This was a tough one and it was, in my opinion, why gathering is a part of life in the new covenant where one person does not have to say to another, "know the Lord."
Evelyn and I are, suddenly, at the place where both of my parents are well into the process of suffering from dementia and the cost in emotional and physical energy is extremely high.
We laid out some of the details of those struggles today and were supported and encouraged.
However, in doing so, we opened floodgates. Two others in the gathering shared very different stories which involve intense struggles with similar emotions. It was a very lengthy gathering which involved the sharing of pain and frustration and, honestly, all of the struggles are too monumental to suggest that they were resolved today even to a small degree.
What I am thankful in this is that I am connected to a community in which the sort of intimacy we shared today is possible and even flowed naturally in the gathering. I suspect few others have that in their Sunday gathering.
This was a valley of the shadow of death day. We all have them from time to time. We had ours today in community.
From another angle: There is a challenge in this intimacy itself and particularly in our community that includes intellectually and emotionally challenged people, people who are not always easy to live among.
This challenge is very real. In churches, people jump to another church simply because they don't like others who take in the Sunday morning show. And some who gather in our Sunday Fresh Expression are not easy to like.
In the midst of the challenges so many of us are experiencing, the challenge of the unlikable is a heavier burden than it is in a traditional Christendom church.
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