I was reading the daily devotions that come via email which today quoted part of Psalm 31:
I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me. I have passed out of mind like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.
It made me wonder if there is anyone whom I may have spoken to today who right now feels like a broken vessel. As the congregation gathers to worship tomorrow, will there be someone there who senses that others are avoiding him or her? Is there someone who stays away because they fear rejection of the faith community?
Many of us have seen God take the broken pieces of our hearts and mend them in the grace of Jesus Christ. In fact the whole congregation is a collection of broken jars lining the pews or surrounding tables at coffee hour or kneeling at the altar, all in various stages of repair and disrepair. Since Jesus has called us to love our neighbor as our [broken] selves, how I pray no one stays away because they feel too broken to join the cracked vessels sitting nearby. And how I pray that nothing I say or do will lead someone to conclude that they are beyond hope in being welcomed to a place at the Lord’s table.
Leave a Reply