Jon's Pastor's Letter, July 2016 

 Dear Friends
 
Come to me all you who are weary and burdened 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
Matt 11:28-30
 
At the beginning of the school Summer holidays, many of us are feeling more than a little weary and burdened.  Perhaps that is through personal circumstances at home or at work, perhaps we are weary of politics, terrorist attacks or world affairs.  Our souls can so easily become wearied and burdened by so many things and we long for rest.  We long for a rest from the pressures and stresses that bring worry, anxiety, guilt and fear.
 
These words of Jesus, spoken two thousand years ago to a people who understood what it was to be weary and burdened, are spoken equally to you and I today, and invite us to come to a place of rest.  That place of rest is Jesus himself.  He invites us to come to him.  He invites us to be yoked with him, to walk closely beside him, to learn from him, to become like him.  It is in that place of intimate relationship that we find rest for our souls.  He doesn’t take away all the pressures and problems of life, but he offers a place of rest right in the middle of every situation we face.  He invites us to live each day, each moment from that place of rest which is found only in him. 
 
Many of us will be looking forward to a holiday or at least a change to normal routine through the Summer months, and I hope that all of us will find time to rest and be restored, but can I encourage us all to make Jesus our first place of rest.  It is so easy for us, even those of us who have walked with Christ for many years, to lose sight of that place of intimate rest, but Jesus speaks again to us today and says to each of us “come to me”.  If you are in any way weary or burdened then you qualify.  Come and find rest. 

I hope you and those you love have a wonderful, restful Summer.
 
Love and Blessing
 
Jon