There is a Place for You Here – You Are Welcome to Bring Your Needy Old Self!

From Pastor David:
There is a Place for You Here – You Are Welcome to Bring Your Needy Old Self!
“Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are
any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing
them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them
up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and
pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayers of the saints are powerful
and effective.” (James 5:13-16)
Most of the time when we come to worship or gather with other folks of faith, we will put our best
foot forward. Someone asks the polite question, “How are you?” “Just fine,” we answer with a smiling
face. Some days that’s the honest truth, but often it is not. Have you ever noticed that when something
terrible happens in a person’s life, (maybe your own) there is an almost automatic tendency to hide that
truth from our faith family? People with broken lives mysteriously quit coming to church, crawling into
their little shells precisely when they need a community of faith the most. And we are left asking:
“Where did Jim ever go?” “What happened to Maria?”
The book of James invites us to a different sort of community, to be a place that tells honest stories about
ourselves and, in doing so, cracks the doors wide open to invite others to do the same. “Are any of
you suffering? Are any of you cheerful? Are any of you sick?” There is a place for you here around the
table of Jesus. Here we can be in conversation about what’s breaking us. Come and be a part of a new kind
of community where we can be our needy old selves, fellow beggars of God’s grace. There is a place for
you here at San Marcos Lutheran Church. Welcome Home!
Gracious God, we bring our needy old selves to you again. We come with hands wide open and you fill our
empty hands with every good gift. Help us to never cease singing and praying with one another. Through
your grace may we mysteriously become what you call us to be, the Body of Christ. Amen.