"How are you?"....."Fine thanks!"

Ephesians 4:25 says:

"Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully 

to your neighbour, for we are all members of one body."

In the communities of faith that we belong to, how often do we put on a mask to hide our truth feelings or emotions? How often do we say one thing and mean another. In His word, God tells us that we are all a part of one body, one unit working towards His kingdom goals. He tells us that we need not pretend to be someone we are not, or that we are not wrestling with whatever we find ourselves up against. 

If we truly treated these communities as a body, would we act differently?

A broken foot does not hide its brokenness from the eyes or the hand, rather, when they are aware of what is happening, the other parts of the body come to the aid of the part that is not working as it should or could be. 

There is something terribly wrong with our communities when we feel like we have to put on a brave face when stepping through the doors of church on a Sunday morning. We are missing out on something wonderful when, in our communities  we fail to truly be ourselves, as they prompt and even encourage us to smile and explain our problems away. 

May the churches and communities where we gather together under God's name be places where we can be honest with ourselves and with each other, recognising that to fail to do this is to miss one of the greatest gifts God gives to us.

May we put off falsehood, and speak truthfully to those who have been entrusted with our care, as we are entrusted with theirs.

And may we have bucketloads of grace for one another, because although we worship a God who has covered us in it, who's supply is limitless and unending, it seems to be the one thing that we in our communities always seem to run out of for eachother.