[Jesus said] ”I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!” ~ Luke 12:50
It’s kind of odd to think about Jesus feeling stressed out.
Looking closer at the Greek word translated as stress or distressed, it emphasizes how totally absorbed Jesus was with the mission He had come to complete.
It’s not anxiety nor is it nervousness or fretfulness or worry…
…Jesus was feeling an all-consuming sense of urgency in God’s eager work of love to bring people together.
However as we find our footing with COVID as something to live with…
…COVID only added to divisions that were already fracturing our communities…
…and as those divisions opened up wider and deeper cracks…
…all these things that take the rough edges off of life we see in the radical love of God with grace and compassion are falling through those cracks.
Stanford neuroscientist Jamil Zaki’ spent his career researching the neuroscience of empathy and writes:
“People empathize most easily when they can see others’ suffering with their own eyes or when their actions are visible to others. But the modern world has stripped them away. We see more people than ever but know fewer of them.”
Join us Sundays at 10AM as we get to know our neighbors – all of them.
If you’d like to join us virtually send us your email: prinevillepc@gmail.com.
Together We Serve,
Pastor Mike