I can still remember my Sunday School teacher encouraging me to invite friends to join me on Sunday mornings. I can almost hear Mrs. Rhodes telling me that it was my job to let other boys and girls see Christ in me as she placed felt figures on a green background depicting the Easter Story.
Whether I was in school or on a Little League ballfield, the thing she said that would make Jesus happy, was for me to let others know about him. Mrs. Rhodes was the first person I can remember dipping my young heart in the meaning of “Discipleship.”
A decade later…now a teen who had lost her way…I can remember sitting on the cold floor of the church bathroom stall. My beautiful new pink dress from the new Spiegel Catalogue that I was wearing on the outside, could not hide the guilt and shame my young heart was carrying on the inside. Feelings of absolute unworthiness had brought me sobbing to the bathroom floor instead of the sanctuary pew.
Our church had speakers in the bathroom at that time and I could hear the voice of our preacher. He paused and went off topic a bit and then said, “Someone needs to hear this. No matter how lost you feel right now…God is reaching out to you. He isn’t keeping count of your mistakes…he has already paid the price for you. Christ died and rose again for all of us…including the lost and the sinners. You are never too far gone down any road to turn around and take hold of the hand of Christ. He will meet you right now where you are.” And he did…right there on the bathroom floor.
I have strayed away over the years if I am being honest. Never too far… I could always feel him pulling me back…chasing me down at times. I never again had that feeling of being too far gone as I did that day. I knew he was like my earthly father who loved me no matter what and I didn’t want to disappoint either one. My relationship with God wasn’t grounded in fear…but instead on absolute love and respect. The kind of respect that pushed me to want to honor the sacrifices made on my behalf. Those sacrifices that were made for all of us.
Imagine how different this world would be if this week, each one of us reached out to just one person. It might be a neighbor who is widowed or a teen who seems to be struggling. Maybe we stop and have a conversation with the homeless person we pass by each morning. It’s even possible that we speak in a new way to someone who sits right beside us on the pew. It’s possible they have yet to realize the power of a love that says, “You are forgiven, and you are enough.”
This is Holy Week. A time to remember the gravity of the sacrifice made for our sin. We remember and feel all the emotions of that experience on Good Friday. Don’t forget about Sunday though because the cross is empty, and all hearts have a chance at new life as a result. Share that good news with someone this week. Find one person who needs to know how much they are loved. Take the Christ you know every Sunday during worship service outside those walls this week.
“You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.” Acts 3:15 NIV
If you would like to view past editions of A Message from Kim, follow this link: https://sounddistrictnc.org/category/from-district-lay-leader/
If you would like to connect with Kim please do so through her email, k.smith@nccumc.org