Where does it hurt?

Last week, we kicked off our in-house summer worship with the series, “I’ve been meaning to ask…” Each week, we’ll explore a different question through scripture, sermon, and small group discussion, and each question is an invitation to deeper relationship with God and one another.

This week’s question is likely the toughest: “Where does it hurt?” We ask this often when children fall or seem ill, but as we get older, it seems we expect people either to volunteer the information, or—more likely—suppress it. When’s the last time someone asked you, “where does it hurt?”

Undoubtedly, this question points us to the most vulnerable places of this series. I have even wondered whether it’s an appropriate question to ask at all in a worship setting. For the hurts we carry are unlikely to be healed or even properly bound up within one hour. 

But as recent years have taught us, it is ok to not be okay. Put another way, pretending that everything is fine denies us the opportunity to cry out authentically (to God or one another) as our ancestors in the faith have done. So this week, we will courageously seek to listen and give voice to the places where we are hurting. No quick fixes, no glossing over, just holy attention to the places where we ache for the wholeness to which only God can lead us.

Pastor Jen