I'd like, first of all, to acknowledge very sincerely and very gratefully the abundance of warmth and welcome that I have felt here in your parish community since last week Wednesday when I arrived. Certainly, hospitality and welcome seem to be the hallmarks of this Christian community. And I'm very grateful for the welcome that I have received.

And I was especially delighted to be here to celebrate Independence weekend here in America. It was the first time I have been in the States for that celebration. And Fr. Aidan brought me across the bay to one of his friend's who invited us over to celebrate the 4th of July. And we watched the beautiful fireworks across the bay, which was very spectacular. Where I come from, when the sky lights up and we hear those bangs, we usually run for cover and hide under a table. So it was lovely for a change to be clinking glasses at the sight of the sky lighting up, so delightful to have shared that, that's this special weekend, with so many of you.

I was intrigued the other evening when just by chance I tuned in to a CNBC interview on television with Howard Schultz, the founder of the Starbucks empire. I think it had been recorded long before the unfortunate announcement that many of the outlets are to close. But one of the questions that the interviewer asked him -- and it caught my ear -- was  he himself was intrigued to know how Starbucks had enjoyed not only success in America but also how he had managed to break into the Japanese market and bring an American product there and with such huge success.

And Schultz's response I found very interesting. He said, "The Starbucks story isn't really about coffee at all. Instead," he said, "it's about that universal truth that people everywhere want to be part of something bigger than themselves." People everywhere want to be part of something bigger than themselves.

And I stopped and listened. And I'm not too sure how that insight applies to business or how that insight applies to marketing a product, but I'm fairly certain that Schultz has tapped into one of the key human experiences that almost all of us have. Because isn't it that desire, when you think about it, that has us all gathered in this place this morning, a desire to be part of something greater than ourselves?

But I think it's even more than that. Not only is it about our desire to be part of something bigger, something greater, it's also about that niggling awareness that comes with the experience of living or already knowing that I am, that we are part of something much, much greater.

And the name that we give to that huge expanse, the name that we use to call all that is bigger than ourselves, at least in the Christian tradition, is God. Because somehow or  other in that name all that we know and all that we can't yet know about creation, about the universe, about our history, about our future, about humanity, about eternity, about hope, about love, about mysteries, it's all held in that name that we call God.

I grew up believing that my relationship with God was determined by my behavior: If I behaved well, God would find me favorable; if I behaved badly, he would be displeased with me. I could never figure out, I must say, how he managed always to keep such close tabs on me and he was not keeping the same close tabs on everyone else. And I used to pray to Him just give me a break for a while and go focus on some other misfortunate, even for a little while. But I don't believe that anymore. And if I'm wrong, then I'm sunk.

I'm more inclined now to buy into Howard Schultz's idea that we all know already somewhere deep inside us that we are already part of something much, much bigger, much greater than ourselves. And in different ways, in ways often that are fitting and sometimes in other ways that are inappropriate and misplaced, I think all of us in our own ways are trying to tap into that experience where we know ourselves to belong to that bigger picture.

And our Christian way of touching that greatness is of course through our prayer life, our coming before the Lord, through our celebration of the sacraments, and living together  united, and broken, as Christian family, as community. And in that journey together we come before a God who loves us just the way we are -- just as we are; a God who asks nothing of us other than we be present to Him; and that we allow Him to be present to us; that we expose ourselves to His love in whatever way that's easiest for us.

And as we enter that very vulnerable place where we touch all that is bigger than ourselves, when we come into that realm where He is near to us, dwelling within each and all of us, in that place we realize that there is nothing to fear, nothing to worry about, nothing to make us fret.

Because the beckoning of that invitation in this morning's Gospel begins to echo not from my voice, but from that voice deep within, in that place where He has made His home in us. And it says to us, "Come to me. Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart. And you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy, my burden is light."