1st Friday in Advent

1st week in Advent -- Friday                                   Isaiah 9:4

                               The Shattered Yoke

The yoke --

symbol of hard labor,

oxen=s jobs.

The yoke --

symbol of slavery;

symbol of tyranny.

You try,

but you cannot escape it.

The yoke --

heavy,

overbearing,

seemingly impossible to remove.

Yet God does the impossible --

lifts the yoke like a pencil,

shatters it with ease,

splinters everywhere.

And we look in amazement

at the splinters lying still.

How could it have been so heavy?

God with us --

Immanuel --

shatters yokes every day,

taking burdens too long carried

off of shoulders too long stooped.

Ah, the feel of freedom!

O Lord:

We come to you at times carrying what seems to be the weight of the world on our shoulders.  We carry with us hurts from long ago, fears that reside deep within us, resentments that burn and fester.  Take from us the yoke that is too heavy to carry, and stand with us in the new day of freedom; in the name of Jesus, our Lord and liberator.  Amen.