Everywhere I Go: Learning to See JesusSample

THE HEALING POWER OF FELLOWSHIP The church of Jesus Christ should be a house of healing. Our fellowship should be nurturing and life-givingﾗnot fearful and vengeful. Some have said that the church is the only institution that shoots its wounded - and sadly, many times she does. But that should not be the case. We could take a lesson from nature in observing the mighty Sequoia tree. Sequoias are among the oldest trees in the forest - and they are strong. They grow straight because their root system is self-correcting, and their bark contains an acid that repels insect attacks. They withstand wind and violent rain because they grow in clumps, allowing their root systems to intertwine. To blow over one tree would mean blowing over an entire hillside of them! Oh, if the church were as strong from within! In the fellowship of believers, there should be a spirit of openness to those who are hurting, confused, embarrassed, disenfranchised, lost. The down-and-out should be "in" in God's family, and the suffering should find comfort. Why? Because the Holy Spirit who lives in us empowers our hearts to love as Jesus loved. We have the resources to be strong, and to nurture the weak until they are strengthened, too.