I'll Stick with Kindness

It hurts to tell the truth.
And we are probably going to have to get over the fact that we are going to have some pain.
But the thing is - some people have already been hurting for a long, long, long time.
If enough people who profess faith in Jesus Christ walked and talked as if we believed with all our hearts
that every single human being is a beloved child of God. . .
more valuable than all the gold in all the banks in all the world . . .
these killings would NOT keep happening;
we would not stand for it.
There isn’t anything we wouldn’t do or give
in obedience to Christ and for love of humanity to stop it.
 
But the truth so far is this:
It breaks our hearts and makes us sad,
but we are so easily distracted by other things.
 
Enough time will pass and we will go on with our lives,
while the parents of other sons will keep doing their best to train their sons
to handle themselves in ways I never, ever have to tell to my own.
 
Having called us to love our neighbors and their children as we love ourselves and our own,
I believe God would not have us keep silent now
as if such fear  and death is acceptable.
“God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your strength.”
I wish I knew precisely what this means, Friends.
But in days like these, I choose to believe it means that
sometimes we have to act stronger than we feel
and trust God to mind the gap.
~ lines from Sunday sermon on I Corinthians 10:13
July 10, 2016

Beloved:

    I came home from church on Sunday knowing I needed to cry.  A little tired from preaching a hard sermon and exhausted from the sadness of the week.  So much hate.  So much death.  I played with my dog.  I tried to journal.  Finally I turned on the Netflix show that never lets me down, Derek.  According to creator Rick Gervais, the big theme of the show is that “kindness trumps everything."  I started crying minutes into the first episode, not because it was so sad.  Because it is so sweet.  Then I’d laugh my head off.  And then cry some more.  My kids kept looking me, then looking at each other worriedly.  “I’m fine,” I would wail, “Really I am!”
 
    The world is so broken.  So much hate.  So much death.  Great is the temptation to stop feeling so as to stop hurting.  But that’s its own kind of death, so no thanks.  I’ll stick with kindness.  And gratitude.  And joy.  And community.  And faith.  And peace.  And gentleness.  With loving our neighbors and praying for our enemies and counting on the Lord for everything else. 

~peace & prayers,
pastor annette