Pastoral Reflection for 4.19.15

Church Family,

This week’s message dives deeply into the heart of suffering as Christians. I also want to make sure that you know that help is available to you. If you’re in the midst of suffering or troubles, I pray that you’ll share that with your community group and with the church leadership here at CoaH. Suffering is hard enough as it is, please don’t make it harder by feeling like you need to be a lone ranger.

A few weeks ago my wife and I went through a particularly challenging time filled with tears and heartbreak. Even though we didn’t notice it at the time, God was teaching us both so much through that experience. In a lot of ways, that period of suffering was a turning point for us spiritually. It woke us up from our spiritual sleepiness and revealed how amazing God’s grace shines through the family we have at CoaH. The church came around us in such an unbelievable way through that time. One evening Megan and I looked at each other and realized just how much God has poured out his love to us through the this church body. We truly feel like family here. Thank you for being such great brothers and sisters.

While most of us are not in a time of particularly difficult suffering, I hope that you can still see why it’s so helpful to think about suffering in light of God’s grace. Through messages like these, God is preparing you for the upcoming storms in your life. I pray that City on a Hill is known as a place where you can be real in your suffering. I pray that we’re a group that can suffer well with each other. That we can weep. And that God prepares us to have the right presence and words in those times.

With love,

Fletcher Lang