This sermon takes place the week after a challenging congregational meeting. I don't mean "challenging", as in code for "look, the roof is fire and the floor is fire and everything is fire!". I mean it in the sense that we had a couple of important decisions to make, and a member spoke from the depths of their heart and then left the meeting when the vote went another way.
It was **challenging**. But challenging is healthy, and we need to do the hard things sometimes.
During the week between these Sundays, I was in a person's house with whom I'd had a "challenging" conflict in September 2021. In this case, I mean "challenging" as code for "look, the roof is fire and the floor is fire and everything is fire!". The exceedingly short version is during this visit they disclosed to me that I hurt them deeply, that they felt ignored and marginalized after. More, I followed up ineffective attempts at reconciliation by accepting the terrible advice to "let it lie so it will settle". this made them feel like I didn't even find them important enough to worry about, and deepened their hurt and anger.
As people of God, we're called not to hold grudges. In that vein, I don't believe this person is holding a grudge. I believe they're still wounded, and I believe I left it open and seeping by not pushing harder to help them dictate what healing looks like.
All that to say this:
So I wrote a sermon, and all this is its context.
Grace & Peace,
pew
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