Joining

By Pastor Paul Gauche

Today’s word: ‘joining’ as in… we’re joining countless numbers of people who know that we’re stronger together than we are apart.

Are you feeling overwhelmed? That’s normal. Have you passed angry like it was standing still and moved on to utterly incensed? That’s appropriate. Are you feeling helpless? That’s a common reaction.

After an airstrike hit a maternity hospital in the besieged city of Mariupol and images of pregnant mothers being carried through the rubble began to surface, did you scream out loud? If you did, I couldn’t hear you over the decibels of my own screams.

Do you find it incomprehensible that Ukrainians have discovered that their relatives in Russia don’t believe a war is going on? You’re joining countless others who are utterly mystified.

After reading Olena Zelenska’s open letter to the global media in which she described the casualties inflicted on children as the invasion’s most terrifying and devastating aspect, did you share her righteous indignation? You’re joining countless others in this.

Did you drop to your knees in thanksgiving for the evacuation corridors opened in the Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Kyiv regions? You’re joining with millions of others.

Do you imagine yourself sending an email to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy telling him that you’re cheering him on, praying for an end to the madness? You’re joining countless others in this.

The message of Lent is that out of death comes life. The message of the cross of Christ is the reminder that on the other side of death is a new way of living; on the other side of inhumanity is a more profound way of being human together. If this season of Lent has anything to teach us, it’s that death is never the last word. The last and the first word is always life.

But that still seems like a long way off for millions of Ukrainians. So we’re joining the millions of struggling brothers and sisters in Ukraine and Eastern Europe with the announcement that Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. May he come through all of us joining together.

#100days50words

Paul Gauche is the Pastor of Life Transitions at Prince of Peace. His posts are part of his #100days50words project, where he blogs about a different word each week. You can follow his project on Instagram (@pgauche) or his blog, Thriving Rhythms.