“Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul. For I was overjoyed when some brothers and sisters arrived and testified to your faithfulness to the truth, how you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” 3 John 1…
Last week when I had CoVid, a friend in the church brought me a perfectly delightful mystery to read, a murder on the Orient Express sort of work to occupy my mind. Along with the flowers delivered by one of our Called to Care Ministers, a visual bouquet sent by email from a garden far away, a special delivery of chicken noodle soup, essential groceries and a casserole, we managed to weather the storm.
Receiving care humbled me. It reminded me of the importance of church, relationships fostered in ordinary time that endure through challenges. Several research studies demonstrate that persons who regularly participate in and attend worship services of any faith tradition, fare much better from trouble and trauma than those who don’t.
We live longer after the death of a spouse when we’re part of a faith community. We recover better after heart surgery when a community prays for us than when they don’t. It may surprise you that in two blind studies, faster recovery was correlated with prayer whether the person knew they were receiving prayer or not.
Those of us who are part of a diverse tribe of people committed to the wellbeing of the whole community report greater satisfaction with life, and less anxiety over external circumstances in the world. Overall, we live longer and happier when we’re connected to a community who shares a purpose greater than ourselves.
If we were to believe everything we hear in the news or read in the paper, we’d imagine that the world has gone to hell in a hand basket and that there’s nothing we can do about it. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Bible tells us that there will always be wars and rumors of wars, pestilence and disease, famine and flood. There will be long seasons of relative prosperity as well as other seasons of suffering. Surely most of us share some measure of both over the course of a lifetime.
As a person of faith, I remain curious about the transformative power of God continually at work in the world. And sometimes the discernment and observation that emerges is not all that complicated. This past week, CoVid taught me this. When you’re lying flat on your back in bed, body aching whenever you move, burning up in fever, unable to breathe, it matters little who’s being convicted of what or where or why. Any self-righteous opinions we may have don’t matter a whit. Nobody cares and neither do we. Our former surety that half the country are idiots offers not a moment of comfort.
What matters most is the kindness of friends who bring soup, the miracle of modern medicine that provides treatment, the prayers of those unknown who place us before the holy that we may be well, whether we know those who pray or not. God bless the compassionate, the generous, the kind, the faithful, and the committed, who set about each day to do small things with great heart to make the world a better place.
Prayer: Thank you God for your tender mercies through the kindness of strangers and friends. Amen
God’s grace, mercy and peace be with you,
Rev. Dr. Anna V. Copeland
Senior Minister, The Community Church of Vero Beach
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