Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.
— PSALM 51:7–13

The gift we present in ministry is the Good News. We are the tool in ministry. We journey with others, and they also become part of our story. The lens through which we understand and support those we journey with is tinted. Our culture and traditions, family and church, and our experiences of the past and present are wounded and scarred, yet redeemed and transformed by this Good News, the living hope of Christ.

It’s through recognizing and giving witness to our own forgiveness and healing through Christ that we can serve authentically. I invite you into a time of personal reflection and confession. Take this time to discern the voice of God. Allow God to see you as you prostrate yourself before his throne of mercy and grace. It is in being more transparent in confession and in acknowledging your brokenness that the richness of the Divine’s grace may flood your being with love and the knowledge that you are God’s beloved. It is from this Spirit- anointed posture that we most effectively “…proclaim good news to the poor… bind up the brokenhearted… [and] proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners” (Isaiah 61: 1–2).

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. In which areas of my life do I need God’s healing and grace? What do I need to bring into the Light and ask forgiveness and restoration for?
2. What experience of healing or restoration might God be asking me to share as I come alongside others in the midst of pain or brokenness?

Helen H. Chan is a chaplain serving on the Alliance Association of Chaplains (AAC) in the Western Canadian District and on the AAC National Leadership Team.