eLi encourages us to be wounded healers

eLi

I recently visited a small church tucked in the trees and hills of PA. The congregation is maybe one hundred or so members. The building is "well used". The pastor has been serving his congregation, community and the infamous Graterford Prison inmates for a steady 30 years. There are no fancy signs. He has not written the latest greatest book on success or how to make a bigger church; instead he serves quietly, faithfully and gently.

By all accounts he is "ordinary" and so are the people in his congregation. They will never be on TV or have their own worship CD in the stores.

Between services I took a walk around the church. I walked by the doors that are too short for any man to walk through upright and the floors are uneven. I found something which used to amaze me but has now become common place in a church like this. I saw bags and boxes of food gathered together, food for someone else. There is food for anybody who has need. There is food for the poor and the forgotten and the tired.

In my life I have found that more often than not it is the poor who help the poor. It is those who hurt that heal. It is those who are broken who mend. It is out of our need and poverty and insecurity that we continue to see clearly the role that God must play in our lives if we are ever to be what God calls us to be, His hands and His feet. Worn, cut, scarred and skilled. Intimately familiar with the process that the Master uses to mold us into His image.

Maybe I love the "ordinary" or "forgotten" or the "underdog" because on some level I always feel like I am one of them. If I am then I am truly blessed! God uses underdogs. May you be used today.