Holy Connections
Posted on by Rev. Sarah Kye Price
Friends, I write this weekly reflection in the midst of what I know are difficult days for many of us. Some of our hurts are shared; we see and know and support one another in them. And other hurts may be held in our hearts and known to God alone. There is also hurt in this world which profoundly impacts beloved people of God who may be beyond our immediate orbit. Even those we do not personally know are still our siblings living every day through the changes and chances of our social, cultural, political world.
Sometimes, especially in these recent days, I have felt a deep heart-ache come over me. Sometimes I know why. But to be completely honest, sometimes I am not entirely sure who my heart breaks for or what the flood of empathy that comes over me is about. I wonder, in these moments when someone or something is clearly tugging heavily on my heart, if that is a time when someone, somewhere needs a prayer. And so, I have made it a practice that whenever these moments happen, I stop, and I pray.
I’ve come to think of these moments as holy connections. Perhaps holy connections interrupt my status quo because God is inviting me to carry someone, known or known, in that moment. I’ve started to ponder this and what it means for understanding the nature of who God is. Rather than a detached, impersonal God “out there” our faith teaches us that God is the One who is, who loves and carries all of us. And in God’s infinite wisdom and cosmic vision, perhaps we are also interconnected in ways that only God can understand. There is one thing that I know for sure: I have never regretted following that tug on my heart to pray for someone, to visit someone, to show love to a stranger. And, it has been a blessing in my own life when those holy connections appear for me, in ways that fill me with gratitude, wonder and awe.
I have something I want you all to know. It was one of those days when I went to visit Kent; an opportunity opened on my calendar and he was on my mind. I had no idea why. Neither of us knew what that afternoon would bring, but when Kent and I found ourselves praying together during his final moments on this earth, I had a profound sense that we were not alone. That space was filled with belovedness: from St. Mark’s, from Kent’s many friends, from family members both here and those who had gone before, ancestors and the great communion of saints. It was palpable. He felt it, and he saw it. Not for one second in those moments did Kent feel alone. And my beloved friends at St. Mark’s, I felt you all with us, the great love of this great parish present in a real, palpable, personal way.
It’s a great mystery, this way that God knits us together as the Body of Christ. We are reminded of it in each celebration of Holy Eucharist and in the Baptismal waters that are sprinkled and splashed as we welcome new members into this sacred and holy family which we call The Church. The culture we live in is so obsessed with personal rights and freedoms, with individual success and accomplishment, with a sort of “All I want is my fair share!” mentality. When we are caught in that trap, we miss the point of God’s vision of life on earth as it is in heaven as one where we are knit together beautifully and intricately in love and community. We are greater together than the sum of our individual parts, because God is in our midst.
What if we stepped deeply into this belief that we were meant to carry one another, to truly bear one another’s burdens and to know others are bearing our burden with us, as we read in the Epistle to the Galatians (see Galatians 6:2). What if we recognized that at the very moment of our own distress, someone was praying for us. What if, when the pains of the world impinge on our hearts, we all paused to pray and hold in the light whomever was hurting at that moment.
I think that if we did these things, we may come to realize that we are all carrying each other, all the time. We are also not alone in our own sorrows but rather, we are profoundly connected. Love and community are what God desires for us: thanks be to God!
I recently came across this poem, written by Bishop Steven Charleston. It was shared by one of the facilitators at last weekend’s diocesan discernment retreat, and it reminded me of this sense I have of the profoundly personal and beautiful ways in which we carry each other through this life. So, I want to share it with you. I hope you might feel a nudge to share it with someone else, too…because we are all connected.
In the world that God envisions for us, our language is love; our currency is prayer and the journey of this life brings us ever-circling together into the loving arms of God.
Praying for me
By Steven Charleston
Somewhere on this crowded planet
In a place I have never been before
And will never visit in my lifetime
Someone I do not know and will never meet
Has just said a prayer for me.
In a language I do not understand
As an expression of faith in a religion I may not accept.
And yet that prayer was for me.
Please bless all those who are in need,
The stranger prays, and that includes me.
The wonder of faith is not that we all agree.
But that we all care even when we are strangers.
So, I returned the prayer; please bless all who are in need.
All, please, not some:
For they are praying for me as I pray for them.
From Spirit Wheel, Meditations from an Indigenous Elder
Sarah
Galatians 6:2 - Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.