait a minute. That’s rest? Being yoked to something, or someone? That sounds like work. Sounds like labor. Well, it is. Jesus wasn’t offering us time off for good behavior. This isn’t like earning enough vacation time by working really hard and then getting a few extra days because we’ve earned them. When it comes to Jesus, you’d better lay off the earning language. Or you might be on the wrong end of that scale.
The offer has to be for something else than a good night’s sleep. It must have something to do with working alongside of or guided by Jesus. But working. Moving. Being. All that stuff, all those action words. It is, yet again, not about checking out, but about diving in. About going deeper. About living. Jesus invites us to restful living. Restful working.
What? Sabbath was never about being lazy. It was always about being centered of God, and the life that God intends for us. It was about obedience. It was about working in the fields of the Lord. Which means what, exactly? Well, I don’t know for sure. But I think John Greenleaf Whittier caught a glimpse of it in the part of a poem that we sing called “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind.” He talked of the Sabbath rest in one verse. But it is the fifth verse that speaks most clearly of what that Sabbath rest might be: Drop thy still dews of quietness / Till all our strivings cease; / Take from our souls the strain and stress, / And let our ordered lives confess / The beauty of Thy peace.
That’s what I really want, the end of strain and stress, the striving after that which never satisfies - never dancing when it is time to dance or mourning when it is time to mourn. Being out of step with where Christ wants us to be. What I want is an easy yoke. Not one that isn’t hard work, but one that fits me and fits the time. One that is right for me. Then I can rest easy, trusting I am where God wants me to be.
Anyway, we are all here. Two tired and a little bit grumpy teenagers, two loud and nearly crazy terriers, one extremely surly cat and a kitten who’s just in it for the adventure. Plus two adults who are older than we thought we were when we started this process. What’s old cliche? I’ve places that are sore that I didn’t know were places. Or something like that. It doesn’t sound right, but I’m not in the mood to look it up right now.
Oh there is still a lot to do. We still can’t get the cars in the garage. Every room is a virtual obstacle course getting around the boxes and unassembled furniture. We don’t where things are going to go, but we know it isn’t going to stay the way it is for very long. Count on it!
Of course the only reason we are as far along as we are is because of the many friends and relatives who came to help us out. Special thanks have to go to Greg Childs who came and helped both days, and was a whiz at packing the truck. Dr. Ron Scheeringa, who came from rounds with an open bed trailer and took two loads of bulky outdoor/garage stuff to the new house. Rhys’ two school friends, Aaron and Chris who hefted boxes like they were lifting weights in the gym. Maddie’s friend Maddy (and don’t think that wasn’t confusing) who worked as hard as any of the boys. Then my brother and his wife showed up from South Bend and Hank is simply non-stop energy and strength, and Carlene managed to find ways to pack stuff we didn’t think could be packed.
On Friday, Bob Kent and Nancy Shantz came with pick-up trucks and loaded in stuff so fast that I hardly could keep track of them. Roberta Watson came and helped unload clothes and stuff off the U-Haul, though I did resist her suggestion of driving it on the lawn to get it closer to the door. Derek Gulley showed up to help us get some of the final rearranging done here at the new house. He and Rhys were tossing couches around like they were styrofoam. (Oddly enough, the movers who were hired for the big stuff (Hoover the Movers - cute, eh?) had a Derek on the team too. So for a while yesterday afternoon we had three Derek’s in the house!)
Of course the toting and carrying wasn’t the whole story of the help provided. Amy Smith arrived early Friday morning with a wonderful breakfast, Suzi Lundergan brought a delicious dinner with precise heating instructions that even bleary-eyed workers could figure out. And lunch was delivered while I was at the other house, but I believe it was Aldersgate’s UMW at work again, with enough to feed the movers and the workers and a couple of folks who just wandered by. Many others provided drinks to keep us hydrated on hot and sweaty days. And Heather Bleeke dropped in with flowers and candy, Lisa Floyd brought some needed groceries and Dee Gulley brought joy and moral support. It was a real community couple of days.
But now I’m beat. And can hardly think straight. And need to come up with a sermon for this fourth of July weekend. And I’m a little worried about it. Then I read the scripture I chose a month or so ago. And not for the first time, I wondered Who is really in charge here?
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 "But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, 17 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.' 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon'; 19 the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds." ... At that time Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 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."
Rest. That’s what sounds wonderful right now. Not just sleep, though that would be good too. New house, new sounds, things forgotten and undone in all the mess (sorry Covington Commons), aches and pains that make it hard to relax completely. No, sleep would be a good thing.
But I have never thought that Jesus was inviting us to come and take a nap on His couch. As great as that would be, I don’t think that is the offer. “Come unto me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” There’s more to it than pulling a comforter over your head and dozing off. Especially since the next line is “Take my yoke.”
Wait a minute. That’s rest? Being yoked to something, or someone? That sounds like work. Sounds like labor. Well, it is. Jesus wasn’t offering us time off for good behavior. This isn’t like earning enough vacation time by working really hard and then getting a few extra days because we’ve earned them. When it comes to Jesus, you’d better lay off the earning language. Or you might be on the wrong end of that scale.
The offer has to be for something else than a good night’s sleep. It must have something to do with working alongside of or guided by Jesus. But working. Moving. Being. All that stuff, all those action words. It is, yet again, not about checking out, but about diving in. About going deeper. About living. Jesus invites us to restful living. Restful working.
What? Sabbath was never about being lazy. It was always about being centered of God, and the life that God intends for us. It was about obedience. It was about working in the fields of the Lord. Which means what, exactly? Well, I don’t know for sure. But I think John Greenleaf Whittier caught a glimpse of it in the part of a poem that we sing called “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind.” He talked of the Sabbath rest in one verse. But it is the fifth verse that speaks most clearly of what that Sabbath rest might be: Drop thy still dews of quietness / Till all our strivings cease; / Take from our souls the strain and stress, / And let our ordered lives confess / The beauty of Thy peace.
That’s what I really want, the end of strain and stress, the striving after that which never satisfies - never dancing when it is time to dance or mourning when it is time to mourn. Being out of step with where Christ wants us to be. What I want is an easy yoke. Not one that isn’t hard work, but one that fits me and fits the time. One that is right for me. Then I can rest easy, trusting I am where God wants me to be.
And I hope it is here, for a good long while!
Shalom,
Derek
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