Daily Lesson for February 11, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 10 verses 28 through 31:

28 Peter began to say to him, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you.’ 29Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news,* 30who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’

I received a call a couple months ago from a woman who lives out of town. Her parents were formerly members of our church but left sometime back because of conflict over various social, theological, and political issues. The daughter was calling in deep distress after the Black Lives Matter protests this summer, deeply distressed and completely disagreeing with her parents' position on the protests and a whole list of other things. They were all angry and on the verge of complete estrangement from one another.

For me, it was an affirmation of where I stood and also a reminder of just how polarized not only our nation is but also our people. We talk about the country being torn apart, but its also families. It's mothers and daughters and fathers and sons and son-in-law. That is tough.

I encouraged the woman to keep on loving while at the same time keeping her convictions. I quoted Brene Brown who says we have to have "soft faces and firm backs".

Many relationships can be lost in times like these. Many gained also. A lot of children have gained surrogate grandparents in the gathered community called church. But no matter the gains, the pain of loss is still severe and the pain raw. That is why we take consolation from Jesus and his words about this being the way it must be sometimes, knowing that he knew the painful truth of what it was he spoke.

I pray for this woman. I pray also for her family. And I keep coming back to the words of Julian of Norwich, "It was necessary . . . but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."

I hope so; I really do.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.