Yet, the church does what it is best at...prayer and unity. Unity doesn't mean having to agree on everything, but rather coming together in community for the common good. And praying for our brother...not prayers for healing or a miracle, but prayers for peace and ease of anxiety...we came together in prayer. And we will continue to pray. And we will offer consolation, and we will offer love, and celebrate the life of our brother in Christ.
What the church is best at: prayer and unity. Jesus modeled prayer for his disciples (and us) that they may be one like he & God are one. I am constantly surprised at how St. Mark's lives out this model. Over the last couple of weeks I have witnessed folks rallying around a grieving widow, pray for a woman who is having reconstructive surgery to her eyes, celebrate cancer-free results, and sign up to van pool some of our elderly back and forth to church. And then today we got the call that one of our dearly beloved is starting hospice care. Just moments before our main service started, the call revealed that our brother had not a gall-bladder problem that was the cause of his pain, but a tumor on his liver...caught too late to work on. How do you go on to preach the gospel after a phone call like that? Well, you do because this is the kind of stuff the gospel was made for. Our brother will soon go to heaven, to join Jesus in the place that he has made for us. He will be rejoined with his wife who died seven years ago. And there will be peace and rejoicing in heaven when he goes home. Knowing all that didn't make it any easier to get through the morning service though.
Yet, the church does what it is best at...prayer and unity. Unity doesn't mean having to agree on everything, but rather coming together in community for the common good. And praying for our brother...not prayers for healing or a miracle, but prayers for peace and ease of anxiety...we came together in prayer. And we will continue to pray. And we will offer consolation, and we will offer love, and celebrate the life of our brother in Christ.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI have great hope for the future. While I don't know what the church will look like, or have all the answers, I know we'll find a way. Archives
August 2017
Categories |