I have been traveling lately, in a busy season, one week away and then one home, a weekend trip here, then packing up again for the next journey.  I miss the familiar routines of being at home and the sense of being in touch with our church family.  Funny how a few weeks away can leave you feeling disconnected.  My father, wintering states away from us all, tells me they pray for their grandchildren every day, by name, lifting their particular needs to God; it is the little they can do for these young adults who are making life-shaping decisions, the way they can stay in touch with the people they love.  And I tell him it is not a little thing at all– it is the fitting work of God’s people to carry one another’s burdens, to lift their needs up to the Father who carries us all. And so as I travel, the Spirit brings this one and that one to mind, and I pray that needs are met, that faith will grow, that hearts are encouraged and comforted.  It is a connection across the miles, because I am still part of this Body, despite the distance.

Paul said: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2)….that is, the new commandment that Christ gave to “Love one another as I have loved you.”  Just as Christ bore the burden of our sin, because we could not, so we are to come alongside one another and bear the burdens that are too much for one person to carry alone.  Burdens of temptation, of fighting the Enemy, of doubt, of persecution, of sin (and the painful earth-shattering of its consequences), of heart-weary Homesickness.  Stepping into another’s life offering the strength and resources needed.  That is how we love as Jesus did; that is how we fulfill His law of love.  And to do that I must stay connected and pay attention, looking out for the interests of others and stooping to come alongside.

Easier to be strong for others than to be needy though.  Letting someone bear my burdens means admitting my own lack of ability….taking off the mask to let someone else see the weakness and fear.  And Paul sees us clearly: “For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”  He says it plain and simple, how we pretend to be something we aren’t….too put-together to stoop under a load.  Who do we think we are to try to run this race alone?  Only Jesus is the Author and Finisher of this journey of faith.  He went this way first so we don’t need to go it alone; we get to share the heavy lifting.

Truth is, we need each other if we are going to follow Christ through this world.  It’s both privilege and responsibility to be part of a Body, all connected.

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”   (C.S.Lewis, The Four Loves)

“Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.”  (Gal. 6:2-3, The Message)