Devotional Messages

DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE

Romans 12:15 – Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.  (NRSV)

This verse sums up a large portion of what the point of Christian community is.  We are here to live our lives together, celebrating when someone has a victory and commiserating when life gets hard for any of us.  I think about this verse a lot when we’re sharing joys and concerns during prayer time in worship.  That is us actively rejoicing with those who rejoicing and weeping with those who weep.  And our prayer time can hold it all, reflecting how God can hold the entire, mixed-up contents of our hearts in each and every moment.

But in practice, sometimes we need the guidelines to be a little more specific.  It is wonderful to celebrate with friends.  It is a blessing to have someone to share good news with, whether it’s a new job, a new baby, an award, or just the beauty of nature you experienced that morning.  But you probably wouldn’t do that at a visitation for a friend’s loved one, would you?  If someone shared their cancer diagnosis with you, you wouldn’t respond by telling them about the promotion you got at work, would you?  As Ecclesiastes tells us, there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh,” and they are usually not the same time!

There are a lot of people who are feeling very fearful about the future in light of this week’s election.  They are devastated that so many people could support someone they see as hateful and dangerous.  That may not be where you are right now.  But our calling as Christians demands that we listen to the lament of those who are weeping before we indulge in laughter or rejoicing.  What a blessing it could be if we could come to understand each other more deeply by truly listening to the fears and trauma of our friends!  We don’t have to have a response or any salient words of wisdom to comfort one another; we can just weep together, whether the sorrow is ours or not.