Carrying Heavy Burdens

Carrying Heavy Burdens – reclaimed wood, linen, paper, foil, joint compound, glue, paint, nails.

Worry, stress, guilt, work, addiction, financial insecurity, self-doubt, illness, responsibilities, failure, success, busyness, exhaustion…   How many things there are that weigh us down!
Jesus says:   Come to me, all you that are weary
and 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.

This piece was inspired by the above verse, which is quoted at the beginning of an outdoor worship service called Common Cathedral that is held every Friday night of the year in a park near my home.  The yoke is made of a piece of scrap wood, complete with its original peeling paint, which was given to me by a neighbor when he moved.  The nets were crocheted out of linen thread that I inherited from my mother, and the rocks were hand-made with a paper and foil core, covered with paper mache’.   I wanted the rocks to be light weight, not only to keep the piece from being too hard to hang, but to symbolize how even something in our lives that an outside observer would expect to be very difficult or heavy might be something we can carry lightly in company with the Divine.