{"id":4578,"date":"2021-02-10T16:29:28","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T21:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nccumc.org\/leadership\/?p=4578"},"modified":"2022-11-28T13:33:30","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T18:33:30","slug":"an-encouragement-for-february-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccumc.org\/leadership\/2021\/02\/an-encouragement-for-february-2\/","title":{"rendered":"An Encouragement for February"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

\u201cHow are you?\u201d I recently asked a church member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m stuck in a house with 2 teen boys and a husband!\u201d she said. \u201cYou know what I realize? I miss missing them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope Hallmark is tracking with her! \u201cI miss missing you\u201d is a great pandemic word this Valentine\u2019s Day. There is just no easy way to be this close for this long to other humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same might even be true for beloved pets. Our dog now spends part of her day in the back of my closet! I\u2019m convinced it\u2019s her attempt to miss us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For others of us, these words reflect a longing, in this season of isolation, for another human in the home\u2014someone sitting at the table, a hand to hold, arms to hug. For you, it\u2019s the missing that hurts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether we are missing others or miss missing others, a pandemic Valentine\u2019s is an opportunity to name what love looks like this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read Mark 1:29-39:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon\u2019s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. 

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, \u201cEveryone is searching for you.\u201d He answered, \u201cLet us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.\u201d And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflect: <\/strong>In last Sunday\u2019s gospel lesson, Simon\u2019s mother-in-law is healed by Jesus to serve. The verb “to serve” is the same one Jesus uses to describe the essence of his ministry. In other words, the woman is not healed so Jesus has someone to cook him dinner! She\u2019s healed and becomes the first person in Mark\u2019s gospel to follow Jesus. Jesus describes this call, in Mark 12, as one that begins in love of God then love of self so to love others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take Action: <\/strong>What does it look like this Valentine\u2019s to love God and yourself, so to love others?

I don\u2019t have your answer. There are days I don\u2019t even have my answer. But, as I reflect on 2020, I give thanks for some of the ways I\u2019ve found to love God, myself, and others:<\/p>\n\n\n\n