Job 42:11-12a – 11:
Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning
Meditation
We end the week as we began, by considering the Book of Job. This passage has always struck me as a paradigm for Church. We are called care for each other, particularly in times of trouble. Too often, however, we act not as those “who knew Job before,” but as Job’s friends who piled on looking for some reason that God had punished him. People come to Church to find God. When they do its a gift. When they don’t it can be a curse. Barth said that the role of the theologian was to constantly examine the Church’s language about God. Perhaps the role of all of us in the Church is to constantly examine the way we treat each other and be Church. Church is a complicated thing, but being Church is not. Being Church means to let go and let God. Let us go and do likewise.
Let us pray …
God who gave to us himself and sends his Spirit to us in ways we least expect it: Thank you for the gift of Church. Thank you for those willing to toil thanklessly for your reign on the earth. Send them your spirit to help them today and always. Thank you for all the good experiences, people and justice making we have encountered in Church. Thank you for all the times the Church has reached out to the “least of these” and made a difference. Thank you for the work of the Spirit in our midst, even when we have not recognized it. Thank you for the saints and sinners we meet every day. Amen.
