envelop spinner search close plus arrow-right arrow-left facebook twitter

Broken and the Blessed Week 2, Day 6

by David Joynt on January 20, 2017


DAY 13

JOHN 11:17-19

 Comfort also comes through the consolation of the community. Burdens shared are burdens lightened. In these few verses we see friends coming to console Mary and Martha. Loss isolates us, activating individual memories and emotions that are unique and hard to share or describe. Yet the gift of our presence to someone who is grieving, the notes, or food or other simple gestures mean a great deal. The loss is honored and the struggle is recognized and validated by the community. “Rejoice with those who rejoice and grieve with those who grieve,” is a perpetual command for every Christian community.

 

Pray for those who work in our grief ministries, visiting the bereaved, consoling them, praying with them, helping them organize services of remembrance and celebration. Pray for those who keep our memorial garden such a beautiful place to remember, grieve and express thanks.

 

FAMILY TIME—

Use the church list of those grieving and pray for someone who is going through loss.

 

Tags: beatitudes, comfort, devotional, the broken and the blessed

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

More from Pastor Joynts Devotionals

return to Pastor Joynts Devotionals