Yesterday at church I saw it. I've seen it before, I'm sure, but yesterday I truly saw it. Love. All around me. It was almost overwhelming. I suppose it wasn't suddenly that I noticed it as I recall in weeks prior seeing and feeling something truly special about City Church, but I think on Sunday it just clicked.
I think it started when I sat in the auditorium (our church utilizes an auditorium of a local museum as we don't have our own facility) before worship. I was there early because we had had a meeting for kids church helpers before the service. I saw families start to come into the auditorium and it was so amazing to me how other people were so eager to love on their kids and the parents.
During worship I continued to look at the people surrounding me and was just overwhelmed by how obvious love was being spoken. There were a few married couples sitting around me and sure, I know it's typical for married couples to hold hands or to put their arms around each other, but for some reason, it seemed different. When the guy sitting next to me reached over and put his hand on his wife's arm it was so much more than a thoughtless act of holding her hand--it seemed like a true "I'm so in love with you" type act. But yet it was simple. And I see it in so many of the couples in our church. The way I honestly see it is that they are so deeply in love with who Christ is that they only know how to love their wives the way the Bible calls them to love their wives (I'm certainly not saying that they are perfect for I don't know what their marriages are like behind closed doors and I know that naturally there is human failure. I'm purely saying that I see a people who love Jesus so much that it bleeds into their love for people so obviously and clearly).
During this season of Lent, our church has also been partaking in communion every Sunday. As I watched each family filter through the communion line there were two sights that particularly stick in my mind. One family has 2 children who are probably around the age of 12. As they walked through the communion line, each parent took a hold of a child's hand and guided them through the line and pulled them close while partaking in the bread and wine. I don't have adequate words to describe how this instance clearly spoke of love to me, but I just remember feeling overwhelmed with the sight of a family that clearly loves and cares about each other. The other sight I remember is seeing a husband and wife with their infant child walking through to get communion. The mother was holding the small baby and was in front of her husband. The baby was looking over her mother's shoulder at her father who was smiling ear to ear and abounding love for his daughter. The nonverbal communication that was transpiring between this infant and her father was amazing. I could tell that this dad was just head over heels for his daughter and would do anything for her.
Tonight, I think was really the topper on it all. At my small group I once again felt incredibly overwhelmed by love. I've been so stressed with a variety of items lately and have felt such a feeling of staggering discontentment, frustration, and sadness. I arrived at small group in tears tonight just paralyzed with stress. I sat outside in my car for a moment crying and praying. When I felt as though I had gathered myself and rid all evidence of red eyes, I went inside where I was greeted with many warm hugs and an instantaneous knowledge that something was bothering me. A few of us talked for a short couple of minutes before we started our study for the evening. Afterwards I went to leave and got sidetracked in a conversation where I just felt as though my life was being poured into. Sure, all of my same stresses are still present, but now I can rest in the knowledge that there are people praying for me and fighting my battles with me, and mostly, just people loving me and showing me God's love.
*Note: I'm sure that God's love is evident in churches around the world (and many many many places outside of churches), but I just had to write this moment down for my own memory. In this place in my life where I've battled with discontentment and longing, God is hearing my cries and my pleas for love and guidance and has provided a community that undoubtedly is living out the Gospel.
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