Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. (Romans 12:15)

Whenever I’ve thought about the verses that call us to share in the sufferings of fellow Christians, I’ve usually daydreamed a romantic vision of enduring persecution on the mission field or risking disease by caring for highly contagious people. It’s convenient to daydream like that, because the likelihood I’ll be called upon to do anything like those examples today is very small.

But tonight at my small group I was reminded that there are many unglamorous ways in which we can “weep with those who weep.”

A woman in our group has a thus-far undiagnosed neurological condition which has kept her in a state of extreme discomfort for at least a couple of years now. Every few months she sees some doctor or other who we all hope will say, “Aha! This is what it is.” But that hasn’t happened.

And that means that every time we have a night of “sharing what God is doing in your life” at small group, we’re going to hear her latest tale of frustration and pain. After a while it gets….well, old. It gets wearying.

So tonight I realized that right there is where God is asking me to bear the burden with her…by not growing weary of her tale of woe, by enduring the fact that week after week I have nothing I can say to her but “I’m sorry” and “I’ll pray for you.”

Not glamorous, but it’s something.

here’s to all you ragged ones and torn
some of us are waiting here a lifetime to be born
there are some things you will save
ah but most we’ll cast away
bearing the load bearing the load

turn out on the highway
yeah and it’s never what it seems
just what was that
tugging at your sleeve
prayers slip through the fan blades
or they open every door
bearing the load bearing the load

— Bill Mallonee

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 21st, 2004 at 10:22 pm and is filed under Christian Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.