Caring For Each Other

Church life is all about relationships. Since coming to Riverside in January, I have learned that there are many members who have called Riverside their home for decades, and some have even attended their whole lives. Others, of course, are new to our church, seeking out a relationship with God and with other like-minded followers of Jesus. This is a good place to find that. As I talk with people by phone and in person, I hear over and over again that Riverside Presbyterian is a family. Some people express that Riverside is their family; family means little without caring, nurturing relationships.

God is the source of all loving relationship. The Book of Ruth can bring me to tears with its poetic descriptions of the way relationships form us, nurture us, and carry us through adversity. Ruth, a Moabite woman, has come to trust in the God that her husband’s family serves. When he dies, along with all their male kin, Ruth could have returned to her people, but the relationship she has formed with her mother-in-law, Naomi, and the sustenance she receives from God are everything to her. In Ruth 1:16 she speaks in heartfelt poetic lines,

‘Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.

I am still learning about the many ways in which the Riverside family cares for its members; so far, I have learned that you call, visit, write to, and pray for those who are in crisis in their lives, or who are lonely and bereaved. I have learned that you provide meals for one another and for the community in a number of different ways: Meals on Wheels, Loaves and Fishes, and Meal Train are just a few that I know of so far. You care for those who are in mourning by offering the Walking the Mourner’s Path program, and walking alongside those who grieve. You serve in many healing ministries. In short, you show deep caring for one another in the way our Lord Jesus calls us to do. Because in relationship we “love one another,” it’s really that simple... and also, that profound.

May God bless you and those whom you love with strong, loving, caring relationships.

Please contact me if you or someone you know needs support - ruth.elswood@rpcjax.org