The Third Week of Easter: From FEAR to FRIENDSHIP

STEP ONE: BREATHE

Take a deep, cleansing breath. Allow the air to fill your lungs and expand your body. Exhale and empty yourself into the room. Repeat three times - once for the one who Created you, once for the Incarnate One who walks beside you, and once for the Spirit whose life fills your being.

STEP TWO: DWELL IN WORD

“So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.”
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— Matthew 28:8

“FEAR NOT” - Imagine Friendship

God created us as relational beings. We are hardwired to need other people and they are hardwired to need us. That is one of the reasons being asked to stay at home, to minimize contact is so hard for so many of us. We, like Ariel the Little Mermaid, “want to go where the people are.” God also wants to be in relationship with us.

That’s why, when Jesus was asked, “What is the most important commandment?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31)

As our text for this week expresses, even in death and grief, Jesus’ friends were still living out that need to love and care for him by properly preparing his body.

Even if no one you love has died in the past month, you may find your body expressing something similar to grief. Because separation is a loss, even if your brain knows it’s temporary. There is nothing wrong with you for feeling grief, or a loss of focus, or a desire to sleep. These are reasonable things to be feeling.

One of the things I lift up during my funeral sermons is that God is with you. This is NOT to say that because you know God is with you that everything is okay, that there’s no need to feel lonely or to feel pain. Quite the opposite. I make a point of lifting up that God is with you because God is with you in your grief, sitting right there with you - with a patience without end. You don’t need to rush your grief or minimize your grief with God. God knows. God weeps with you. God holds you tight.

That is equally true now in the grief, loss, and/or uncertainty you feel. God is with you. Our God who died on the cross knows what it means to feel alone, forgotten, abandoned, rejected. Because of that truth, you can trust that God will always be with you even when you feel alone. God will never forget you for you are written on God’s heart. God will always stay with you, even if you feel like you’ve pushed God away.

This is not just a truth for “This Time of COVID19” but it is a truth forever.

STEP THREE: PRAY

Loving God, thank you for always coming to where I am, seeking me out when I feel lost. Be with all those who are alone, lost, forgotten. Help me to see them with your eyes and heart. Amen

Today’s devotion is by Pastor Meredith McGrath.