Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It is with great delight that I write this letter! Some of you may already have seen me in person, or on July 4th’s video. If so, you saw that I am walking without a cane. And, even more importantly, without a limp!! Recovery from my surgeries has been long, and sometimes arduous, but with the help of intensive physical therapy, I have come out of it literally better than new. I have been able to do my own shopping, stand during the services, and walk to town—something I haven’t been able to do for TWO YEARS. I am profoundly grateful for all your support. I have no doubts whatsoever that the many prayers which you have been offering on my behalf have made all the difference!
The collect for Sunday is particularly precious to me at this time: Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
There is nothing like being ill or having surgery to make us aware of how much we don’t know. We can prepare and prepare, but when the time comes, we discover there are all sorts of things we had no idea we’d need. This is true not only of the physical needs but also of the spiritual and emotional ones as well. What a comfort to trust that God knows what we need long before we do, and prepares solutions for us in advance.
We grow up trained to be strong and independent, so it’s quite a blow to our self-esteem when we are overcome by weakness. In our humbleness, we have the gift of praying that God will have compassion on our weakness and will give us the things we need, simply because God is merciful—not because God requires that we be worthy of Divine intervention. God’s care and concern doesn’t have the remotest connection to our worthiness. As a matter of fact, no matter who we are or what we do, we can never be worthy. Only Jesus is worthy. It’s not about worthiness, it’s about love. God loves us so much, even with our deeply flawed and ignorant human nature, that God is ready to give us compassion and mercy, even before we ask for it.
The assurance of this is surely the greatest and most life-changing revelation ever known.
Rejoicing with you in God’s mercy,
Mo. Laura+
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