The road of life is long and weird and winding. Along the way, I think that all of us spend some time putting on a “brave face,” trying to mask pain(s) that we have long carried. In many cases, the pain that we carry is physical. But many of us are also carrying emotional and spiritual pain too. Regardless of the pain that we have, our society really doesn’t like talking about it.

Our cultural signals suggest that pain is something we should hold in silence, or that we should only share in “appropriate” settings. Think about the settings that we’ve decided are “appropriate.” There aren’t many. They typically aren’t free. And, they often include person(s) who would not otherwise be part of our communities, but for their presence in the setting we’ve decided is appropriate for one to lay their burdens down.

You may be thinking, “but what about church!” Does church really make space for your pain?  Does it really provide space for the pain that everyone might be carrying? We’d all love for the answer to be “yes!” But, I’m not sure that the present answer actually is “yes.” Indeed, there are plenty of folks who have found their churches to be sources of pain, even when they proclaim an extravagant welcome.

We’ve all heard the refrain “God loves [us] as we are, and loves us too much to let us stay that way.” One day, maybe that’ll apply to the church as an institution too. You’ll find throughout this worship series that I believe all of its questions are, at their core, about belonging and being a part of. I believe that these questions also invite us into a an intentional kind of curiosity that might help us anchor ourselves in who we are(and who we might like to one day be).

• Where Are You From?
• Where  Does It Hurt?
• What Do You Need?
• Where Do We Go From Here

Perhaps we’ll also be open to whatever the responses may be. Below are a few things have been in my head over the past few weeks, in addition to the usual commentaries I consult:

Music: “Messy” by Lola Young

Film: “Inside Out” by Disney-Pixar, “Wreck It Ralph” by Disney

Writings: “Sorrow Turned To Song” in The Book of Belonging:  Bible Stories for Kind and Contemplative Kids by Mariko Clark and Rachel Eleanor, “Fat Church: Claiming a Gospel of Fat Liberation” by Rev. Dr. Anastasia Kidd, and “After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging” by  Rev. Dr. Willie James Jennings