The Lord is near to the broken-hearted,
   and saves the crushed in spirit.

This is the Truth when there are no answers: God is close. God will sustain. As we learn to allow this sustaining, to sense it, our spirit will indeed be safeguarded. We’ll note when we are learning it, but (thank God!) God’s peace and grace don’t rely on us to master them. God is always in the holding, in the fray, in the emptiness.

This journey of learning is not smooth or easy; there’s no formula that serves a diverse humanity equally well. Yet, the miracle of Life proclaims that we have been sustained over many generations of sorrow and hardship.  The pangs of individual grief or despair reveal the truth of the pain created in the world. And the work of love in the presence of God enables us to weather our storms and not be defined by them.

“Say no words” was the theme last week. Wise, still, in particular moments.  As we traveled to be with family, my heart was, and is with them and with you.  With all the tender wounds you may be carrying. When we use words to describe what we believe about reality, about God’s closeness for instance, we are not diminishing the pain we’re feeling. Or invalidating or cancelling it out.  Instead, were saying that the pain cannot cancel God. 

It is my prayer that our presence with grieving family, in silence and with few words, will be the balm from God’s own heart.  We thank you for your ongoing prayers that this will be so.

In Christ’s Peace,
Pastor Jacki