As we round the corner towards spring and Easter I’ve been especially struck by the words many of you have written on the prayer circles that currently line the front of our sanctuary. With each week of our Inside Out Lenten series introducing a new emotion and color to the wall, many of you have flooded the front of our worship space with deep, powerful words. If you haven’t had the chance to look through the various prayers or read the email we sent out, I would encourage you to do so. So far, the wall holds your words of sadness, fear, and anger. In the coming weeks we will flood the wall with more emotions, including joy on Palm Sunday.
After they are collected on Sundays, Andrew and I spend time reading, praying over, and taping these new emotions to the walls. Each week when we do this, we comment on how important this seems to be to so many, how deep and meaningful the words are, how honest and real they are, and we are especially struck by the realization that you really don’t know what someone is feeling or what they’re going through. We asked you to embrace your emotions, and you went there. I have no doubt that when we express our prayers of joy in a few weeks there will be many, but it’s striking to be reminded that we each face so many emotions on a regular basis. With each emotion of the week, there were many prayers that echoed words others had written, reminding me that our shared human experience unites us in our times of joy and sorrow. What a gift it is for our sanctuary and thus, our community to hold these authentic, emotional prayers. Maybe we find a small sense of comfort knowing it’s out there in the world where we can all share the load.
This is my hope and invitation as we head towards Easter and what is to come, that we would share the load; being with one another in our common human experiences. Often in the Quaker tradition they will say to someone, “I’m holding you in the light”. We could think this is just another way of saying, I’m praying for you, but it goes beyond this. It first, echoes a reminder that God dwells in you, thus you are the light. It second, is quite clearly a verb. Holding you in the light might look like bringing you a meal or sending you a card. In other words, in thought and action I am holding you in this space of Divine love and light, reminding you that you are never alone in any of your emotions or needs. At Common Ground, I see you holding each other in the light and I want to encourage us to keep up the good work. It is in this that we see new life bloom before our eyes. May we be more aware of the light as we share and care.
Pastor Amelia