“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Matthew 11:28-30

I think a lot of people are burned out on religion.  I know I am.  The word itself makes me cringe.  Jesus didn’t like religion either.

The word religion comes from the latin word religare  which means ‘to bind’.

I don’t know about you but the word bind doesn’t sound like what Jesus is talking about in the passage above, nor does it sound like anything He said in the Bible. Ever.

‘Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly…’

Hm.  Living freely and lightly?  That sounds pretty attractive doesn’t it?

Last night we held the first youth Alpha.  One of our youth, Max, took Alpha last year and gave his testimony.  He said that he learned through Alpha that a relationship with Jesus, is different from religion, it’s something without pressure.

Most people here are very familiar with religion-but the idea that it’s possible to have a relationship with Jesus-that’s new.

Alpha offers a safe and open forum for people to ask and wrestle with the questions they don’t have answers for, without judgment.  We want to introduce them to the Jesus that walked the earth 2,000 years ago, the one who wants to walk alongside them in their lives today.  Alpha is an effective way to do this. It strips away the religion that can bind us and gets back to the basics of what Jesus was about.

And it wasn’t about binding us up, quite the opposite.

‘Get away with me and you’ll recover your life’

That sounds a little more like someone who has been set free doesn’t it?

There are many things that bind our neighbours, family problems, abuse, addictions, the list goes on and on.  

They carry very heavy burdens.

Thirty-two of our young people came last night.  The tables were set with purple satin cloth, the food was colourful fresh, enticing and nutritious.  The groups ate, laughed and chatted before watching the video.

Afterwards we gathered in small groups to introduce ourselves and chat about what they thought about the video.

I have been a part of the Alpha course many, many times now and I have never experienced a time where God did not move, change and transform lives.

I’m so excited to see how He will touch the hearts of our youth who need so badly to be rid of their burdens, unbound and set free.

“I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.”
Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)

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