November, '24 Letter
“...Let the concerns and sorrows of others be as your own…”1
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
“Grace and peace to you from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”2 On the 19th of October, we had a Messy Church. One of the activities taking place was to stick some plasters on a heart designed card and on it write people’s different situations which need God’s love, light, and healing. One of the children, who is threeyear-old, wrote on her card, asking God to heal those who have been and are suffering from cancer. After briefly talking to her, it was clear to me that she took the concerns and sorrows of others to heart as her own. Importantly she felt comfortable to bring these concerns of sorrow to God in prayer through our Messy Church.
As members of the religious order, deacons are called to “support the weak, bind up the broken, gather in the outcast, welcome the stranger, seek the lost, and let the concerns and sorrows of others be as your own.”3 The world is visibly and invisibly hurting today. It’s clear when we watch the news and see what’s going on around the world. There are so many conflicts, people living in hunger, poverty, wars, injustice, killings, and homelessness. The testimonies, stories and circumstances of those who have lost their loved ones and those suffering from terminal illnesses, overwhelming me. When you speak to a true follower of Jesus Christ, you realise that we all have a common story to tell, past and present. The question is, if we are all hurting and struggling in one way or another, or if we are all dealing with complex situations and circumstances, how can we then let these concerns and sorrows of others be as our own while we are already at the edge?
As the young girl at Messy Church took her request to God in prayer, we too must take everything to Jesus, our faithful friend who accepts all things (good and bad). We are to bring to him all our concerns. Our sorrows, our weakness, our discouragements, our pain, our sins, our griefs and our trials, temptations and financial challenges. We must leave them all to him because for God nothing is impossible. As the Hymn from Singing the Faith (SfF) puts it:
"Have we trails and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged Take it to the Lord in prayer" 4
In the name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Yours in His service
Deacon Marcianne Uwimana.
1 The Methodist Worship Book, 1999p.323 2 The Methodist Church WorshipBook1999, 3 The Methodist Worship Book,1999,p.323 4 The Singing the Faith (StF) 531