Holden
Evening Prayer Homily
April
22, 2020
Please pray with me,
May the words of my mouth and the
meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable and suitable in your sight, O
God, our rock, our strength and our redeemer.
Amen.
I was drawn to tonight’s reading
from Ephesians, because I was looking for words for myself, and maybe others,
too, on the importance of care of ourselves right now. I have heard from more than one person this
week, that there have been some tough days recently. And that the trickiest thing about those
tough days is that you never know when they are going to come. Right?
Like today could have been a great day…or not….but who knows what
tomorrow will bring.
Yet even in this time of
uncertainty, we remain the Body of Christ.
AND as members of the Body of Christ, we are called to
care for others.
Even more so in this time of
uncertainty, we are called to care for others.
Thankfully, we are reminded in this passage that we have all received
different gifts for the benefit of the greater community.
As we continue to learn how to
care for others in this time of physical separation, it is just as important
that we remember to care for ourselves as well.
As you have no doubt heard on an airplane, in the event of a change in
cabin air pressure, masks will drop from the overhead compartments. Place one on yourself, before helping others
with you. Begin breathing normally, they
may not inflate, but oxygen will be flowing.
Did you catch the first
direction?
Place a mask on yourself, BEFORE
helping others around you. The airline
safety folks know, you must be able to breathe before you can help others.
That basic level of care is just
as important, if not more important for each of us right now. In essence, we are living in a period of
crisis, of not knowing what will happen tomorrow, let alone next week and there
are many, many uncertainties. I don’t
say that to cause worry, only to acknowledge that we are living in a tough time
right now.
Care for our own physical,
emotional and mental health is VERY important right now.
We are an integral part of the
Body of Christ living out God’s love in our world through service and care for
our neighbor.
If we are not taking care of
ourselves, we may not be best able to care for others.
A friend of mine shared a list of
things to help her keep in check during isolation.
This may not be a list that works
perfectly for you, but you may want to think about things that will be helpful
and healing to your heart, mind, body and emotions as we continue through this
season of life together.
Her list looked like this:
Billy and I have been getting in
at least one good laugh a day watching my former camp director – Don Johnson,
not that Don Johnson, we call him D-Guy telling a new joke to his wife each day
on Facebook. I don’t know what’s
funnier, the jokes, his wife Janet’s response, or his believable heartfelt
laughter. Billy is working mastering the
D-Guy laugh. It’s pretty good.
This was yesterday’s joke: Say
Janet, Do you know how you would cut the ocean in half?
No Don, how would you cut the
ocean in half?
You’d use a seasaw! Get it?
Sea saw.
I'm no D-Guy, but was my best attempt:
Look, even in the midst of all
that is going on, God loves you.
God wants the very best for
you.
God created you in God’s image –
and continues to call you to be the most amazing, beautiful, holy, strong, kind
and serving person you can be.
Take care of yourselves, friends.
There is a world in need out
there, and we need to be ready…to listen, to serve, to feed, to teach, and to
love.
There is a world in need out
there, that needs us to be the living, breathing, acting, serving and loving
Body of Christ.
As we heard in the letter to the
Ephesians, “speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him
who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted
together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working
properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.”
Caring for ourselves, in the
midst of a challenging and life changing time will help us to better care for,
serve and love others around us.
If you live alone, you may create
your own list. If you live with others,
you can talk through your list and share it with others, if you wish. If this is helpful for you, please try
it.
If this is one more thing that
you cannot take on right now, take a deep breath, give yourself some grace and
know that you are loved just the way you are.
And now may the peace, which
passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and let all
God’s people say, amen.
PS. To see/hear the entire Homily, check out Holden Evening Prayer - Trinity Robesonia
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