Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We invite you to pause. Gently hold space for the hurt and pain at work in our lives and that of our neighbors, including the news of another tragedy that another young black man’s life has been cut short at the hand of a police officer in Brooklyn Center, MN. Kristina Fruge, Managing Director of the Christensen Center for Vocation, preaches the gospel in the midst of the bad news. Preaching is a call to proclaim the gospel, good news. And Kristina shares in community struggle to begin to imagine what word of good news can be offered in the midst of bad news.
“Good news must be both contextually relevant and powerful enough to push back on that which is causing harm. As a Christian, I would claim that the good news is always Jesus. Jesus will look, sound, taste, and feel different depending the particular forms of hurt, pain, and brokenness at work in our lives or that of our neighbors.”
Kristina uses two metaphors, in the form of poetry and art, to tell and share good news in the midst of pain. One of those poems talks about a mother’s womb-like love. She says that “there’s a fierce and unshakeable love to this womb-like mother’s love. A mother’s cry of love for her child, and a mother’s cry of despair of love for her child swells up from the same place. And whether you are a mother or not, you know this cry. It has been echoing throughout our city and communities everywhere for far too long.” Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
You are invited to watch the Chapel service from April 13th, 2021. Kristina’s 13 minute message begins at the 8:00 minute mark and ends at the 21:00 minute mark.