1. 28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.“

2. You who are weary and burdened… Weary and burdened… I am weary. I am burdened. I am weary of reentering my call to youth ministry. I am burdened by the pain of unwanted homosexual passes by my first “pastoral” employer.

3. Weary and Burdened One word describes – no – combines these words in my story. That word is “Broken.”

4. Broken Broken trust… Broken respect… Broken belief…

5. Broken Trust You pastor, by nature of your position, are a person automatically given trust. You don’t need to earn it. It is given to you by virtue of being one who represents God. When you violate this trust, you do so far more than anyone else in any other professional role Because you represent God… God’s message… God’s Love… God’s Mercy…

6. Broken Respect When you break respect for one of your sheep, lay person or professional coworker, you break the bond that holds the fabric of Faith for that person. Respect for the Faith is ripped… Not because the Reason for the Faith is faulted but because the primary messenger of the Faith has violated their sacred responsibility.

7. Broken Belief When you do what you do, you break the belief in your victim that the church is a safe place in which to serve the Living God in ministry.

8. In these three verses… God bypasses the “proffesional” minister. God encourages the reader to take God’s burden… To focus on God’s “burden” for us for it is easy and light…

9. Easy and Light??? How can this be? God, show us your yoke and your burden. Help us to learn from you. Amen…