Upon Jesus' Shoulders
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
There is a misconception in today's world that Jesus' invitation to "all... who are weary" to come to him implies that the Christian life will be an easy one. There are even some Christians who believe this and are consequently disillusioned when they encounter hardships. The truth is that all of us, Christian and non-Christian, will encounter many obstacles and difficulties in this life. Many of them will seem impossible to bear. What do we do when those hard times come? How can we experience the "rest" that Jesus promised? Scott Suskovic will write the main article, with Barbara Jurgensen providing the response. Illustrations, liturgical aids, and a children's sermon are also provided.
Upon Jesus' Shoulders
Scott Suskovic
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
THE WORLD
During the day, you would have never known that there was something wrong. Paul was outgoing. His family was very active in church. Well dressed. Quick laugh. Paul was a Navy Seal in Vietnam, so incredibly sure of himself -- almost braggingly so. It was only when I got alone with him that I found out it was all just a front.
Paul and his family had recently joined my church after a move from up north with a promising, start-up company. His four kids were dead set against the move. His teenage daughter rebelled and ran away several times. His wife could be described as passive. She went along with whatever he wanted. And he wanted this new job.
When Paul finally crumbled in my office before me, the truth came out. He had been fired over some inappropriate, stupid decisions he made with his expense report. No severance, no second chance. Nothing. "Give me your keys and leave." To make matters worse, he had been fired a month ago and never told his wife. Each day he got up, showered, shaved, dressed, kissed his wife good-bye and went out the door "to go to work." For a month, he drove around. For a month, he looked for another job. For a month, he told no one. After a month, he finally ended up in my office.
"I don't have a job. My daughter is a mess. My wife is going to leave me. I've spent everything in savings in the move. I blew it at work with a dumb decision. With that reference, I'll never work again. I can't take anymore. I'm about to crack."
At that point in life when the added burden is too much to bear, you've got three choices. First, you can just tough it out. Batten down the hatches and ride out the storm. That's one choice. The second choice is to continue plunging forward until you crash and burn. That's a real option. Many choose that path.
What if you are finally at the point of no longer wanting to tough it out and you certainly do not want to crash and burn? You have made a decision that you don't want to live this way anymore. You don't want to live with this burden around your neck, dragging you down. You need to share this load because you are tired of carrying it all alone.
It might not be a job loss like Paul. It might be a rocky marriage in which one spouse has given up or a critical illness with a questionable outcome or a mom who is left alone to raise the kids or it may even be a high school student trying to keep her head above water as she is drowning in the sea of grades and extracurricular activities. It can be any burden in which you feel the full responsibility, the full anxiety, and the full burden upon your shoulders. You're tired of toughing it out. You are afraid of crashing and burning and today you are looking for that third option -- a decision to live differently.
In the sixteenth century, there was a Spanish mystic named St. John of the Cross who was a deeply spiritual man who wrote a book with a haunting title: The Dark Night of the Soul. He writes with absolute honesty about how he, as a deep and profound believer, suffered from spiritual desolation, loneliness, frustration, and despair. He wrote from the perspective of one who had, at least at one time, a deep faith but now found that faith empty and the presence of God barren. All he could feel was darkness.
Faith worked when the sun was shining and the birds were singing but not now in the darkness; not in your deepest need, not under the burden of this moment. In such darkness, those Christian platitudes and saccharine answers just don't work anymore. In fact, they just make it worse. And there, in your own deepest hell, the only words that seem to come, if any come at all, are, "My God, my God why have your forsaken me?" All you hear back from the darkness is the mournful sound of your own hollow echo that returns to mock you.
That's where St. John of the Cross found himself. That's were Paul found himself in my office. That's where so many of the celebrities seem to live, according to the tabloids. The dark night of the soul. Have you ever been there? Are you there now? Job was, in the Bible. He lost his family, lost his business, lost his home, and lost his health. Job shook his fist at God and cried out, "Where are you?"
THE WORD
It is here that Jesus comes to us not with more platitudes and easy answers but an invitation -- an invitation to let him carry that load. In Matthew 11:28-30, he says:
"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light."
Let's break these verses down a little bit. It begins with an invitation -- Come to me. Jesus is speaking to the crowds here. Some will believe. Some will not. To those who are at a point of surrender, who have been weighed down by their burden and looking at those three options, they have made a decision that they just can't tough it out anymore. They don't want to crash and burn. Jesus offers a third option to believers who stumble under the weight of life. Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens. Jesus doesn't deny the burden or wish away the weariness. He names it as a reality in the lives of the believers. Burdens. And then a promise: I'll give you rest.
If it were to end there, this is just one more meaningless, empty Christian platitude. But it doesn't. It comes with something tangible. Take my yoke upon you. Now I've seen those yokes on the oxen. They seem clumsy and heavy -- not graceful and light. They look like a symbol of slavery and humiliation -- not freedom and life. And those oxen that are yoked up don't look particularly happy.
However, there are two phrases that tell us otherwise. Learn from me, Jesus says. The word he uses here is not that of a passive pupil who learns by writing down the words of the teacher. Rather, the word he uses is closer to apprentice who learns not by listening but by doing. If this is true, if the invitation is to be an apprentice, the yoke that Jesus is offering is not being imposed on us to keep us in line like a oxen but rather one that he himself wears. The invitation is to become my yokemate. Learn from me. Walk next to me. Become a disciple. Become an apprentice and learn from me how to share the load, how to share the burden, and how to live in the light.
For my yoke fits perfectly. Other translations say, "My yoke is easy." Fits perfectly is a better translation. It is clearer. It is saying that the life I offer to you is not one that is meant to add more burden to your life but is well-fitting. It is the life meant for you. It will suit you well. You will find rest because the burden is shared.
Don't reduce this to a bumper sticker that reads, "Let go, let God." Jesus is saying, "Let's go through this together. Let's make a decision right here, right now, not to tough it out, not to crash and burn but to share the load."
Aren't you tired of those dark nights of the soul?
I went through the Bible this past week, thinking of people who also stood at that fork in the road between crashing and burning and a decision to live life differently. Each went through a very real dark night of the soul themselves and lived to tell about it. Noah was a drunk. Jacob was trapped in lies. Joseph was abused. Moses was afraid and stuttered. Sampson had woman problems. David had a secret affair and murdered. Elijah was suicidal. Daniel was surrounded by lions. Jonah disobeyed God. Job went through bankruptcy. Martha was a worrier. The Samaritan woman was divorced -- more than once. Timothy had an ulcer. Paul had a thorn in his side. Lazarus was dead for crying out loud. Beat that! Lazarus was dead! What's your burden today that you are tired of carrying alone?
As I read more about St. John of the Cross and his Dark Night of the Soul, he said that the first step out of this hole is a willingness to seek help. That's what Jesus offers in this passage. It may not be a cure all. It may not even remove the problem. That is, your job will still be gone, your illness will remain, and your addiction will still be real. The difference is that you are no longer carrying the burden alone for there is your yokemate who begins this new journey with a word of encouragement -- your sins are forgiven.
Tired of toughing it out? Afraid of crashing and burning? There is a third option. Name it. Give it up. Place it on the cross. Decide this day to have a yokemate named Jesus. Learn from him this important lesson: Remember in the darkness what you learned in the light.
ANOTHER VIEW
Barbara Jurgensen
There's a new book on the New York Times bestseller list. It's called The Shack and it's about a man named Mac whose young daughter had been abducted and murdered, and now he's visiting the shack where the evidence of the crime was discovered.
While he's trying to come to terms with what's happened, trying to make sense of such a horrible thing, trying to find a reason to go on living, Mac is visited by a jolly black woman who calls herself "Papa" (who is actually the Lord God of all creation), by a Jewish workman (the Lord Jesus), and by an Asian woman, Sarayu (the Holy Spirit).
As they begin talking with him, he begins to see that there's more to life than he'd realized -- or even suspected.
It reminds me of Francis Thompson's poem, "The Hound of Heaven." In it Thompson tells how the Lord God was "on his trail" over the years, using everything at his disposal to try to open his mind and heart to the fact that at the center of our universe is a God who cares more for each of us than we can possibly imagine. There is a Lord Jesus who loves us enough to make the ultimate sacrifice for us. There is a Holy Spirit who delights in being with us, reminding us of the rich resources of our relationship with our Lord.
Thompson says: "I fled him down the nights and down the days; I fled him, down the arches of the years." Eventually Thompson decided to stop running and let the Lord catch up with him -- and found that he hadn't needed to be so afraid of the encounter.
He found that the Lord was more understanding, more caring, and more forgiving than he ever could have imagined. And that the journey of life, instead of being hopelessly senseless, was full of hope and meaning when he took the Lord along as a traveling companion.
In our gospel lesson for today, particularly Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says, "Come unto me... for I am gentle and humble of heart." Notice how the three persons of the Trinity come to Mac in the story The Shack. Do they come as those that our world would call successful? Do they come as Supreme Court justices or senators, as important business people, as celebrities?
Not at all. They come as the kind of people that Jesus seemed to spend the most time with when he was here on our earth: the little people, the disenfranchised, the looked-down-upon. A Jewish man, an Asian woman, and a jolly African-American woman.
Jesus is gentle and humble in heart. That's good news. Some religions look on their god (or gods) as cruel, demanding, and totally uncaring as to what happens to their people. Jesus is not like that. His whole life when he was here among us showed us that there has never been anyone who cared as unconditionally for you and for me. We haven't been the people we should be, but he loves us anyway!
That has to be the most amazing fact in all creation!
Our lives, yours and mine, can get pretty heavy at times. Like Mac in The Shack, we can wonder how we can go on. Then we let "the hound of heaven" catch up with us, and we realize that our loving Lord is wrapping his arms around us, holding us for dear life, giving us the peace and love and purpose that we've always wanted but didn't dare to believe that we could have.
Paul asks in our epistle lesson today (Romans 7:24), "Who will rescue me from this body of death?" The answer is, our Lord already has.
Thanks be to God!
ILLUSTRATIONS
His Dad's Recliner
Greg always seemed to have trouble sleeping. He and Gail, his wife, had a great life together, and their son, Michael, gave them nothing but joy. Greg's work was going well. His part of the organization was flourishing, and the people in his department respected and trusted him. Because of all the good things going on in his life, Greg was a little mystified over his insomnia.
On their summer vacation, Greg and his family went home to visit his mother. His father had passed away recently, and his mother looked forward to having her son and his family at home with her.
On the first day of their vacation, Greg leaned back in his dad's recliner to take a brief nap. Much to his surprise, he slept for hours. That night, he decided to sleep in the recliner, and result was the same. He slept all night without waking up at all. Almost every night thereafter on his vacation, he slept in his dad's recliner. Something about being there helped him to rest. Similarly, being in the presence of Jesus promises us rest for our souls.
* * *
A Gift for Soldiers
DHL, the world's leading express delivery and logistics company, with the support of a local Chicago-area business and community members delivered thousands of freshly frozen pizzas to U.S. soldiers throughout Iraq in time for Independence Day celebrations. Retired Master Sgt. Mark Evans organized the effort with the support of other veterans and friends. Evans collected enough donations to purchase 2,000 pizzas. The pizzas were packaged in temperature-controlled containers and picked up on Friday, June 27. The shipment was flown from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York directly to the Middle East, with delivery to military bases in time for July Fourth celebrations. This heart-warming story reflects Mark Evan's eagerness to give something to soldiers who won't be at home for the July 4 holiday. It illustrates Jesus' eagerness to give rest to the people who come to him.
For more on this story, see Associated Press, "Chicago-Style Pizzas headed to troops in Iraq," Google News,
* * *
A Perfect Fit
Everyone can identify with the pain of wearing shoes that don't fit. The discomfort, anxiety, and eventually the blisters make us dread having to wear such instruments of torture of our feet. By contrast, we also know the sheer pleasure of a pair of shoes that fit just right. They are so comfortable that we hardly know we are wearing them, and we look forward to the next time we can put them of our feet. By the same token, some people think that serving Jesus is nothing more than an uncomfortable and dreadful experience. By contrast, Jesus told us that his yoke is easy. In other words, it fits us just right. Serving him suits us better than we realize.
* * *
Psalm 6 can provide both an illustration and liturgical support for those wrestling with deep traumas in their lives.
Since depression is a major malady of our age, it is safe to assume that our congregations hold a number of people suffering from depression of varying degrees. Imagine coming to the prayer of confession, acknowledging that reality, and inviting the congregation to pray Psalm 6 on behalf of all of us who experience various measures of depression. Those who were feeling depressed, who felt their bodies being consumed and their faith being futile, would now hear their neighbors praying on their behalf: "O Lord rebuke me not in thy anger... be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing" (vv. 1-2). It would be natural to wonder if God would ever turn to them again (v. 3), yet, their hope rests both in the character of God's steadfast love (v. 4) and the purpose of God which is fulfilled in praise, but defeated by death (v. 5). They may well have become exhausted with the endless pouring out of their grief until all of life seems to be their enemy (vv. 6-7). It is at the bottom of the pit, at the end of their resources, when God's faithfulness takes over. Without objective proof, they find themselves saying along with the rest of the congregation, "Depart from me all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping" (v. 8).
The people experiencing depression at whatever level are permitted to pour the variety of feelings they may have into and around the words that the congregation is praying on their behalf. The form allows them to not feel totally exposed while at the same time they experience the support of the congregation.
-- Stephen McCutchan, Experiencing the Psalms (Macon, Georgia: Smyths & Helwys, 2000), pp. 48-49
* * *
Psalm 31 can be the framework for a litany by which the congregation can join in corporate prayer for those in deep distress. I have illustrated it with a prayer on behalf of those who have AIDS but one could also substitute any "traumatic illness."
Leader: God, on behalf of those who have AIDS, we give voice for those who may be unable to pray.
People: Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and my body also (31:9).
Leader: For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away (31:10).
People: I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me (31:11).
Leader: For I hear whispering of many -- terror all around -- as they scheme together against me as they plot to take my life (31:13).
People: Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God (31:5).
Leader: Let the lying lips be stilled, that speak insolently against the righteous with pride and contempt (31:18).
People: I had said in my alarm, "I am driven far from your sight," (31:22).
Leader: But you heard my supplications, when I cried out to you for help (31:22).
People: My times are in your hands; ... let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love! (31:15a, 16)
Leader: O how abundant is your goodness that you have laid up for those who fear you (31:19).
People: Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord (31:24).
-- Stephen McCutchan, Experiencing the Psalms (Macon, Georgia: Smyths & Helwys, 2000), pp. 51
* * *
Sometimes the burden that we are bearing is created by our own unwillingness to trust that God can work in whatever circumstances as Paul mentioned in Romans 8:28.
The present moment is never unbearable if you live in it fully. What is unbearable is to have your body here at 10 a.m. and your mind at 6 p.m.; your body in Bombay and our mind in San Francisco.
-- Anthony de Mello, The Heart of the Enlightened (New York: Doubleday, 1997), p. 162
* * *
From a man who suffered so much from the burden of melancholy as it was called then, of depression, as we call it now, come this amazing proclamation:
Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.
-- Abraham Lincoln
* * *
Martin Luther no doubt understood Saint Paul's inner turmoil as mentioned in today's epistle. It is as if a war were underway within the human heart. Paul, Luther, and the sober believer will no doubt humbly admit to the truth of that inner struggle:
The will is a beast of burden. If God mounts it, it wishes and goes as God wills; if Satan mounts it, it wishes and goes as Satan wills; Nor can it choose its rider... the riders contend for its possession.
* * *
On our national holiday weekend, it would do us well to remember what some of our skeptics have said about patriotism in the past... a patriotism that is blind and unquestioning is just as dangerous as a blind unthinking faith....
Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
-- Samuel Johnson, English poet, critic, and writer (1709-1784)
That's an astounding statement from a British Patriot during the American Revolution.
From Mark Twain comes yet another acerbic wit:
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Call To Worship
Leader: Come to our God,
all who hunger for life,
People: for it is God who nourishes us
at the table of grace.
Leader: Come to our God,
all who are worn-out by life,
People: for it is God who provides
the rest we need.
Leader: Come to our God,
all who are weighed down,
People: for it is our God who carries
our burdens with us.
Prayer Of The Day
Eternal God,
you sing a song
of silence
to our noisy hearts,
inviting us to still
our fidgeting souls,
and find our peace
in your cupped hands
that cradle us.
Jesus Christ,
Wanderer of the Kingdom,
you are called
to reveal God to us
and do so in
the tenderness of your touch,
the gentleness of your words,
the goodness of your heart, and
the peace of your shared yoke.
Spirit of Rest,
your childlike presence
opens our eyes
to the wonders of the world.
As we hand you
our anger, our hurt, and our sin,
may our burdens
become our songs of joy,
even as we pray as Jesus taught us, saying,
Our Father ...
Call To Reconciliation
Fretful, agitated, longing for more and more of this and that, we spend our lives in a never-ending, never-fulfilled search for that which satisfies. Christ knows that we will only find the end of our journey in God, and so invites us to that peaceful place known as God's heart. Help us let go of our burdens of anger, hurt, and sin so we can find our rest.
Unison Prayer Of Confession
We are so skilled at being in control, at taking charge, sabbath-taking God, that we are not very good at resting. We think we have to be constantly busy, so we have no time for you. We are trained to be extremely productive, and so create our harried, stress-filled lives.
Forgive us, shalom-giving God. Help us to let go of our distractions, so you can act in us; calm our creaturely activity, so you can re-create us; help us to follow Jesus, not only into discipleship, but into our rest with you.
Silence is kept
Assurance Of Pardon
Leader: It sounds so simple, we think it is too simple. But which is the burden you would choose: hate or love, anger or forgiveness, pain or peace? God invites us to receive the gifts that make it possible to have lives of faithful obedience.
People: This is the good news: God forgives us and takes our burdens from us. We would let go of them and welcome hope, joy, and grace into our lives. Thanks be to God. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Connected to Jesus
Object: a small belt you can fix around the right leg of one child and the left leg of the other child
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:30)
Good morning, boys and girls. Do you like to do things with someone else? (let them answer) Do you wash the dishes together, help each other clean your room, take the dog for a walk together, or feed your pets together? (let them answer)
I brought with me a little belt that we are going to use to connect two people's legs so they can learn how to be a team. (put the belt around their legs) Now it is very important that you both try to think of the other person when you try to walk around. (let them walk up and down the aisle or across the front of the nave) How are you doing? Do you think you could win a race walking like this? (let them answer) Sometimes you have to think about the other person as much as yourself.
How many of you have seen pictures of horses pulling a stagecoach in the movies? (let them answer) How many times have you seen two oxen pull a plow in the field or something very heavy out of a forest? They all have to learn to work together. When they are doing a job like pulling a stagecoach there are big leather straps that connect them and keep them together. One horse can't run faster than the other. One horse can't turn a different way than the other horse. Those leather straps are very important to making the job of pulling easier.
Jesus is connected to us, also. Jesus does a lot of the hard things for us that we could not do alone. When Jesus connects to us, we are able to think better, take care of each other better, and know a lot of joy that we would not know if we were not connected. So every day when we get up in the morning and say our prayers, we should ask Jesus to connect to us today and go with us wherever we go. When Jesus is connected to us, life is a lot easier and we are more certain to enjoy our lives in a better way. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, July 6, 2008, issue.
Copyright 2008 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
* * *
Psalm 6 can provide both an illustration and liturgical support for those wrestling with deep traumas in their lives.
Since depression is a major malady of our age, it is safe to assume that our congregations hold a number of people suffering from depression of varying degrees. Imagine coming to the prayer of confession, acknowledging that reality, and inviting the congregation to pray Psalm 6 on behalf of all of us who experience various measures of depression. Those who were feeling depressed, who felt their bodies being consumed and their faith being futile, would now hear their neighbors praying on their behalf: "O Lord rebuke me not in thy anger... be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing" (vv.1-2). It would be natural to wonder if God would ever turn to them again (v.3), yet, their hope rests both in the character of God's steadfast love (v.4) and the purpose of God which is fulfilled in praise, but defeated by death (v.5). They may well have become exhausted with the endless pouring out of their grief until all of life seems to be their enemy (vs. 6-7). It is at the bottom of the pit, at the end of their resources, when God's faithfulness takes over. Without objective proof, they find themselves saying along with the rest of the congregation, "Depart from me all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping" (v.8).
The people experiencing depression at whatever level are permitted to pour the variety of feelings they may have into and around the words that the congregation is praying on their behalf. The form allows them to not feel totally exposed while at the same time they experience the support of the congregation.
-- Stephen McCutchan, Experiencing the Psalms(Macon, Georgia: Smyths & Helwys, 2000), pp. 48-49
* * *
Psalm 31 can be the framework for a litany by which the congregation can join in corporate prayer for those in deep distress. I have illustrated it with a prayer on behalf of those who have AIDS but one could also substitute any "traumatic illness".
Leader: God, on behalf of those who have AIDS, we give voice for those who may be unable to pray.
People: Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and my body also (31:9).
Leader: For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away (31:10).
People: I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me (31:11).
Leader: For I hear whispering of many -- terror all around -- as they scheme together against me as they plot to take my life (31:13).
People: Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God (31:5).
Leader: Let the lying lips be stilled, that speak insolently against the righteous with pride and contempt (31:18).
People: I had said in my alarm, "I am driven far from your sight," (31:22).
Leader: But you heard my supplications, when I cried out to you for help (31:22).
People: My times are in your hands; ... let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love! (31:15a, 16)
Leader: O how abundant is your goodness that you have laid up for those who fear you (31:19).
People: Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord (31:24).
-- Stephen McCutchan, Experiencing the Psalms(Macon, Georgia: Smyths & Helwys, 2000), pp. 51
* * *
Sometimes the burden that we are bearing is created by our own unwillingness to trust that God can work in whatever circumstances as Paul mentioned in Romans 8:28.
The present moment is never unbearable if you live in it fully. What is unbearable is to have your body here at 10 a.m. and your mind at 6 p.m.; your body in Bombay and our mind in San Francisco.
-- Anthony de Mello, The Heart of the Enlightened(New York: Doubleday, 1997), p. 162
* * *
From a man who suffered so much from the burden of melancholy as it was called then, of depression, as we call it now, come this amazing proclamation:
Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.
-- Abraham Lincoln.
* * *
Martin Luther no doubt understood St. Paul's inner turmoil as mentioned in today's epistle. It is as if a war were underway within the human heart. Paul. Luther and the sober believer will no doubt humbly admit to the truth of that inner struggle:
The will is a beast of burden. If God mounts it, it wishes and goes as God wills; if Satan mounts it, it wishes and goes as Satan wills; Nor can it choose its rider... the riders contend for its possession.
* * *
On our national holiday weekend, it would do us well to remember what some of our skeptics have said about patriotism in the past… a patriotism that is blind and unquestioning is just as dangerous as a blind unthinking faith….
Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
-- Samuel Johnson, English poet, critic, and writer (1709-1784)
That's an astounding statement from a British Patriot during the American Revolution.
From Mark Twain comes yet another acerbic wit:
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.
Upon Jesus' Shoulders
Scott Suskovic
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
THE WORLD
During the day, you would have never known that there was something wrong. Paul was outgoing. His family was very active in church. Well dressed. Quick laugh. Paul was a Navy Seal in Vietnam, so incredibly sure of himself -- almost braggingly so. It was only when I got alone with him that I found out it was all just a front.
Paul and his family had recently joined my church after a move from up north with a promising, start-up company. His four kids were dead set against the move. His teenage daughter rebelled and ran away several times. His wife could be described as passive. She went along with whatever he wanted. And he wanted this new job.
When Paul finally crumbled in my office before me, the truth came out. He had been fired over some inappropriate, stupid decisions he made with his expense report. No severance, no second chance. Nothing. "Give me your keys and leave." To make matters worse, he had been fired a month ago and never told his wife. Each day he got up, showered, shaved, dressed, kissed his wife good-bye and went out the door "to go to work." For a month, he drove around. For a month, he looked for another job. For a month, he told no one. After a month, he finally ended up in my office.
"I don't have a job. My daughter is a mess. My wife is going to leave me. I've spent everything in savings in the move. I blew it at work with a dumb decision. With that reference, I'll never work again. I can't take anymore. I'm about to crack."
At that point in life when the added burden is too much to bear, you've got three choices. First, you can just tough it out. Batten down the hatches and ride out the storm. That's one choice. The second choice is to continue plunging forward until you crash and burn. That's a real option. Many choose that path.
What if you are finally at the point of no longer wanting to tough it out and you certainly do not want to crash and burn? You have made a decision that you don't want to live this way anymore. You don't want to live with this burden around your neck, dragging you down. You need to share this load because you are tired of carrying it all alone.
It might not be a job loss like Paul. It might be a rocky marriage in which one spouse has given up or a critical illness with a questionable outcome or a mom who is left alone to raise the kids or it may even be a high school student trying to keep her head above water as she is drowning in the sea of grades and extracurricular activities. It can be any burden in which you feel the full responsibility, the full anxiety, and the full burden upon your shoulders. You're tired of toughing it out. You are afraid of crashing and burning and today you are looking for that third option -- a decision to live differently.
In the sixteenth century, there was a Spanish mystic named St. John of the Cross who was a deeply spiritual man who wrote a book with a haunting title: The Dark Night of the Soul. He writes with absolute honesty about how he, as a deep and profound believer, suffered from spiritual desolation, loneliness, frustration, and despair. He wrote from the perspective of one who had, at least at one time, a deep faith but now found that faith empty and the presence of God barren. All he could feel was darkness.
Faith worked when the sun was shining and the birds were singing but not now in the darkness; not in your deepest need, not under the burden of this moment. In such darkness, those Christian platitudes and saccharine answers just don't work anymore. In fact, they just make it worse. And there, in your own deepest hell, the only words that seem to come, if any come at all, are, "My God, my God why have your forsaken me?" All you hear back from the darkness is the mournful sound of your own hollow echo that returns to mock you.
That's where St. John of the Cross found himself. That's were Paul found himself in my office. That's where so many of the celebrities seem to live, according to the tabloids. The dark night of the soul. Have you ever been there? Are you there now? Job was, in the Bible. He lost his family, lost his business, lost his home, and lost his health. Job shook his fist at God and cried out, "Where are you?"
THE WORD
It is here that Jesus comes to us not with more platitudes and easy answers but an invitation -- an invitation to let him carry that load. In Matthew 11:28-30, he says:
"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light."
Let's break these verses down a little bit. It begins with an invitation -- Come to me. Jesus is speaking to the crowds here. Some will believe. Some will not. To those who are at a point of surrender, who have been weighed down by their burden and looking at those three options, they have made a decision that they just can't tough it out anymore. They don't want to crash and burn. Jesus offers a third option to believers who stumble under the weight of life. Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens. Jesus doesn't deny the burden or wish away the weariness. He names it as a reality in the lives of the believers. Burdens. And then a promise: I'll give you rest.
If it were to end there, this is just one more meaningless, empty Christian platitude. But it doesn't. It comes with something tangible. Take my yoke upon you. Now I've seen those yokes on the oxen. They seem clumsy and heavy -- not graceful and light. They look like a symbol of slavery and humiliation -- not freedom and life. And those oxen that are yoked up don't look particularly happy.
However, there are two phrases that tell us otherwise. Learn from me, Jesus says. The word he uses here is not that of a passive pupil who learns by writing down the words of the teacher. Rather, the word he uses is closer to apprentice who learns not by listening but by doing. If this is true, if the invitation is to be an apprentice, the yoke that Jesus is offering is not being imposed on us to keep us in line like a oxen but rather one that he himself wears. The invitation is to become my yokemate. Learn from me. Walk next to me. Become a disciple. Become an apprentice and learn from me how to share the load, how to share the burden, and how to live in the light.
For my yoke fits perfectly. Other translations say, "My yoke is easy." Fits perfectly is a better translation. It is clearer. It is saying that the life I offer to you is not one that is meant to add more burden to your life but is well-fitting. It is the life meant for you. It will suit you well. You will find rest because the burden is shared.
Don't reduce this to a bumper sticker that reads, "Let go, let God." Jesus is saying, "Let's go through this together. Let's make a decision right here, right now, not to tough it out, not to crash and burn but to share the load."
Aren't you tired of those dark nights of the soul?
I went through the Bible this past week, thinking of people who also stood at that fork in the road between crashing and burning and a decision to live life differently. Each went through a very real dark night of the soul themselves and lived to tell about it. Noah was a drunk. Jacob was trapped in lies. Joseph was abused. Moses was afraid and stuttered. Sampson had woman problems. David had a secret affair and murdered. Elijah was suicidal. Daniel was surrounded by lions. Jonah disobeyed God. Job went through bankruptcy. Martha was a worrier. The Samaritan woman was divorced -- more than once. Timothy had an ulcer. Paul had a thorn in his side. Lazarus was dead for crying out loud. Beat that! Lazarus was dead! What's your burden today that you are tired of carrying alone?
As I read more about St. John of the Cross and his Dark Night of the Soul, he said that the first step out of this hole is a willingness to seek help. That's what Jesus offers in this passage. It may not be a cure all. It may not even remove the problem. That is, your job will still be gone, your illness will remain, and your addiction will still be real. The difference is that you are no longer carrying the burden alone for there is your yokemate who begins this new journey with a word of encouragement -- your sins are forgiven.
Tired of toughing it out? Afraid of crashing and burning? There is a third option. Name it. Give it up. Place it on the cross. Decide this day to have a yokemate named Jesus. Learn from him this important lesson: Remember in the darkness what you learned in the light.
ANOTHER VIEW
Barbara Jurgensen
There's a new book on the New York Times bestseller list. It's called The Shack and it's about a man named Mac whose young daughter had been abducted and murdered, and now he's visiting the shack where the evidence of the crime was discovered.
While he's trying to come to terms with what's happened, trying to make sense of such a horrible thing, trying to find a reason to go on living, Mac is visited by a jolly black woman who calls herself "Papa" (who is actually the Lord God of all creation), by a Jewish workman (the Lord Jesus), and by an Asian woman, Sarayu (the Holy Spirit).
As they begin talking with him, he begins to see that there's more to life than he'd realized -- or even suspected.
It reminds me of Francis Thompson's poem, "The Hound of Heaven." In it Thompson tells how the Lord God was "on his trail" over the years, using everything at his disposal to try to open his mind and heart to the fact that at the center of our universe is a God who cares more for each of us than we can possibly imagine. There is a Lord Jesus who loves us enough to make the ultimate sacrifice for us. There is a Holy Spirit who delights in being with us, reminding us of the rich resources of our relationship with our Lord.
Thompson says: "I fled him down the nights and down the days; I fled him, down the arches of the years." Eventually Thompson decided to stop running and let the Lord catch up with him -- and found that he hadn't needed to be so afraid of the encounter.
He found that the Lord was more understanding, more caring, and more forgiving than he ever could have imagined. And that the journey of life, instead of being hopelessly senseless, was full of hope and meaning when he took the Lord along as a traveling companion.
In our gospel lesson for today, particularly Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says, "Come unto me... for I am gentle and humble of heart." Notice how the three persons of the Trinity come to Mac in the story The Shack. Do they come as those that our world would call successful? Do they come as Supreme Court justices or senators, as important business people, as celebrities?
Not at all. They come as the kind of people that Jesus seemed to spend the most time with when he was here on our earth: the little people, the disenfranchised, the looked-down-upon. A Jewish man, an Asian woman, and a jolly African-American woman.
Jesus is gentle and humble in heart. That's good news. Some religions look on their god (or gods) as cruel, demanding, and totally uncaring as to what happens to their people. Jesus is not like that. His whole life when he was here among us showed us that there has never been anyone who cared as unconditionally for you and for me. We haven't been the people we should be, but he loves us anyway!
That has to be the most amazing fact in all creation!
Our lives, yours and mine, can get pretty heavy at times. Like Mac in The Shack, we can wonder how we can go on. Then we let "the hound of heaven" catch up with us, and we realize that our loving Lord is wrapping his arms around us, holding us for dear life, giving us the peace and love and purpose that we've always wanted but didn't dare to believe that we could have.
Paul asks in our epistle lesson today (Romans 7:24), "Who will rescue me from this body of death?" The answer is, our Lord already has.
Thanks be to God!
ILLUSTRATIONS
His Dad's Recliner
Greg always seemed to have trouble sleeping. He and Gail, his wife, had a great life together, and their son, Michael, gave them nothing but joy. Greg's work was going well. His part of the organization was flourishing, and the people in his department respected and trusted him. Because of all the good things going on in his life, Greg was a little mystified over his insomnia.
On their summer vacation, Greg and his family went home to visit his mother. His father had passed away recently, and his mother looked forward to having her son and his family at home with her.
On the first day of their vacation, Greg leaned back in his dad's recliner to take a brief nap. Much to his surprise, he slept for hours. That night, he decided to sleep in the recliner, and result was the same. He slept all night without waking up at all. Almost every night thereafter on his vacation, he slept in his dad's recliner. Something about being there helped him to rest. Similarly, being in the presence of Jesus promises us rest for our souls.
* * *
A Gift for Soldiers
DHL, the world's leading express delivery and logistics company, with the support of a local Chicago-area business and community members delivered thousands of freshly frozen pizzas to U.S. soldiers throughout Iraq in time for Independence Day celebrations. Retired Master Sgt. Mark Evans organized the effort with the support of other veterans and friends. Evans collected enough donations to purchase 2,000 pizzas. The pizzas were packaged in temperature-controlled containers and picked up on Friday, June 27. The shipment was flown from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York directly to the Middle East, with delivery to military bases in time for July Fourth celebrations. This heart-warming story reflects Mark Evan's eagerness to give something to soldiers who won't be at home for the July 4 holiday. It illustrates Jesus' eagerness to give rest to the people who come to him.
For more on this story, see Associated Press, "Chicago-Style Pizzas headed to troops in Iraq," Google News,
* * *
A Perfect Fit
Everyone can identify with the pain of wearing shoes that don't fit. The discomfort, anxiety, and eventually the blisters make us dread having to wear such instruments of torture of our feet. By contrast, we also know the sheer pleasure of a pair of shoes that fit just right. They are so comfortable that we hardly know we are wearing them, and we look forward to the next time we can put them of our feet. By the same token, some people think that serving Jesus is nothing more than an uncomfortable and dreadful experience. By contrast, Jesus told us that his yoke is easy. In other words, it fits us just right. Serving him suits us better than we realize.
* * *
Psalm 6 can provide both an illustration and liturgical support for those wrestling with deep traumas in their lives.
Since depression is a major malady of our age, it is safe to assume that our congregations hold a number of people suffering from depression of varying degrees. Imagine coming to the prayer of confession, acknowledging that reality, and inviting the congregation to pray Psalm 6 on behalf of all of us who experience various measures of depression. Those who were feeling depressed, who felt their bodies being consumed and their faith being futile, would now hear their neighbors praying on their behalf: "O Lord rebuke me not in thy anger... be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing" (vv. 1-2). It would be natural to wonder if God would ever turn to them again (v. 3), yet, their hope rests both in the character of God's steadfast love (v. 4) and the purpose of God which is fulfilled in praise, but defeated by death (v. 5). They may well have become exhausted with the endless pouring out of their grief until all of life seems to be their enemy (vv. 6-7). It is at the bottom of the pit, at the end of their resources, when God's faithfulness takes over. Without objective proof, they find themselves saying along with the rest of the congregation, "Depart from me all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping" (v. 8).
The people experiencing depression at whatever level are permitted to pour the variety of feelings they may have into and around the words that the congregation is praying on their behalf. The form allows them to not feel totally exposed while at the same time they experience the support of the congregation.
-- Stephen McCutchan, Experiencing the Psalms (Macon, Georgia: Smyths & Helwys, 2000), pp. 48-49
* * *
Psalm 31 can be the framework for a litany by which the congregation can join in corporate prayer for those in deep distress. I have illustrated it with a prayer on behalf of those who have AIDS but one could also substitute any "traumatic illness."
Leader: God, on behalf of those who have AIDS, we give voice for those who may be unable to pray.
People: Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and my body also (31:9).
Leader: For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away (31:10).
People: I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me (31:11).
Leader: For I hear whispering of many -- terror all around -- as they scheme together against me as they plot to take my life (31:13).
People: Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God (31:5).
Leader: Let the lying lips be stilled, that speak insolently against the righteous with pride and contempt (31:18).
People: I had said in my alarm, "I am driven far from your sight," (31:22).
Leader: But you heard my supplications, when I cried out to you for help (31:22).
People: My times are in your hands; ... let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love! (31:15a, 16)
Leader: O how abundant is your goodness that you have laid up for those who fear you (31:19).
People: Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord (31:24).
-- Stephen McCutchan, Experiencing the Psalms (Macon, Georgia: Smyths & Helwys, 2000), pp. 51
* * *
Sometimes the burden that we are bearing is created by our own unwillingness to trust that God can work in whatever circumstances as Paul mentioned in Romans 8:28.
The present moment is never unbearable if you live in it fully. What is unbearable is to have your body here at 10 a.m. and your mind at 6 p.m.; your body in Bombay and our mind in San Francisco.
-- Anthony de Mello, The Heart of the Enlightened (New York: Doubleday, 1997), p. 162
* * *
From a man who suffered so much from the burden of melancholy as it was called then, of depression, as we call it now, come this amazing proclamation:
Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.
-- Abraham Lincoln
* * *
Martin Luther no doubt understood Saint Paul's inner turmoil as mentioned in today's epistle. It is as if a war were underway within the human heart. Paul, Luther, and the sober believer will no doubt humbly admit to the truth of that inner struggle:
The will is a beast of burden. If God mounts it, it wishes and goes as God wills; if Satan mounts it, it wishes and goes as Satan wills; Nor can it choose its rider... the riders contend for its possession.
* * *
On our national holiday weekend, it would do us well to remember what some of our skeptics have said about patriotism in the past... a patriotism that is blind and unquestioning is just as dangerous as a blind unthinking faith....
Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
-- Samuel Johnson, English poet, critic, and writer (1709-1784)
That's an astounding statement from a British Patriot during the American Revolution.
From Mark Twain comes yet another acerbic wit:
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Call To Worship
Leader: Come to our God,
all who hunger for life,
People: for it is God who nourishes us
at the table of grace.
Leader: Come to our God,
all who are worn-out by life,
People: for it is God who provides
the rest we need.
Leader: Come to our God,
all who are weighed down,
People: for it is our God who carries
our burdens with us.
Prayer Of The Day
Eternal God,
you sing a song
of silence
to our noisy hearts,
inviting us to still
our fidgeting souls,
and find our peace
in your cupped hands
that cradle us.
Jesus Christ,
Wanderer of the Kingdom,
you are called
to reveal God to us
and do so in
the tenderness of your touch,
the gentleness of your words,
the goodness of your heart, and
the peace of your shared yoke.
Spirit of Rest,
your childlike presence
opens our eyes
to the wonders of the world.
As we hand you
our anger, our hurt, and our sin,
may our burdens
become our songs of joy,
even as we pray as Jesus taught us, saying,
Our Father ...
Call To Reconciliation
Fretful, agitated, longing for more and more of this and that, we spend our lives in a never-ending, never-fulfilled search for that which satisfies. Christ knows that we will only find the end of our journey in God, and so invites us to that peaceful place known as God's heart. Help us let go of our burdens of anger, hurt, and sin so we can find our rest.
Unison Prayer Of Confession
We are so skilled at being in control, at taking charge, sabbath-taking God, that we are not very good at resting. We think we have to be constantly busy, so we have no time for you. We are trained to be extremely productive, and so create our harried, stress-filled lives.
Forgive us, shalom-giving God. Help us to let go of our distractions, so you can act in us; calm our creaturely activity, so you can re-create us; help us to follow Jesus, not only into discipleship, but into our rest with you.
Silence is kept
Assurance Of Pardon
Leader: It sounds so simple, we think it is too simple. But which is the burden you would choose: hate or love, anger or forgiveness, pain or peace? God invites us to receive the gifts that make it possible to have lives of faithful obedience.
People: This is the good news: God forgives us and takes our burdens from us. We would let go of them and welcome hope, joy, and grace into our lives. Thanks be to God. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Connected to Jesus
Object: a small belt you can fix around the right leg of one child and the left leg of the other child
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:30)
Good morning, boys and girls. Do you like to do things with someone else? (let them answer) Do you wash the dishes together, help each other clean your room, take the dog for a walk together, or feed your pets together? (let them answer)
I brought with me a little belt that we are going to use to connect two people's legs so they can learn how to be a team. (put the belt around their legs) Now it is very important that you both try to think of the other person when you try to walk around. (let them walk up and down the aisle or across the front of the nave) How are you doing? Do you think you could win a race walking like this? (let them answer) Sometimes you have to think about the other person as much as yourself.
How many of you have seen pictures of horses pulling a stagecoach in the movies? (let them answer) How many times have you seen two oxen pull a plow in the field or something very heavy out of a forest? They all have to learn to work together. When they are doing a job like pulling a stagecoach there are big leather straps that connect them and keep them together. One horse can't run faster than the other. One horse can't turn a different way than the other horse. Those leather straps are very important to making the job of pulling easier.
Jesus is connected to us, also. Jesus does a lot of the hard things for us that we could not do alone. When Jesus connects to us, we are able to think better, take care of each other better, and know a lot of joy that we would not know if we were not connected. So every day when we get up in the morning and say our prayers, we should ask Jesus to connect to us today and go with us wherever we go. When Jesus is connected to us, life is a lot easier and we are more certain to enjoy our lives in a better way. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, July 6, 2008, issue.
Copyright 2008 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
* * *
Psalm 6 can provide both an illustration and liturgical support for those wrestling with deep traumas in their lives.
Since depression is a major malady of our age, it is safe to assume that our congregations hold a number of people suffering from depression of varying degrees. Imagine coming to the prayer of confession, acknowledging that reality, and inviting the congregation to pray Psalm 6 on behalf of all of us who experience various measures of depression. Those who were feeling depressed, who felt their bodies being consumed and their faith being futile, would now hear their neighbors praying on their behalf: "O Lord rebuke me not in thy anger... be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing" (vv.1-2). It would be natural to wonder if God would ever turn to them again (v.3), yet, their hope rests both in the character of God's steadfast love (v.4) and the purpose of God which is fulfilled in praise, but defeated by death (v.5). They may well have become exhausted with the endless pouring out of their grief until all of life seems to be their enemy (vs. 6-7). It is at the bottom of the pit, at the end of their resources, when God's faithfulness takes over. Without objective proof, they find themselves saying along with the rest of the congregation, "Depart from me all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping" (v.8).
The people experiencing depression at whatever level are permitted to pour the variety of feelings they may have into and around the words that the congregation is praying on their behalf. The form allows them to not feel totally exposed while at the same time they experience the support of the congregation.
-- Stephen McCutchan, Experiencing the Psalms(Macon, Georgia: Smyths & Helwys, 2000), pp. 48-49
* * *
Psalm 31 can be the framework for a litany by which the congregation can join in corporate prayer for those in deep distress. I have illustrated it with a prayer on behalf of those who have AIDS but one could also substitute any "traumatic illness".
Leader: God, on behalf of those who have AIDS, we give voice for those who may be unable to pray.
People: Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and my body also (31:9).
Leader: For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away (31:10).
People: I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me (31:11).
Leader: For I hear whispering of many -- terror all around -- as they scheme together against me as they plot to take my life (31:13).
People: Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God (31:5).
Leader: Let the lying lips be stilled, that speak insolently against the righteous with pride and contempt (31:18).
People: I had said in my alarm, "I am driven far from your sight," (31:22).
Leader: But you heard my supplications, when I cried out to you for help (31:22).
People: My times are in your hands; ... let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love! (31:15a, 16)
Leader: O how abundant is your goodness that you have laid up for those who fear you (31:19).
People: Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord (31:24).
-- Stephen McCutchan, Experiencing the Psalms(Macon, Georgia: Smyths & Helwys, 2000), pp. 51
* * *
Sometimes the burden that we are bearing is created by our own unwillingness to trust that God can work in whatever circumstances as Paul mentioned in Romans 8:28.
The present moment is never unbearable if you live in it fully. What is unbearable is to have your body here at 10 a.m. and your mind at 6 p.m.; your body in Bombay and our mind in San Francisco.
-- Anthony de Mello, The Heart of the Enlightened(New York: Doubleday, 1997), p. 162
* * *
From a man who suffered so much from the burden of melancholy as it was called then, of depression, as we call it now, come this amazing proclamation:
Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.
-- Abraham Lincoln.
* * *
Martin Luther no doubt understood St. Paul's inner turmoil as mentioned in today's epistle. It is as if a war were underway within the human heart. Paul. Luther and the sober believer will no doubt humbly admit to the truth of that inner struggle:
The will is a beast of burden. If God mounts it, it wishes and goes as God wills; if Satan mounts it, it wishes and goes as Satan wills; Nor can it choose its rider... the riders contend for its possession.
* * *
On our national holiday weekend, it would do us well to remember what some of our skeptics have said about patriotism in the past… a patriotism that is blind and unquestioning is just as dangerous as a blind unthinking faith….
Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
-- Samuel Johnson, English poet, critic, and writer (1709-1784)
That's an astounding statement from a British Patriot during the American Revolution.
From Mark Twain comes yet another acerbic wit:
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.
