Thursday 20 July 2023

Today is Thursday the 20th of July, in the Fifteenth week of Ordinary time.

Leslie Jordan and Jon Guerra with the Porter’s Gate sing, ‘You Hold It All’. As you listen, can you lay your burdens down at the feet of Jesus today?


God, we bring you the work of our hands now
Lay it down, lay it at your feet
What we've done, what we've built, what we've broken
Lay it down, lay it at your feet
You hold it all, Jesus
You hold it all
Worried hearts, wearied hands, weakened bodies
Lay it down, lay it at your feet
What we've used, what we've lost, what we've wasted
Lay it down, lay it at your feet
You hold it all, Jesus
You hold it all
You hold it all, Jesus
You hold it all
All our plans, all our dreams, our ambitions
Lay them down, lay them at your feet
And even if nothing comes to fruition
Lay it down, lay it at your feet
Lay it down, lay it at your feet

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 11:28-30

‘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.’

It’s so easy to feel lumbered with needs, relationships, contradictions in your life, hardships of all sorts, to feel all these as burdens weighing upon you … Just for a moment, become aware of what those are for you - the things that are weighing most heavily on you at the moment.

Yet the promise of Christ is that following Him brings a lightness of touch, not the heaviness of compulsion or duty. It’s not the relaxation we feel during a week on the beach. It’s more like a steady, realistic, day-by-day approach to 'life lived in the company of the Lord'. When have I felt the ease of Jesus’s company, not having to try to be or to look different to how I really am?


Listen to the words of Jesus once again: perhaps you can see him as he speaks. Imagine him speaking to the people around you right now. How does it make you want to be with others seeing that this is how Jesus relates to people?

Bring this time of prayer to a close now in the company of Jesus – talking to him about any burdens you feel right now, or about something that has come up.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.