Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 58; Ezekiel 28:11-19; John 6:16-27; 2 Corinthians 1:1-11; Psalm 52
In reading today’s passage from 2 Corinthians, I was reminded about one of the challenges we all face at both the individual and corporate levels. That challenge is not to lose sight of what’s really important. You see as the pastor of a local church, I had become so involved in the day to day demands of keeping the church functioning that I had lost sight of one of the most important things I believe a local church is called to participate in: the healing process. So this winter, our faith community started creating time for something called a healing circle. The purpose of the healing circle is to bring to life the words from 2 Corinthians 1:4 which read: “God comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, God brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us” (The Message). The healing circle allows folks in our community to just that – share in the ways in which God is/has been present with us during the hard times, and become a manifestation of God’s presence and grace to others during their hard times as well. All of this is to say that I believe each of us are called to go through this sort of process wherever we are as well - each of us are called to cultivate a heightened awareness of how God has sustained us through our hard times, and then offer ourselves and our experience as encouragement for others. My question for you to consider today is this: are you striking a balance between receiving and benefiting from God’s healing presence in your life AND walking with others in the mist of their healing process? Or are you simply keeping your healing process to yourself? If you are hoarding the healing process for yourself, try in the coming days to offer yourselves and your experiences to others to help in their healing process. You might just be surprised what comes of your willingness to share of yourself. Til next time…
In reading today’s passage from 2 Corinthians, I was reminded about one of the challenges we all face at both the individual and corporate levels. That challenge is not to lose sight of what’s really important. You see as the pastor of a local church, I had become so involved in the day to day demands of keeping the church functioning that I had lost sight of one of the most important things I believe a local church is called to participate in: the healing process. So this winter, our faith community started creating time for something called a healing circle. The purpose of the healing circle is to bring to life the words from 2 Corinthians 1:4 which read: “God comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, God brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us” (The Message). The healing circle allows folks in our community to just that – share in the ways in which God is/has been present with us during the hard times, and become a manifestation of God’s presence and grace to others during their hard times as well. All of this is to say that I believe each of us are called to go through this sort of process wherever we are as well - each of us are called to cultivate a heightened awareness of how God has sustained us through our hard times, and then offer ourselves and our experience as encouragement for others. My question for you to consider today is this: are you striking a balance between receiving and benefiting from God’s healing presence in your life AND walking with others in the mist of their healing process? Or are you simply keeping your healing process to yourself? If you are hoarding the healing process for yourself, try in the coming days to offer yourselves and your experiences to others to help in their healing process. You might just be surprised what comes of your willingness to share of yourself. Til next time…
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