On the first Friday of each month, I hold a worship service at Woodcrest Center on River Road in New Milford. Usually 20-30 residents come downstairs into their large room, which also serves as their dining room. I enjoy this service for a number of reasons, one of which is the ability to bring the Gospel to those who are in most need of it: those who are sick and suffering under the frailties of body.

I got there a little early this morning (OK, 15 minutes) and had the opportunity to speak with a couple of the residents, one of whom seemed very sad. Our chief topic was the state of the facility, which has been undergoing a massive rehabilitation during the past year or more. One of the women turned and looked at me and said that it didn’t really matter if the lights in the hallways were nice since everyone there was just there to die. She then complained about her family dumping her there and rarely visiting her.

My heart was breaking as she spoke.

I tried in my sermon to speak to her directly about the confidence we have in the promises of God. He is the one who promises to comfort the suffering – and He does! Using our Gospel reading from Mark 7 this week, I focused on the importance of understanding who are are in God: a redeemed child of the Almighty, rescued from death, Satan and the devil by the price of Jesus Christ. For all our troubles, we have a God who is willing to hear our concerns and answer them. Specifically on the Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that a person is not defiled by what they eat, but by what comes out of them. Rolling this in, I preached on the strength of our lives because of Christ, the one who leads and guides and loves. We should try in our day, when we are feeling angry and hurt, to remember that God who loves us beyond all understanding.

I looked at her at the end of our service and she smiled a bit.