Hi everyone,
So I have to admit that I’ve been having a tough go the past while. There has been a lot going on in both the life of our congregation as well as in my family. Not that I’m complaining (because it’s not anyone fault nor will it do any good), but it’s just been… a lot. But don’t worry, it’s nothing that I can’t handle.
I’m thankful for my wife and my support group of colleague and other like-minded professionals. I was having coffee with one of these colleagues and he said to me, “Our role is not to understand, but to love” or something like that.
Basically, what I think he meant is that things happen that we may not agree with. We will go through things that we might not like. We will encounter situations that could leave us scratching our heads. But through it all, we are to love.
Love God. Love neighbour. Love ourselves.
And really, in a world like this, that’s about all we can ask.
Here are the readings for next week:
Hosea 5:15—6:6
Psalm 50:7-15
Romans 4:13-25
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
and a video of me reading them:
As I read these passages all I can think about is how God provides for us. Perhaps not in ways that we expect, the ways that we want, or in ways that we understand, but I know that we are provided for.
In our ups and downs, in our joys and sorrows, in our plenty and want, we are provided for.
And our response to that isn’t to understand, but to love. God doesn’t need us to do anything for God, but rather we can trust and have faith that God has us. And so we love because we first have been loved. We love because we have been given the example of love. We love… because we are loved.
I don’t know what each of you are going through. I don’t know what kind of healing you might need. I don’t know how God is present with you through all of it. But I do know that you are not alone. You are joined with others who may have faced or are facing similar situations. You continue to be dearly, wholly, and completely loved by the God who calls us by name, welcomes us into community, and saves us from thinking that we are anything less than worthy by God’s own grace.
Thanks be to God! Have a great week, everyone!
