How beautiful is the Body of Christ <3
On Wednesdays our church holds a noon prayer time. We started this a number of months ago and it has become a haven in the middle of the week. We come in and sit in rows, there is music and some guided prayer time and Scripture reading and more music.
Each week I am a bit rushed getting there and kind of sad I will be 45 minutes late to knitting and then the quiet space of holiness beckons me to just put everything else aside.
The prayer times are both private, corporate and in small groups and I don’t know what it is (well…I know Who it is…) that gives us such a sense of security, but people are vulnerable in their prayers. Not sensational. Not in great detail, but willing to choke out the name of a loved one or a situation that is weighing heavy on the heart.
And in the quiet space of several rows of siblings in Christ, there is a mumbling of agreement in prayer. It is healing to the soul. It is rest for the weary. It draws us close to one another as we draw closer to God.
It reminds me that none of us are walking without some sort of burden of care for others. It calls to mind an image I once had of the Body of Christ. I remember sitting in the pews of the main sanctuary one evening during a rehearsal of some sort.
This was many years ago and the people who were standing on the platform area were working on getting a group of singers situated. There were musicians and some with speaking parts standing off to the side and in a flash I saw them differently.
I know God was trying to show me at that time in my life that I wasn’t the only one with hard things going on. In just a blink of imagination, the image of all of these came to me but as if they were in triage.
Some were bandaged, some missing a limb. Some were on crutches, some leaning on the person next to them. In a literal blink, this image came and left me. And once again I saw my friends and fellow church members looking perfectly healthy and fine and ready to practice for whatever service we were preparing for.
God whispers to me at times in my spirit and I just felt Him impress upon me that we are all walking wounded. We are all carrying scars, and fresh cuts and we are concerned for the people we love and the things going on around us and around the world.
He knows what we are made of.
He knows we are fragile.
He knows we get tired.
So rest in Him when you need to. Remember to deal kindly with those walking alongside you on the journey. Don’t be afraid or too proud to ask for help.
You are precious and you are dearly loved <3