ICYMI: Holding It Together 1 // This is Not Fine
If you missed Sunday's service or could use a refresher, here's a quick recap featuring sharables and takeaways from our gathering. Scroll to the bottom for the full sermon recording.
📖 Focal Scripture
🎯 Reflection
In the space between our Instagram filters and our "I'm fine" responses, there is profound grace in admitting we're not okay—and even more grace in discovering that God meets us precisely in that holy mess. When we name our anxiety before God instead of numbing it away, we're not showing weakness; we're practicing a radical trust that we are held even when we cannot hold ourselves. Our unraveling becomes holy ground when we stop numbing and scrolling long enough to notice that God has been sitting with us in our anxiety all along, ready to carry it with us.
🗣️ Key Quotation
“The church should be a place where we can tell the truth--something else that feels all too rare. When the temptation is often to button it up, power through, put on that brave face... the church can and should be a safe place where we can say, ‘Actually... this is not fine.’” — Brent Levy
🙏 Prayer
Compassionate One, who wept in the garden and knows the weight of human suffering: grant us the courage to speak truthfully about our anxiety so that by naming what isn't fine, we might find ourselves wrapped in the peculiar comfort of your presence. We pray this because you've promised to meet us in our messy truth, not our masked perfection. Amen.
💡 Journaling Prompts
What are my go-to methods of numbing or avoiding difficult feelings? When I look at these patterns honestly, what deeper truths am I running from?
If I could write a letter to my anxiety, not as an enemy but as a messenger, what might it be trying to tell me about what matters most?
When was the last time I felt truly held?
➡️ Next Step
In Psalm 55, the psalmist demonstrates that rather than suppressing our struggles, we can bring our whole selves—fear, frustration, and all—before God in trust. This week, by using the Feelings Wheel, we are practicing “naming what's real” by identifying our emotions, offering them to God in lament and prayer, and determining our next steps. Check out the full practice here.
