29th Day of Lent

Monday, April 7, 2025

Hebrews 10:23-25, NRSVUE

Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Reflection - Deacon Allison Wilcox, Grace Lutheran Church Royersford

What is the purpose of your church community? Is it worship? Is it providing service to the community?

How do we interact with each other? Do we show up only on Sundays? Do we spend time with each other outside of worship?

Or do we provoke each other?

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews gives as good a description of what it means to be church, and how to interact with each other, as any.

We don’t learn to love in a vacuum. We love by loving others. By showing others how to love. By learning how to love from others. By tending to relationships. By telling each other hard truths. By opening ourselves up to being vulnerable and hearing hard truths told to us. By working together and even just being together through good times and bad.

By showing up. By encouraging each other. By guiding each other. By provoking each other to love and good deeds. Church is community, and the community works when it shows the world how much it loves.

Prayer: Holy One, provoke me to love and through that love, help me to provoke others to love as well. Amen.