This week — our last in this series — we saw the first community that lived Jesus’ manifesto together, and we remembered that we were never meant to carry it by ourselves. Here is your exhale.
Blessed are you who were taught to do it all alone — to be saved alone, pray alone, doubt alone in the dark: you were never actually alone, and you don’t have to be now.
Blessed are you for whom community was the wound — your caution is holy and your pace is your own, and no one gets to rush you back toward what hurt you.
Blessed are you who are tired from carrying the weight of a hurting world — the grief, the anger, the long slow work of repair — you were never meant to hold it by yourself. Set your end of it down; there are other hands.
Blessed are you who are ready to look, even a little, for one or two safe people to be honest with — may you find them. And blessed are you who aren’t ready yet — you are held anyway, and you are loved just the same.
May you feel, this week, the relief of a “we.” May something you’ve carried alone finally be shared. May you be held — gently, safely, at your own pace.
You were never meant to do this alone, beloved. And you are loved, exactly as you are.
Rest now. You’ve come a long way. The work will keep.