The Hurt And The Healing

This evening I have been to watch a contemporary dance performance which considered the themes of loss and reconstruction following loss.

 

It was a fascinating portrayal of how loneliness can feel and how other people are essential in carrying us through times of bereavement and in helping us to restructure our lives.

 

There were six dancers in the piece and each one of them, at one point in the performance, was the 'odd one out' - the one by themselves.  The one dancing alone.  The one who was experiencing loss of some kind.

 

They each had a moment of dancing solo.

 

But then the other five would come and gather around them and physically support and strengthen them.  They would dance alongside them and lift and carry them.

 

It was a beautiful image.

 

And it was another wonderful picture of what God imagines the church to be like.

 

Paul writes,

 

"The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t.  If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing.  If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance."

 

[1 Corinthians 12:25-26 MSG]

 

I love that line: every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. 

 

In the same way that the dancers in tonight's performance were all involved in each other's hurt and healing, this is what God envisions and longs for in His church.

 

 

 

 

Lost

I pride myself on my sense of direction and can usually figure out which way I need to go when I am in a new place.  Consequently, I find being "lost" and not knowing where I am, or in which direction I ought to be heading, very disturbing.  Perhaps even more disturbing for me than for those who have no sense of direction and, therefore, spend most of their time "lost".

To be lost, you have to have a point or destination in mind.  You have to know where you're going, in order to know whether or not you are "on track".

As the very wise Lorelai Gilmore says,

"You can't be lost unless you know where you're headed."

Often, I  know exactly where I am headed: I have a plan or a design or a map for my life and I panic when I feel "lost".  When things seem to fall apart around me.  When I miss milestones or goals I have set up for myself.  When I seem to take "wrong turns". 

I panic, because I know where I am headed and I don't seem to be able to get there.

But maybe I don't really know where I am headed.  Maybe my map is wrong.  Maybe my directions are faulty. 

I might think I know where I am going.  I might have mapped and planned my route out in the finest detail.  I might have clear goals in mind.  But I am not really living by my map. 

God has mapped out my life.  He knows where I am going.  He knows the turns I ought to take and the roads I ought to travel down.  He has plotted out my journey and knows whether or not I am "on track".

"I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for."

[Jeremiah 29:11, MSG]

Sometimes I might panic because I feel lost.  I might feel as though nothing is going according to plan.  I might feel completely disorientated and as though I have lost my way.

But I'm not lost.  I'm not the one with the map.

"You can't be lost unless you know where you're headed."