DAILY DEVOT IONAL 11
Connor Felty
So then, putting away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with your neighbor, for we are members of one another. - Ephesians 4:25, NRSVue
Someone near to me found himself where no person wants to be—beneath a heavy piece of equipment. (Un)luckily, he escaped the situation without needing immediate medical attention. Without the expert attention of a doctor, the prolonged swelling in his leg could not be properly diagnosed as blood clots that would creep toward his heart! He learned quickly that a problem in one part of his body still did harm to the entire system.
In today’s verse, the author of Ephesians says the Body of Christ is as interconnected as this person’s body. The entire system is regulated by our ability to tell one another the truth; each individual member is healed when we tell the truth. You are part of me, and I am part of you.
In our Journey of Healing, it will not do to carry forward the fear, or hiding, or silence that felt protective in our painful past. Neither will it do to think, “The pain of others is theirs.” Healing will require that we overcome fear to speak about historic imbalances; that we share our previously hidden emotions; that our voices break comfortable silences; and that we take ownership where our siblings’ pain flows from an imbalance in the Body that has privileged some.
To speak the truth, we must first discern the truth, and this is contemplative work. It begins with individuals laid bare before God and before themselves in the secret place; it continues in communities praying for Scripture’s illumination; it culminates in communities gathered to ask forgiveness, to change their ways, and to announce pardon. It is never only individual; it is never only communal; it is always in God’s loving, just, and truthful presence.
Truth-telling is not instant medicine, but when we commit to it as a spiritual practice that will define our communities, we just may be surprised at the healing God will work.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. What emotional, spiritual, or systemic experiences of pain do you need to share with others so that all might experience healing?
2. How can you express gratitude to those whose courageous truth-telling has helped you to heal?
PRAYER:
Healer God, Just as you have knit each of our individual bodies together as a beautiful and functional system, so you have stitched Christ’s Body together for the sake of flourishing and mission. Reveal anew the healing power of truth spoken in love, and embolden us to break comfortable silences that all might find life in one another and in you. Amen.