1/31 :: carrying...
read luke 5:17-26
as you may remember, we will discuss this story four times, each time pausing to look at various aspects of community and friendship that these men share. at some point before we are brought into this story, one of two things had to have happened: the paralytic man said to his friends, “I need your help” , or, the friends said to the paralytic man, “you need our help.” in true community, there is a freedom to be who you really are. and one of the signs that indicates that degree of openness is our willingness to admit when we are hurting because we know there will be and absence of judgment, and an abundance of grace. we often put up fronts because we are afraid of how people may react when they find out how messed up we are. the irony is, we are all in the same boat, we’re just not willing to admit it.
† today, as a church, let’s ask God to make us into a community where there is an absence of judgment and an abundance of grace.
as you may remember, we will discuss this story four times, each time pausing to look at various aspects of community and friendship that these men share. at some point before we are brought into this story, one of two things had to have happened: the paralytic man said to his friends, “I need your help” , or, the friends said to the paralytic man, “you need our help.” in true community, there is a freedom to be who you really are. and one of the signs that indicates that degree of openness is our willingness to admit when we are hurting because we know there will be and absence of judgment, and an abundance of grace. we often put up fronts because we are afraid of how people may react when they find out how messed up we are. the irony is, we are all in the same boat, we’re just not willing to admit it.
† today, as a church, let’s ask God to make us into a community where there is an absence of judgment and an abundance of grace.
posted by the E's at
5.1.06
1 Comments:
Lord, thank You for tonight. Thank You for my community - a Body of believers who constantly sharpen, encourge and challenge each other.
Father, thank You that You allow room for mistakes, and that our community is one where we are free to make mistakes and where grace flows abundantly in and through our lives. That happens only because of You, and I praise You for it. Help us, Jesus, to open up - to make ourselves vulnerable to each other, and that in doing so, we grow more close-knit, more intimate, more loving, and more like You. Father, we can't do it without You.
I love You, I praise You, and I ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ. AMEN
By
ann, at 31.1.06
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