Psalms 75, 76 * 23, 27; Judges 5:19-31; Acts 2:22-36; Matthew 28:11-20We come to the end of Matthew's Gospel today where Jesus sends the disciples out to make more disciples of all nations, telling them to (and how to) baptize those new members and to always remember..... always remember I am with you always, to the end of the age.
In times of duress and difficulty and uncertainty, it is always challenging to remember these last words Matthew provides us. When we are alone with our grief, with our sadness, if there is no one with us to physically walk along side of us, that feeling of aloneness can be remarkably palpable. That sharp pang can dangerously become the center of our world. It does not have to be the center because something else truly is at the center, and that is God's presence.
That hurt, those sharp edges of despair won't completely disappear because of our realization of who is at the center of us, but those edges will become less pointy. Knowing that love is a part of us, knowing it takes the loneliness to a different place and makes us stronger and more able to take those next steps. Because those next steps are never done alone for we remember I am with you always......
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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.
It is the paradox of needing to be open to and fully experience the feelings while at the same time knowing that those feelings do not define us. A part of who we are yet always shifting, moving, and impermanent.
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