The TV series All Creatures Great & Small is set in a veterinarian’s home and hospital in World War II era England. One episode opens with a military veterinarian training new recruits beside a mule. He explains that though mules are more common in the field than horses, they are more difficult to read. Horses will let you know they’re in pain, while mules simply “soldier on.” When I heard that, I said back to the TV, “That’s true of us two-footed critters, too!”
Jesus sides with the horse’s approach. He spoke about a neighbor who got food for hosting an unexpected guest by knocking on his neighbor’s door at all hours of the night, and about a persistent widow who finally got justice—not because the judge cared one way or the other—but because she made herself a nuisance. When blind Bartimaeus yelled himself hoarse, giving Jesus the same treatment, Jesus responded: “What do you want me to do for you?” In the Sermon on the Mount, he said, “Blessed are those who mourn” because only those who let others know where it hurts can be comforted.
Our Faith for the Journey Cancer Support Group meets at noon every second Monday at the Neighborhood Cancer Connection, 113 Mills Ave. The Greenville Area Parkinson’s Support (GAPS) group meets at noon on the third Friday of each month in our Fellowship Hall. We hope to host soon an addiction recovery group on campus, but the truth is that those meetings are already happening all over town. People struggling with their mental or emotional health, with co-dependent relationships, with grief of all kinds, with weight management, and even parents of estranged children can surround themselves with others on a similar journey.
The question is, are you a horse or a mule? Either way, your church cares. Now, let’s connect need with opportunity!
—Kyle Matthews, Minister of Pastoral Care