Imperfect in Community {31 Days of Imperfection – Day 2}

Young women gather on a late Wednesday night.

Open homes. Open Bibles. Most importantly: open hearts.

As the Living Word speaks through His Holy book, our conversations connect that beauty with the beauties (and the “uglies”) of life.  The name of a “Lifegroup” seems so fitting as we come and rest in that place and do life together.

Last night, we read these words from a brother long ago:

Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray.

Is anyone happy?  Let him sing songs of praise.

Is anyone of you sick?  He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.

If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.

Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.  (James 5:13-16)

And this is what we do in this place; as scary as it can be, as vulnerable as it is, we share life.

We let others help us turn to prayer when troubles surround and we forget to turn their on our own.

We praise God for restored relationships, found jobs, strength in the midst of work and study, engagements, financial successes, and more.

We lift up each other when sick and our loved ones too, pleading for God’s hope and healing.

And at times, we confess our sins.  The hardest, scariest part of this all… we fess up:

I’m not perfect.

And in doing so, rest comes.  The world expects perfection. We often expect perfection of ourselves.  We live in this tension that everyone expects everyone to be perfect, and at the same time, we logically know that no one is.  And when we gather with other Christians, it seems this tension increases.  The LAST thing we want to do is hang out our dirty laundry for others to see. Yet, it just might be the thing we need the MOST.  As God’s Word reminds, in confessing and prayer, others can remind us of this beautiful truth: GRACE!

And there is healing.

So we continue to meet; we continue to gather and open God’s Word as we open our mouths to say:

“My life isn’t perfect. Can you point me to Jesus?”