|
The holidays can surely feel like a time when a magnifying glass gets placed over all of a person’s troubles. The divisions in divided families can feel wider. The contrast between an unhoused man’s can of out-dated soup and a family’s extravagant Thanksgiving meal gets drawn into sharp focus.
But this heightened sense of desperation seems to travel with its own antidote. In comes darkness and depression, in comes mystery and miracle. Eric, a man deemed ‘not able to be rehabilitated’ by the correctional system, stands before us in Worship and gifts us with his compelling testimony. Derek announces his new home–and how Homeward Bound called him in his greatest moment of giving up.
For those of us who will spend time this holiday season at Haywood Street, we will surely encounter the heightened grief and the backpacks of burdens that feel a few pounds heavier than usual. But look for the antidotes, the equally weighty prayers that get answered, the unexplainable grace that comes dragging along, the perfectly tangled mess of miracles that get offered up for the taking.
For more faces & stories from our Congregation, click here. |
