First Sunday of Lent

by Herman Harris

You who live in the shelter
of the Most High,
    who abide in the shadow
of the Almighty,
will say to the Lord,
'My refuge and my fortress;
    my God, in whom I trust...'

PSALM 91.1-2

Psalm 91 and
the Comfort of Church Community

This passage speaks to me personally because I have often felt like I had to be on guard through the twists and turns of dealing with addiction. However, I always ran into the refuge of God’s arms.

God has always been my safe-haven. Even on my worst days, after my worst mess-ups, God has always been there to give me some kind of comfort. Even when I felt like I didn’t deserve it, his arms were always open.

That’s why I am always coming back in those moments when I feel like I need to get back up. God has sustained me through so much.

This morning, I was thinking about just staying at home. Then I said, “No, let me go to the church,” because there I can always hear something that I need to that can carry me through the week. It’ll carry me through the days.

If I stay at home and stay secluded, I’m not allowing anything to come in. I like to be around people and be a part of something. We live in a world with so many distractions. We need to sometimes be in a space where we can be still and listen to pull in something that we need.

Life is going to come at you. But I can’t get too beat up about it because I know that when I come over to the church, I can feel more comfortable. I can feel more “in place,” like I’m in the space I need to be in at that moment.

At the end of the day, the church is a place where I need to be. I just feel some type of way when I haven’t been in the church in a while—like when I disappear for a while. Then I know, “I have to get back to the church.”

I tend to gravitate back to the church because it is a place of comfort for me. It’s where I can get away from the chaos for a minute or for an hour or two.

At Mercy, I can come, and we can sit there and have Bible study, and I can put aside the distractions and the chaos for a while. I can put aside my problems for a while. You’re going to have problems, but you have to have that place you can go to where you can set them aside for a while.

It’s not perfect, but there is something I love about coming to the church. I know it’s a safe haven. I know it’s a place of comfort.