There is something beautiful that happens when two messages of brokenness are brought together to create healing. As we gather this weekend at Pilgrimage, we are reminded that no matter what we are carrying, no matter the doubts or insecurities, we are all seated and invited to the table. We are chosen, guarded, seated, and accepted.
“Where Can I Go from You Oh Lord?”
When we are run down, run tired, and worn thin, it’s so easy to feel like we have wandered from the fold of God. We feel as if we lost sight and as if our back is against a wall. However, as Mr. Jason Cox led us in proclaiming, we can never go too far or do anything that could take us from the Father’s hand. No matter how far you feel you have run and no matter how much you try to hide, God knows exactly where you are and is waiting to meet you in the brokenness.
Luke 14:12-24
“This is for the outcasts, for the dreamers. For the childhood bullies and those tormented by them.” – Shake the Dust Spoken Word
This Is The Body Of Christ Broken For You
Rachel Held Evans explained to us that the bread we all unite in taking during communion is broken for us. The bread is broken for me, and the bread is broken for you. Not the you that you will become or the “perfect you” that you wish you were, but the you that you are right now, with no masks. The raw, uncensored, frizzy-haired, delighted child of God. God sees you, and God delights in you.
God invites us to the table however we may be, the best and worst of ourselves and every trait that makes us who we are. The parts of us who society picks on, the parts of us we are proud of, the parts which succeed in sports, the parts of us who fail to achieve our goals and the parts of us who we are afraid to show anyone. These all make up you, who Christ died for, and the bread is broken for.
“Sometimes we numb ourselves to our hunger, and we get so preoccupied with our daily life to the point where we miss our invitation.” We go nonstop through a scheduled life where time flies by so fast, and then we hit a wall where we are forced to recognize the need we have for God.
It is in the times of brokenness and struggling that it becomes easier to see our need. The struggles humble us to the point where we see God and at that point, it becomes easier to turn to God. We can find our need for God during our high times too, but if we allow ourselves to become too preoccupied with our lives, we will become ignorant of our own need.
Rachel Held Evans challenged us at the end of the session to evaluate our own lives and discover “what… the activities successes, and dreams [are] that numb you to the hunger and the invitation to God’s table.” Because it doesn’t have to require a time of trouble to see God when we are aware of our own need, it is when our pride or busyness overwhelms the need that struggle reminds us.
In the doubting, in the fear, and in the anxiety, may we run full throttle back to the one who loved you before you even knew what love was. That the season you are going through wouldn’t define who you are, who you are meant to be, or where you are headed. The prayer is that we would find beauty in the pain and peace in the struggle.
*Article written by Katherine Riley and Abby Martin