Hello church family!
If we haven’t yet had the chance to meet, my name is Katie Boyce and I’m a lead team member here at Mercy Road. My husband, Frank, and I have been church members for 2 years, and our children – Ivan (6) and Isla (3) – are well-loved in the KidsMin programming at Mercy Road. If you’ve volunteered in any capacity within our KidsMin teams, thank you so very much.
As a writer myself, I’m always drawn to well-crafted words. Especially ones that cut to the heart of our own experiences and cause us to examine our hearts. I stumbled across this brief message from Pastor and author Aaron Niequist, and wanted to share it with you. I hope these words provide inspiration and food for thought, a moment for reflection, and an overwhelming desire to experience and share God’s grace. Love and peace to you and your families. – Katie
“The desire to blame and scapegoat is so strong right now. I feel it deeply. We are looking for a place to export our fear, anguish, and rage. Those feelings are real and justified, but weaponizing and projecting them only creates more fear, anguish, and rage. On the other hand, burying and ignoring these feelings will burn us up from the inside. I have stumbled down both of these dead ends many times in the last two weeks.
There is not an easy solution. Real life is so messy, especially in days like these. But I am sure that the “third way” – engaging reality without exporting it – will always involve LAMENT. Unless we find concrete ways to weep over the brokenness, we will often use the brokenness to break others. Or ourselves.
For me, this happens best in my journal…pouring out the full weight of how I feel in God’s presence. Holy space to hold nothing back. And then choosing to sit in that place. Rather than rushing to explain or fix or export it, I’m trying to learn how to sit with our Creator in the heartbreaking reality of the moment.
Most of the time I do this poorly and end up ejecting out of the experience. It’s so difficult. And to be honest, in the moments of staying, I rarely hear God offering answers. But I do get a deep and grounding sense that God is with us. Weeping with us. Inexhaustible love. As close as the air we breathe.”
– Aaron Niequist, 3/24/2020