Along with sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, and encouraging people to be faithful disciples, I think one of the most important parts of my job is to be there for people who are hurting. Being able to be the hands and feet of Christ and provide a glimpse of God’s love and healing care to those who are in need is priceless.
It is wonderful to be able to be able to be the hands and feet of Christ and provide help through meals, or helping with projects, or anything else the person may need, and we need to do all those things. I praise God that I am a part of a church that is always willing to reach out and be a blessing to people who are hurting and/or in need of help, care, or blessings. But we are also called to something else in those hard times. One of the challenges of helping is we always want to “do” something, but sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is simply be present, listen, and pray.
One lesson I had to learn early on in Social Work is that most of the time you can’t actually do anything to help them with their actual pain. I can’t give them medication, or perform surgery, or take away a broken heart. I can’t heal a broken bone, mend an open wound, or fix cancer. I have wanted to, many, many times, but I can’t! What I can do is be present, listen, and pray. So many times people don’t want to hear about other people’s hurts. We often think that it will be depressing so we try to change the subject, or we start talking about how our own problems are worse. There are times when we need to cheer someone up, there is no doubt about that, but there are other times we just need to listen and pray. Listen to the hurt, the frustration, the pain and not try to change the subject or fix it. Just listen and pray.
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When you do this, the conversations can be challenging, hard, and deep, but that is where I have always felt Christ most present. There is something that happens when you ask God to be a part of your conversations and just listen. Let God move and through that time and space. Be a living example of God’s love and care for us. Be a living example of Christ’s acceptance of all of our hurts and questions. You don’t need to be the one to fix everything, God can do that, you simply need to be present, listen, and pray.
God bless, Rev. Liz Arakelian, www.LivingHopeEC.org
