Holden
Evening Prayer Homily
May
6, 2020
Please pray with me,
May the words of my mouth and the
meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our rock,
our strength and our redeemer.
Amen.
I received this mug as a
Christmas gift in 2017.
It came with a
lovely card that was not signed. That
year I had read the book Carry On, Warrior by Glennon Melton Doyle. One of the chapters that stuck out for me, was
one that Elly Grabosky recently reminded me of.
It’s the chapter when Glennon talks about people – you and me – being
wounded healers.
Let me explain. Glennon goes on to talk about how we are all
broken in some way shape or form. We
have all been wounded or hurt, physically, emotionally or spiritually. We all carry wounds. But it is not until those wounds have healed
that we are able to tell our stories and help others to heal.
Think about a wound that you have
had…if you pick at it like I did ALL THE TIME as a kid. It takes a stinkin’ long time for that wound
to heal. If you let the wound do its
thing and heal, you are then left with a scar.
Now a scar will tell a story.
When our wounds turn into scars,
we are able to tell our stories, we are ready to share a past experience, share
what we have learned from it and hopefully help others by sharing that
experience.
I get it, we each have our own
unique experiences, they are personal to us.
We can never fully understand what someone else is feeling and
experiencing even if they go through the same exact experience that we have. The same experience is never the same for two
different people. That being said, we
can help others in the midst of a similar experience by sharing our own
stories. We can share presence and an
example that we have lived through an experience and how it has changed us for
the future.
We all carry these wounds and
scars.
Some of them you can see, like
this one that I got on a first and last date when I shut this finger in a truck
door.
Some of them you can’t see. Like the scars from surgeries that may spend
most of the time covered up by clothing.
Or the scars on our hearts from the times that our hearts have been
broken by friends or loved ones.
We all carry these wounds and
scars.
Henri Nouwen quoted by Glennon
talks about us being wounded healers.
With these wounds and scars that we
carry, we continue to go about our days and lives wounded, yet called to heal
others.
We are all wounded healers.
We follow Christ who after his
resurrection, fed people, taught people and loved people with the wounds on his
hands, his feet and his side.
We are wounded healers. Especially in a time like this. Yet the tough part is that we are in the
middle of it right now. We are living in
a time of pandemic and we cannot see the other side. We know that God is with us, but it is hard
to reach out to others, when we ourselves are still actively healing from this
experience, or maybe not even healing yet….still reacting and responding to how
we are being wounded…
Maybe it’s the loss of a job.
Maybe it’s not being able to be
at the hospital with your loved one.
Maybe it’s not being able to
balance work and schooling your children at the same time.
Maybe it’s not being able to
celebrate a prom or graduation as you had envisioned.
Maybe it’s postponing a wedding
date, an anniversary party, a bridal shower, a funeral.
We are in it right now, friends,
in the thick of it.
It is hard to care for others
while we ourselves are still experiencing new announcements about the future
every day.
So I guess it goes back to
this…be kind.
It’s a recurring theme, isn’t
it?
Be kind.
Because here’s the thing,
We are all going through this
pandemic in similar but different ways.
We are all experiencing a
situation unique to each of us, even though it is a situation that is happening
to all of us.
So, if you are coping well with
being at home, be kind to those who are lonely or for whom being at home is a
struggle or even unsafe.
If you are loving online learning
or online work, be kind to those who struggle with this disconnection of face-to-face
time with friends and co-workers.
If you are not experiencing a
change in your income or the amount of food you need each day, be kind to those
who are struggling right now. Be kind to
those friends and neighbors worrying about finances or where their next meal
may come from.
All these ways are the ways we
are called to be wounded healers.
I encourage you as well, in
general, to be kind.
While we are in the same
situation, we all feel it and experience it quite differently.
If this is hard for you, know
that others are struggling as well.
If this is easy for you, please
be kind to those of us who are struggling…we need your help and support and
love and encouragement.
If you need someone to listen or
to pray…call us we are here.
God heals up the broken-hearted,
God binds up our wounds,
and sends us to heal and love
others.
We will continue through this
situation together and we will come through it together knowing that we are not
alone.
And now may the peace, which
surpasses all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and let
all God’s people say, amen.
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