Service July 5, 2020 Reopening Service for in-person attendance.

Welcome back in the pews – welcome back to all our faithful Virtual Worshippers!

Call to Worship & Prayer (inspired by Matthew 11:29)

Pastor: Let us all pray: Christ calls us to come to worship:

to rest from the things that are troubling us, to learn what Christ can teach about life

and to understand what we can offer to others. Let us worship God

ALL: Come all who are weary

Pastor: of wealth, of poverty, of power, of struggle, of division

ALL: Come all who are heavy-laden

Pastor: with too much, with too little, with anxiety, with fear, with anger

ALL: Come all who have hope

Pastor: for liberation, for peace, for freedom, for change, for compassion and for humanity

ALL: Come all and let us worship!

Pastor: Even if we are tired and worn out—

Let us lay down the heavy things we are carrying— and let us listen to what Jesus wants to tell us.

ALL: Come and worship! And so, in time we will return into the world to live & to serve. Amen

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Gospel Matthews 11. 28-30

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.”

Sermon:

“When you are weary, feeling small

When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all, “

One of my absolute favorite songs of all times is the iconic “Bridge over Troubled Water” by Simon & Garfunkel released in 1970. I remember the first time I heard this song. How the lyrics moved me, how the harmonies soothed me, - and how Garfunkel high-pitched clear voice carried all my worries, tears, pains, and darkness with a promise of help, comfort, and hope.

Singing it out loud is such a pleasure, as it is a beautiful heartfelt prayer and promise that when life gets tough and rough, when we are alone or when the waves of life seems crashing on our shores, - we long to find that Bridge over the Troubled Water, that soothing voice, that hope and promise of presence and comfort. We sang it in my HS Choir, and it was one of the few selected songs that I actually managed to play on the piano, - and I still fondly remember when one of our best friends in Aarhus, a truly gifted musical soul, Ole, once treated us with a wonderful rendition of this song on the organ in an empty dark church.

“When you're down and out. When you are on the street

When evening falls so hard. I will comfort you

I will take your part, oh, when darkness comes

And pain is all around

Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down.”

I am always reminded of that beautiful song, when I read or listen to the Gospel reading today. Also, an iconic and beloved song of comfort, rest, weariness, and heavy burdens.

“Come to me, all you that are weary

and are carrying heavy burdens,

and I will give you rest.”

These words just came in perfect time to us, didn’t they? Through these past months of Pandemic, anxiety, isolation, demonstrations, divisions, and unrest, I have been amazed to find that all of the lectionary readings ( the readings chosen and assigned for all Sundays and Seasons of the church year, with a circle of 3 years), - I have truly been amazed to find that when preparing sermons and services, that these readings that I did not choose because they fitted me or my message, but these readings truly were right for this time and this hour in our history.

I thought of the truth expressed by late Eugene Peterson, who was an American Presbyterian minister, scholar, theologian, author, and poet. He wrote over 30 books, including the Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (2002).” To know the Bible,” Said Peterson, “is less about me reading it and more about haven it read me. In having it read me, I essentially consent to letting it splay my heart wide open, sometimes exposing uncomfortable truths about my life like self-righteousness, self-importance, and a bunch of other self-words.”

Which is truly true about the second reading today from Romans reflecting honestly on the fact that we do not always understand our own actions. For often we do not do, what we want, but we do the very thing we hate. “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” Talk about words reading us and our self-absorbed lives and actions, where we quite often do disappoint our own desires and intentions to do what is right and good.

Eugene Peterson words about letting the Bible read us, off course does not mean that we should not read the Bible or study the Bible. On the contrary, we should not just hold high the Bible in our hand, but actually open it, regularly enough so it becomes an act of love and live. So, it becomes an ongoing conversation.

According to Peterson, loving scripture becomes “loving the one who speaks the words enough to want to get them right.” Getting those words right is what many of us spend our lives working on. As pastors, as Christians, as believers and seekers. Because when we open the Bible and read or study it, it starts reading our lives. Expose who we are and how we live. And to speak hope into our lives.

I often enjoy reading the New Standard Translation of the Bible and then compare to Eugene Petersons “The Message “edition:

This is how our Gospel reads and reads us in his edition:

28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me.

Get away with me and you will recover your life. I will show you how to take a real rest.

Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Simon & Garfunkel, Eugene Peterson and Emma Lazarus is on my mind today.

Do you know who Emma Lazarus was?

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

These iconic words are etched in bronze and mounted on the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal. They are part of an 1883 poem “The New Colossus” written by Emma Lazarus.

The Statue of Liberty is such a great symbol of America. Of this country built of liberty, justice, and equality for all – and welcoming pioneers, immigrants, and refugees to the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Emma Lazarus was a young poet and a social activist in New York of Portuguese Jewish descent, who could trace her roots back to the first Jews coming to North America. When she was asked to write a poem, she was involved in charitable work of refugees and was active in aiding Russian Jews trying to escape to US. Immigration and freedom of the oppressed was very much on her mind. In 1903 the bronze plaque bearing the iconic words would be added to the pedestal, and these powerful and deeply moving words was to become a defining factor in the Statue of Liberty’s formation and symbolism.

During the 1880’s and through the early 1920’s there was a peak period of immigration to US. Where 23.5 million immigrants seeking religious and political liberty and economic opportunity traveled to US. We as a Danish American Church is part of that story too.

Yesterday, we celebrated 4th of July. - Yet, the celebration of 4th of July 2020 was different than usual as so much has been in 2020. No Fireworks, no large gatherings, closed beaches, social distance, and recommended masks when we venture out. For us Danes, we also regret that we are not able to celebrate 4th of July in Denmark, at the beautiful hills of Rebild this year. Which usually is the largest 4th of July gathering outside US and shows the great relations between Denmark and US.

Most years, Americans celebrate the fourth of July with hot dogs, ice cream, backyard BBQ’s, patriotic attire and flying flags. Most years, we mention justice, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, when the fireworks paint red, white and blue across the evening sky in our parks and at our beaches.

This year, however, due to COVID19 and the surge of confirmed cases in California and throughout US, we have to think about freedom, happiness, justice and rest as we are dealing with anxiety, health crisis, fear, demonstrations, racism, and economic downturn.

So, once again; the iconic words of Bridge Over Troubled waters, the iconic words from the Gospel according to Matthew and the iconic words of the poem on the Statue of Liberty truly read us and speak into our time and struggles.

Because we are tired, weary, and feeling small.

We are worried about the present and we are worried about the future.

How will life be in 2021 hopefully past the Pandemic? How will justice and equality be administered in the future so all may pursue the dream of happiness? How will life be – how will we live and travel, how will we live and have close relations, how will we find happiness?

We are surely weary and carrying heavy burdens, as our carefree lives have been transformed into lives concerned about virus and death tools; as our carefree summer has been transformed into a less carefree summer with no travels, amusement parks or beaches.

But also a summer that should showcase and confirm who we are: that we do have compassion, consideration, and care not just for myself, my freedom and my rights, but even more for our society, our humanity, and most of all for all the weak ones, the sick ones, the first responders and caregivers, - the wellbeing and survival of our society as a communal, human place of common sense, common good and common responsibility.

4th of July is a day to celebrate US as a great country and a beautiful dream of opportunity, liberty, dreams, and happiness.

We are divided as a country. We are divided as a society. Angry voices are carried in the streets and on our Social Media, so I honestly think we all need to give it a rest!

The tone and the emotions of this time are so raw. And we long to build a bridge over the divide, all the troubled waters of 2020, - and the call of Jesus to us is clear:

28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Let us remember that we are at war with a virus, - not each other.

Let us remember, that we are at war with systemic racism, - not each other.

Let us remember that we are in this together, - and not fighting our own private battle.

Let us remember to listen to Jesus, come to him, walk with him, listen to him, and learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

The Unforced rhythms of grace are displayed in Bridge over Troubled water, in Matthew, on the Statue of Liberty – and on the image of Christ as it adorns our altar.

The beautiful likewise iconic statue of Christ by Danish Sculptor Thorvaldsen. When the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen was being rebuilt after being destroyed by fire in September 1807, during the bombardment of Copenhagen by the British navy, - Thorvaldsen was commissioned to sculpt statues of Jesus and the apostles. The inscription at the base of the sculpture reads "Kommer til mig" ("Come to me") with a reference to the Bible verse: Matthew 11:28. Jesus is depicted with his hands spread, displaying the wounds in the hands of his resurrected body.

“Come to me, all you that are weary

and are carrying heavy burdens,

and I will give you rest.”

I will give you rest. There is the one thing, we long for, and the one thing that is sure. It is a promise. But that rest depends on something strange. It depends on the yoke.

We love reading and listening to the words: I will give you rest. And maybe it is no accident that we just love this verse, but dong read what comes after, the part about the yoke and the burdens. Because what it says is not popular, at least not in our culture: it tells us that burdens are shared, that we are not responsible just for ourselves but for one another, that our work lets others rest, and that our rest makes others work.

That is the unforced rhythms of Grace that we must learn from Jesus. Amen