Happy Monday, Friends!
One verse has been stuck in my head for the past week: "Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people will be my people, and your God my God" (Ruth 1:16). I love the holidays, but the holidays bring with them so much pain and guilt from families, churches, and communities which have struggled to accept people because of their identities, their theology, or the people they love. In 2011 I was living in Burlington, VT, and spent Thanksgiving with a group of friends who, unlike me, didn't have families to go home to (I wasn't able to afford a flight home that year).
People often talk about our "found" families. Found families are real families and they can help people cope with the loss of family at any time of the year, but particularly around the holidays. They are also the communities we find ourselves in and the people with whom we live our lives. I'm a few days late, but this season I'm very thankful for my new LOVEboldly family!
Let us pray: God, thank you for leading us into found families wherever we find them or they find us. Help us always be ready to welcome strangers as well as friends to our tables and remind us that when we live with abundance we should always build bigger tables, not higher walls. We ask this through Jesus' name. Amen.
Friends, I wish you all the absolute best this week. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.
Faithfully,
Ben