Today my heart is heavy for the people of Afghanistan and the people of Haiti. My heart is heavy for our medical workers who are facing (again) an unending onslaught of Covid patients. I am weary from the smoke and the fires and the climate change crisis that we aren’t doing anything about.

I imagine I am not alone. There’s plenty of heartbreak in the world. Then there’s our own local and private griefs and heartbreaks. These leave us feeling alone.

More and more, it makes sense why Jesus was referred to as “Man of Sorrows.” Because God doesn’t float above our pain and suffering, unaffected by it. God is found among the Afghani people. God was there in the streets flooded with those fleeing the earthquake in Haiti.

In Jesus, God revealed that all along, God has been with us in our suffering. Has been walking alongside us through pain and sorrow. Has been there in our joys and happiness. Jesus shows us that God’s nature is God with us.

With the ‘us’ in the hospitals. With the ‘us’ fearing the Taliban. With the ‘us’ sifting through the rubble.

My friends, we are not alone. Hope is not a fool’s errand. Nor is hope closing our eyes to the horrors of our world.

As I said yesterday, let us breathe. Breathe and pray. Because we have some pushing to do.

Here are some ideas to push this week:

  • Send the medical workers you know a note of encouragement.
  • Make them dinner and drop it off at the house.
  • Watch and listen for a word from the organizations on the ground in Haiti and Afghanistan. We can organize quickly once they give us direction. Start preparing now for the care packages we might need to make.
  • Pray for the soldiers being deployed in response to Afghanistan, and let your representatives know that we want to accept the refugees that will certainly come out of this conflict.
  • Plant a tree this week. Dig deep into the soil, for there you will find God.

I’m grateful for each of you. I’m grateful that Covenant is a people who have been formed after the heart of Jesus.

–Pastor Megan

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me, nor do I really know myself. And the fact that I think that I am following You will, does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust You always, though I seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my struggles alone.”
Amen.
– A Prayer of Saint Thomas Merton