July 24: Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 29:15-28
Psalm 105:1-11, 45b or Psalm 128
or
1 Kings 3:5-12
Psalm 119:129-136
Romans 8:26-39
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Very often in my work as a hospital ICU and ER chaplain, I am confronted with unspeakable tragedy. A woman with young children becomes critically ill and dies, an elderly lady gets hit by a car and is paralyzed, a man in the prime of his life falls down a flight of stairs and suffers a brain injury. It is difficult, if not impossible, to see where God is in the midst of these circumstances. I often admit as much to the families of the patients with whom I work.
But in my prayer with these folks, the families of our critically ill patients whose hearts are broken, I also try to remember that ours is a faithful God, one who never, ever leaves us. I always pray that God’s abiding love, this love from which nothing can separate us – not illness, not injury, not even death, surrounds and enfolds both these patients who are so very sick, and their families. And I remind myself, especially when I am feeling sad or worn out, that God’s love is always with me as well.
“Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 39)