Tina, who died tragically at age 42 from small cell lung cancer, had struggled with addiction most of her life. After losing two husbands to drugs and experiencing chronic pain from a serious car accident, Tina was still able to maintain her sobriety at the time of her death.
I will always remember the day Tina brought me a poem that she had written. It was the first time the word “church” was used to describe who we were (a worshiping community on the streets). Tina’s poem began with these words: “Welcome to this church! Won’t you come on in? Jesus Christ lives here.”
At this church without a building, Tina was able to see Jesus, who was present among us, inviting us into the heart of God and the hearts of each other. Here is God, who eats with us, who holds us in safety so we can sleep. Here is God, who sees God’s very self in us.
This message is excerpted from “How do you take it?” by Violet C. Little in the March/April 2022 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate John Wesley, 1791 and Charles Wesley, 1788, renewers of the church.
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