Two audio notes this week: There's a silent gap for several seconds at minute 20, but hang tight! It comes right back!
Megan's audio during the prayer goes in and out. You can read the full text here: From The Lives We Actually Have, by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie
"For when this pain doesn't make sense"
God, I'm fumbling around for answers, reasons, meaning.
I can't find any purpose in this pain.
Why me?
Why them?
Why now?
I don't know when this is going to get better.
Or if I will ever feel relief.
God, make this pain matter... at least to you.
See me in my fragility.
Give me a reminder of your presence.
Reach for me,
for I am too weary to reach for you.
Blessed are we who need to be reminded
that there are some things we can fix ... and some things we can't.
Blessed are we who can say:
My life isn't always getting better.
Right in the midst of the pain and fear and uncertainty, may we hunt for beauty and meaning and truth... together.
Not to erase the pain or solve the pain (though surely that would be nice),
but to remind us that beauty and sorrow coexist.
And that doesn't mean we're broken or have been forgotten.
God is here, and we are never-were never and will never be-alone.
In our hope. In our disappointment. In our joy. In our pain.
God, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Spirit, have mercy. Amen.
Our texts this week are here
Our prayer this week is from The Lives We Actually Have
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