by Pastor Douglas Brauner

Hope for Our Broken Relationships

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

Most of the year this bridge isn’t necessary. There’s hardly ever any water that flows underneath it. However, on those occasions when a thunderstorm produces heavy rain or the sun melts a foot of snow, this bridge is greatly appreciated.

It appears that we are in need of bridges in human relationships. There has been a torrent running through our lives over the past year and it has separated people from each other, Christians from one another.

There was nothing to prepare us for a pandemic, nothing that would get us ready for the aftermath of a devastating shutdown of our ordinary lives. Most every one of us has felt this deluge in our relationships.

How do we go about building bridges that help reunite us? In Psalm 22 David wrote,

“In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.”
Psalm 22:4-5 English Standard Version

In his struggles, David looked to what his ancestors did. They turned to the Lord. They trusted in their God. They needed deliverance from their own failure and sin. The problems the nation of Israel often faced were of their own doing and the only way out of their predicament was God’s saving hand.

We have gotten ourselves into an interesting position due to the way we’ve handled the pandemic. The separation that exists between us and other people has been the work of our own hands. Deliverance is found in the One who built the bridge for us in Jesus Christ. Through his death and resurrection we now have a bridge to the throne of God.

Through his sacrifice we have way of healing for our broken relationships. The best way for us to move forward is over the bridge that Jesus has built for us. Crossing his bridge will mean humbling ourselves and asking for forgiveness from each other. Crossing his bridge will mean letting go of the hurt and pain. Crossing his bridge will mean believing that we will not be put to shame as we reengage with each other.

Yes, there is hope for the future when it’s God’s bridge that we cross.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado