It has been a poignant week in our family. Deep friends with whom we have shared much during the last twenty years received a difficult medical diagnosis.
They're still sorting it out (as are we) and everyone is clinging to the belief that "prayer availeth much" (James 5:16). Yet, this week has also reminded me of words from the poet William Alfred, "It is a fearful thing to love what death can touch."
While on an intellectual level, we all know the risks inherent to love and friendship (anyone who has ever brought a child into the extraordinary vulnerability of loving so deeply), we also know that we honor those we love by living well in spite of heart heaviness.
We are to hug our children, delight in fall colors and rejoice over life's goodness in spite of - and maybe especially in light of - life's uncertainty and pain. And that's not easy to do.
This week, we'll explore two scripture passages - one of which you have probably never read before -that show us the way. Both speak of living well in times of difficulty. Both offer an unflinching acknowledgement of the realities of pain as well as the promise that in all circumstances, God will still be God, and because that is so, there is always reason to hope, always reason to be thankful.
You can read them here.
Worship will be rich and full this weekend. Join us, and bring a friend.
Warmly,
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Worship Services this Sunday (click for bulletins)
