Left behind

People who need people are supposed to be the luckiest people in the world. What happens when those people find they are not needed? Relationships are a delicate thing. They constantly hang in a balance with time and circumstance. We cannot cling to them and expect that they will never change; the opposite is true; they must change. They must find ways to continue to grow in adaptation to the variables before mentioned, or they risk dying.

Perhaps this is why it is bittersweet when friends part. There is no assurance that the variables will allow the growth to continue. Sometimes relationships come to a natural end - like in the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun." They have their moment in the sun, when they flourish, and then the natural cycle is to end them. Sometimes, though, they feel as if they are cut down short... before time naturally expires.

In Genesis, we read that God wanted companionship and created Adam. It was not that God needed it, but God wanted it. Adam was in a different position. God said it was not good for man to live alone and created Eve to be a partner in life. I read that as God saying we need each other in this life. I have read it to understand that we do not need spouses to be complete, but we do requite meaningful and lasting relationships with others. We are not meant to live solitary lives. I am told over and over that there is no such thing as the solo Christian, and perhaps it is for the same reason - God wants us to know a fullness in relation to one another.

However, I return to my question, what happens when the one who needs people is not needed? Some will say that our full value cannot be placed in the hands of others, but it should be found within. I do believe each person should know his or her own value, but even Paul, in 1 Corinthians, asks the ecclesia to affirm the fruit of the Spirit in each person. What if the body is absent to affirm? Where is affirmation found?

I hope that it is found in prayer. Perhaps these moments of solitude are meant to reconnect with the God that dwells within each of us. Perhaps God asks us to know the fruit placed within and ask the ecclesia for affirmation rather than to find and present the fruit to the person. It is like a medicine that does not go down easy but eventually strengthens the body, or soul, from within.

No one is alone. That is what ordained ministry is all about. More specifically, that is what the Order of the Deacon is all about. Deacons affirm to the world that we are there when all other hope seems lost and fading. We cannot cure, but we can heal. Sometimes, the ordained need to be there for each other for this very reason. Sometimes the ordained need to hear a voice of witness saying they are not alone on this journey of care.