April 2023
Pastor’s Note and Intro to Knox News:
Sometimes we make things more complicated than they need to be. Take for instance a birthday or a celebration. Our mind gets racing for what we need to buy, and we start thinking through what the person needs and what store to shop at and how much we should spend. Sometimes we miss out on what money can’t buy. Maybe we’ve lost or simply don’t trust the art of making cards, creating gifts, planning fun ventures, painting pictures, writing songs, crafting poetry, or just showing up.
Jesus knew the value of working with his hands, walking with people, hoisting children, tending to the sick, finding the lonely, and noticing the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. Maybe he went to his father’s carpentry shop and made things for those he loved, maybe he visited shepherds and thanked them for showing up at his birth. Maybe he gave a glass of cold water to one in need and good homemade wine to a wedding party.
Somehow, he knew that his presence, his attention, his showing up in our lives was what was needed. Somehow he knew that the greatest gift he could give in saving, repairing, healing the world was ensuring that nothing would ever be able to separate us from his love.
So he took on the sin of the world, he took on the hatred, the violence, and endured the cross. He was crucified, dead, and buried. He took on the worst we could throw at him, left it in the tomb, and walked out to appear again and again in our lives. He remains exactly what’s needed.
And, by His healing power continuing at work within us, maybe He lovingly looks at us and asks,
“What if you are exactly what’s needed? What if it’s not about what you buy, what you wear, what you’ve accomplished in life? What if it is just about you showing up, offering kindness, making a card or sending a text that says, ‘I love you.’”
How would we live if we made things less complicated, and realized we might we be exactly what’s needed for the blessing and healing of our homes, our neighborhoods, our world?
All I can say is that I believe you are exactly what’s needed and from the triumphant love of Jesus, we are all supplied daily with exactly what we need.
Tom