A Word From David

On Showing Up

I spent the past couple of weeks as pastor-in-residence at Camp Hanover, outside of Richmond, in the Presbytery of the James. Among the scripture passages this summer’s programs lifted up were a couple of verses from the second chapter of Job in which three of Job’s friends, having heard of the miseries besetting him, travel great distances to sit with him in his sorrow and suffering. 

It’s a great vignette about compassion – suffering with – and the power of showing up. Never mind that in subsequent chapters these same friends add to Job’s pain by trying to figure out what he’d done to cause it, at least in the beginning they simply showed up.

Showing up matters. How we show up matters, too.

Western faces some struggles these days, though compared with Job the common life of the community is a walk in the park. How we show up for one another in challenging times makes all the difference.

Showing up trying to place blame, like Job’s friends eventually do, is way less helpful than showing up to sit with a friend in quiet compassion as they began. Finding a collective path to compassionate showing up for one another is a crucial step on the way through challenging times.

I’ve been posting some short videos captured in various parts of Western’s building. You can check those on by following me on instagram: www.instagram.com/david.e.ensign/