03-02-21

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 2, 2021
Scripture: Philippians 4:19
My God will meet your every need out of his riches in the glory that is found in Christ Jesus.

Thought for the Day: What do you grieve this day? Many of us know a very real and palpable grief. Change, brought on by a whole host of losses, has bombarded us from every direction as of late, and change requires us to grieve. Denial and anger are two of the steps within the grief process, and they’ve been manifesting themselves in some pretty noticeable ways… just not usually noticeable to those who are grieving. I remember watching an older couple years ago grieving their daughter’s divorce. They had never known anyone who had been divorced, and within their church, divorce was an unforgivable sin. At the same time, they loved their daughter. As only an observer in this process, I was fascinated to watch the grief play itself out. They not only were grieving for their daughter who was hurting, but they were grieving the loss of innocence, of a world that no longer existed. For a long time, they held tightly to a vision of a world where divorce would never happen to good faithful people like them. The months that followed were bumpy and painful, yet they found a world on the other side of that grief where divorce was not some unforgivable sin, and even more so, they learned that faith, joy and love could be found once again. I remember that father walking his daughter down the aisle four years later, doing something that was beyond his capacity to even imagine five years earlier. The world around us is changing as it always has, and people of faith need to grieve in a healthy way, in part, to model how we join God in the new thing being done, even when a few months earlier we could not have imagined such a thing.

Prayer: You journey with us, Gracious God, continuing to be kind and gentle when change is thrust upon us. Change is nothing new, yet in the moment it can feel very arbitrary, chaotic and frightening. Let us do the necessary work through the assistance of your grace, grieving what needs to be grieved. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

---

---

via WordPress https://ift.tt/37XYbgQ