This is the outline of a sermon I gave recently at the Parkrose Nursing Home.
SERMON PARKROSE 30112
Burdens are Lifted at Calvary or
“he ain’t heavy,he’s my brother.”
On one of our recent babysitting days we had our 2 grandsons staying with us.
Lucas our almost 4 year old decided he could lift his 9 month old brother and proceeded to do so.
He struggled a bit and I had to help out.
Jaxon thought it was great but might not have been so happy if he was dropped.
It was a classic scenario I thought to try and bring in the concept which is my subject today with Lucas by telling him about the song. “He aint heavy ,he’s my brother.” (I won’t attempt to sing it for you.)
(I’ve been educating Lucas or teaching him some pop songs, mainly the Rock Island Line which he has declared that one day “grandad you and I will sing that on the stage together”.)
So today I want to talk about bearing each other’s burdens and the fact that burdens are lifted at calvary.
A friend and distant relative of ours is Graham Long who is the pastor of the wayside chapel in Kings’ Cross in Sydney.
He sends a weekly email newsletter.
I would just like to read a couple of lines from a recent newsletter.
“There is always a stream of people visiting here to check us out and they're always welcome. Just before Christmas, a man from a world-wide, well-known church agency was clearly impressed at the range of things that we do. He saw people, struggling with long-term mental health issues, working in the roof garden; he saw a small group constructing a mosaic tile artwork on the roof. He saw some people learning to cook with the herbs that they'd grown on our roof; he saw a discussion group for Aboriginal people taking place. He saw a busy cafe with people of all shapes and sizes mixing together as they ate. He saw a play group in action in our community hall. He saw young people in our youth area cooking their own breakfast. He saw street people being organised for showers and a change of clothes. As he was just about to leave, he came to me and said something like, "I love all these things that you're doing but what about God?" I was a bit taken back by the question because I guess I was wondering which part of what we do gave an impression that it wasn't about God. I've thought a lot since then about what I wished I'd said in that moment. I've come to realise that I've learned more about God in this place than I ever learned from any eminent scholar.”
I was discussing Graham’s newsletter with a pastor friend who reminded me that as Christians we should be about lifting people’s burdens not necessarily giving them wonderful theological sermons and teachings.
Listen to Jesus talking to the Pharisees.
Luke 11:46
Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.
Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.
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