Resting

Thursday, May 22, 2008 -- Week of Proper 2

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 967)
Psalms 18:1-20 (morning) 18:21-50 (evening)
Proverbs 7:1-27
1 John 5:13-21
Matthew 11:25-30

I sometimes cite Gerald May's book Simply Sane as the best book I've ever read. His work came back to mind when I read today's familiar verse: "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 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."

Gerald May is a psychiatrist who has helped people burdened by the darkest of mental and emotional darkness. He himself has suffered from episodic clinical depression. In an appendix to his book when it was re-released seventeen years after its original publication, he writes this:

"Over the years I have experienced the difference between trying to run my life with my own hands and letting myself be carried in the arms of a loving God. And, over the years, I have never once been let down by those arms. The goodness always comes through. Of course there have been many times when I didn't feel or recognize it, many times I have felt abandoned, even betrayed. But, given time, I have glimpsed the goodness in retrospect: God and God's creation are trustworthy."

May says that what happens is that "faith turns to trust." Even when he fails daily to trust, and when he tries to take things back into his own hands in those compulsions to fix or control, "In a strange way, I am happy for these many lapses, because each gives me a chance for returning to trust. I keep reenacting the story of the prodigal son, and it feels so good to keep coming home."

He can't prove that message of trust; no one can prove that God and God's creation are trustworthy. It is so obvious that there are so many specific things in life that are not trustworthy. We have to be alert and respectful of the many ways that we can be hurt. We can't avoid being hurt, but we can endure whatever comes our way and learn from it.

Gerald May says, "When one lover hurts another, the one who is hurt may say, 'I'll never trust you again.' What does this mean? If it means 'I'll never trust you not to hurt me again,' it is a wise statement; we cannot help hurting one another. If it means 'I'll never love you again,' if is foolish; to avoid loving and keep from being hurt is like trying to stop breathing so you won't catch a cold.' ...Grounded in fundamental respect, wise trust is courageous, willing to make mistakes, willing to be hurt because it knows there is an essential goodness beneath errors and pain, perhaps even within them. Wise trust chooses life, not protection."

May encourages us to try to live trusting that God and God's creation are trustworthy. "And because even the courage to try and test it must come as a gift, I ask you to pray for it. Pray for letting-be. Pray for simply being. Pray for trust. Pray for what you need. Pray for what God wants, even if you have not the slightest idea what that might be, or who or what God is."

"...My religious faith explains it thus: God is endlessly, irrepressibly and unconditionally loving, always calling us home. But in that love, God leaves us always free to accept or decline the invitation. God treats us with absolute respect. God may beckon us gently or challenge us fiercely, but God will not make us puppets and pull our strings. We may delude ourselves into thinking that we should control our lives and destinies, but God suffers no such delusion. Whoever or whatever God is, God is sane. Love does not control. Love frees."

Those words sound like echoes of Jesus in Matthew's gospel: "Come to me, ...and I will give you rest. ...For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Lowell

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About Morning Reflections
Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas