Bible reading: Galatians 6:1-5.

Message.

They might be called Rectories or Vicarages, Presbyteries or Manses, sometimes even Palaces – but most churches possess them: houses for their ministers to live in and, to use a quaint legal phrase, “for the better performance of their duties”. This can be a varied blessing; some churches provide excellent property while others, possibly due to a lack of money, have let their houses become tatty and tired.

The church I attended in my late teens possessed a 1930s semi-detached house similar to thousands of others across north London. The minister at the time wanted a larger living room, so he asked the church if the wall between that room and the hall could be knocked down. The church agreed, but it wasn’t a simple task as this was a structural wall which supported the floor above. Brick pillars had to be constructed and temporary struts put in place before a steel joist was inserted to take the load and the job completed. Of course there was a PS to this story: a few years later the minister moved on and his successor asked for the wall to be restored – a much easier job!

My training was in mechanical, rather than civil, engineering, but I know that it’s important to spread and even out loads across bridges and other structures. That’s why the Forth Rail Bridge has so many trusses and girders, some in tension and others in compression: the stresses and loads are being transmitted all around the bridge. It was made particularly robust because, as it was being planned, the flimsily-built Tay Bridge nearby collapsed with the loss of many lives; the Forth Bridge engineers were taking no chances!  

You’ll realise, of course, that I’m talking about “bearing burdens” or “carrying loads”, because that is mentioned in the Bible passage we read a little earlier – which, of course, has nothing to do with either houses or bridges! Let’s recall what Paul wrote: he firstly says, “Help carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will obey the law of Christ” and, a few verses later, “Each of you has to carry your own load”. There appears to be a huge contradiction there, which I’ll come back to in a moment; but first a bit of background.

As I said last week, the book of Galatians, probably the first in the New Testament to be written, was a letter by Paul to a church or group of churches in what today is Turkey. And Paul was disappointed by many of the churches’ Jewish members who, influenced by a forceful traditionalist pressure group, were abandoning Jesus’s broad principles of “love God and love your neighbour”. They were going back to a stricter observance of Old Testament laws and probably pressurising Gentile converts to observe them as well. To all this Paul cries out, “No, no, no! Christ has called you to freedom, not captivity – what you need to follow is God’s law of love whereby you don’t act selfishly but in the best interests of others”. He ends chapter 5 of the letter (although the chapter divisions were added later) with the famous list of the so-called “spiritual fruits” which should be evident in Christians’ lives: love, joy, peace, patience and the rest. Today’s passage sees further comments in a similar vein as Paul brings his letter to a close.

So let’s think about the apparent contradiction in these verses: are we supposed be “bear one each others’ burdens” or “carry our own loads”? To solve this riddle you need to realise that the original Greek words for “burdens” and “loads” aren’t the same. The word for the “burdens” that we’re supposed to share means “a heavy or crushing weight” which is “fierce” or even “savage”. This isn’t the only time Paul uses this word: it comes in 2 Corinthians 1:8 when he writes about the huge problems he and his companions experienced while undertaking their missionary work: “The burdens laid upon us were so great and heavy that we gave up all hope of staying alive”. Later in the same letter he writes, “While we live in this earthly tent [or body], we groan with a feeling of oppression” – so much so that Paul almost feels it would be better to die and be with God in heaven. He’s clearly talking about the almost unmanageable stresses which some people have to endure; sharing those stresses or in some way helping to carry a life-sapping burden will bring relief and hope.

We’ve dealt with one of the words for “burden”; let’s now look at the other one. This is a bit different: it was the word used for a ship’s cargo, or freight in general; it was also applied to the pack carried by a porter or a Roman soldier on the march. You’ll know Jesus’ saying, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” – he uses the same word. And, even without that comment, we can sense the difference between this word and the one we talked about earlier: there is weight here, yes, but it’s not the crushing weight which is almost squeezing the life out of us. This is the regular daily burden laid on all Christians: a load which, by and large, we should bear by ourselves (although, we trust, with God’s constant help).   

Earlier in the service we read an obscure Old Testament passage (Numbers 11) which may have puzzled you. I hope you now see how it illustrates our theme: Moses, faced with the complaints of the people he had so recently led out of slavery in Egypt, is finding the pressures of leadership too great to bear. He tells God that he wants to throw in the towel, even die. And God has a solution, which is to appoint seventy trusted men to share the burden. There is a similar and better-known story in Acts, where the twelve Apostles were receiving complaints because the practical needs of the burgeoning Christian community were not being met and people were being overlooked. The solution was to appoint seven men to take over these tasks. Once again, the burden was shared.

Let’s get back to today’s passage. A minister made these comments on it, wrote this: “I often think of how many church members come to church burdened by the cares of life. Perhaps the burdens they carry are due to finances, marriage, friendships, a problem at work, a child who is rebellious or who is running from God, a death in the family: the list of potential problems people face goes on and on”. We’d all identify with that, but what he says next is quite damning: “These people wish that someone would help them or pray with them, but no-one ever asks how they are doing. Never having an opportunity to tell anyone what is happening in their lives, they frequently leave a service just as burdened as they were when they first walked through the church doors”.

There’s real food for thought there: those of us who are suffering so often find it embarrassing or a sign of weakness to open up and share our woes; indeed we may well not make it to church at all. Conversely the rest of us feel that we ought not to ask personal questions because that would be intrusive. So we end up having the banal conversations we all know too well – “How are you doing?” “Not too bad, mustn’t grumble” – which are hideous parodies of true fellowship. We should not be ashamed of opening up more or probing deeper. There will be a cost in both time and our emotions; but doing so will, I believe, contribute immeasurably to the health of each of us and of our church.

Our first hymn said that, if we are “weak and heavy-laden, burdened with a load of care”, we can “take it to the Lord in prayer”. You may have noticed, though, that I’ve said little if anything about “casting our burdens on the Lord”, but concentrated on the human help we can give each other. Is that, you may be wondering, because I don’t believe that Jesus can or will not take our burdens? Am I saying that faith and prayer are a waste of time?

The answer to those questions is of course, “No” – I absolutely believe that we should pour out to God in prayer the stresses, and difficulties we face. Of course we should do that, and the book of Psalms gives us numerous examples of people (whether David or not) doing just that. For the very act of speaking about our heavy burdens helps to alleviate them; and we do believe that God is able to lift our spirits. Nevertheless there are times when we need solutions to our problems, and these are often provided by our friends and neighbours. So – and you may disagree – perhaps the effect of our prayers is not to give us a magical release from our burdens, but for God to prompt someone to come to us and say, “You’re suffering; how can I help?”

Let’s summarise. Is Paul saying, “You should be able to go it alone, with the help of Christ”? In our ordinary daily lives, yes – although we must not be afraid to seek support. And is he saying, “There are times in our lives when the pressures are so great that none of us can cope by ourselves”? Yes, he’s saying that as well. And churches should be our loving support network when life is dark; I hope that this one is!