Remember that you are not alone. You are loved. You matter...

Beloveds....  As a friend said this evening, my heart is heavy with the grief so many are bearing.   The more I serve the people of God...the more I sense the Holy Spirit speaking through me.  Preaching is not always easy.  In fact...in my experience and opinion...it is the most difficult thing a person can be called to.  

I have absolutely no trouble speaking in front of people.  I have been been a teacher for nearly 30 years ...  and the reason I can speak in front of other people is because I was given support and love and care and grace in my home church congregation from day one.

But it hit me tonight....into the quiet of a moment I took to pause ... that the Holy Spirit speaks through me.  My words are almost ALWAYS changed from what I PLANNED to write for Sunday's message .. to what God planned.  Here is what the HS gave me tonight in response to terrible...aching grief:

My friends....Grief is not something I pray for.  Or wish for.  Or am happy to be given.  It gives us wisdom I would rather learn in other ways.  ANY other ways.  Yet....the deepness of our love becomes almost visual in the life we live that encompasses grief.  We become .... almost MORE human.  I believe we "get" what it is like to be and live and exist in a finite world as humans in need of one another when our life introduces us to grief.

Quite honestly, I have often wondered if I should be preaching more about the right way of living or how to show your support of change in the world.  What always comes back and out of me is ....  remember that you are not alone. You are loved.  You matter.

We can remember that all the better when the people around  us live that truth of love and care, compassion and grace, justice and peace. And at the end of the day, it is God's utter love formed in the grace of humanity towards one another that makes a difference.

Peace.