There are many 4:00am mornings when I am awoken to my mind racing about an individual who has been alone or a family that may not have all that they need during this time. Other early mornings I am stirred awake by the urge to give a friend a hug and find out how they are doing. In an effort to get back to sleep I put a reminder in my calendar to follow up on them and I begin to immediately pray for them.
The bottom line, I miss people. I miss learning, growing, serving, and laughing in person with the Body. Each week I stand up in front of an empty room and declare the Word of God to empty chairs and yet I do my best to visualize each person and family unit that normally would take their rightful place amongst the Gathering of the Saints. I even do my best to visualize a stranger coming in and taking their seat at one of our back tables and I ask myself, “what would our neighbor need to hear during this time as well?”
When I check up on our local friends I hear a constant theme, when do you think we might be able to gather together again as friends and the Body? My heart breaks as well as rejoices each time I hear those words. To a large degree, many are awakening from our spiritual slumber and deeply desiring to love or be loved by serving and fellowshipping in one another’s presence once again. I am watching our people check in on one another with greater frequency. I receive phone calls about needs in the community and that our Body desires to see how we can collectively show the tangible love of Christ to the downtrodden. Our little Body continues to collect and distribute basic life staples to our homeless friends. In all this, the theme is, to God be the glory!
So, what am I learning during this time? We need each other. Not in some corny Hallmark way, we truly NEED each other. God created us for community, accountability, camaraderie, balance, care, service, and on and on the list could go. For each one of us that may be suffering there is another that has the means of burden-bearing and the two are symbiotic. We were not created to be alone but to experience the full expression of love by serving and being served through the movement of God’s love amongst one another.
The tension of isolation that we feel today will be lifted sometime soon and we will be tempted to go back to the way things were. There is a high probability that our schedules will fill back up and our minds may become scattered or overwhelmed with our ever-growing noise of voices clamoring for our attention. As the noise comes to a crescendo we will have a choice to make. Do we create a few measures of silence so as to hear who it is that God wants us to intentionally love or do we add another forte in hopes that it will crowd out our heart’s longing for true meaning and connection all in the name of busyness?
There has been a certain Scriptural narrative on my mind. The narrative of the lame man who’s friends could no longer look upon their neighbor’s need without doing something about it. They had decided to no longer let the noise of life interfere with their neighbor’s deep need for healing. They paused in silence long enough to hear one another’s plan to get their friend the help that he needed. They believed that Jesus had the means to bring renewal to what had been lost however, they had to play their role in this man’s healing.
Knowing that Jesus was close they dropped everything and jointly carried their friend to the presence of Jesus. Once arriving the men couldn’t find a way to get their friend before Jesus so they made a way, through the roof. Upon seeing the man lowered in front of him, Jesus says, “because of THEIR faith the man’s sins are forgiven.” This phrase gives me goosebumps every time I read it. The friends had no idea that Jesus would forgive their friend’s sins, their faith simply moved them to respond to the broken man’s physical and financial needs. Not only did they hear that his sins were forgiven but they also got to witness the physical healing of their friend as well. The man’s dignity would be restored, the faith of his friends would be expanded, and the heart of the observers would be tested. The community would change for the better because the broken man was part of it and not tucked away in isolation. This began with a move toward community and away from personal space and isolated living.
Love moves us to see those whose dignity has been stolen and to respond with mutual faith that Jesus deeply desires to restore their soul thus moving us to engage in the lives of the brokenhearted for God’s namesake. There will be times in our lives that we find ourselves in the position as the servant friend and other times as the friend in need. In either situation, intentional communal care brings the Kingdom of God closer to tangible healing.