Snapshots of Church Life: BBQ and 15 Hours in an Emergency Room

By Rachel Pannell

Loving One Another (the second part of our vision statement) is an emphasis my family and I have been blessed by in big and small ways by the body of Christ at SGC over the years. Perhaps you have been too. But it's easy to forget when life gets busy or when I'm struggling. At least, it's easy for me to forget. But God has allowed some hard circumstances in the last several months to remind me. Though some have been harder than others, all have afforded opportunities for me to see our church body in action, loving one another as God has called us to, as our church vision proclaims.

One such example has come in the midst of an ongoing trial for member Sarah Bosse (if you don't know her, you have probably seen her in her wheelchair coming in for worship, though perhaps not for a while). Her health took a serious turn this spring, and by early July she was in need of help daily, including several trips to the emergency room. I was blessed and encouraged as the members of our church came alongside Sarah, loving her (John 13:34), bearing her burden (Gal. 6:2), and serving her (Gal. 5:13) as they rallied to help her.

• One woman stayed with Sarah 15 hours in one day, much of that in the ER at UNC, while her oldest daughter was in the waiting room with her newborn.
• Other women have come to Sarah's aid week after week to drive her to medical appointments because she is unable to drive herself.
• Still others are helping regularly in a myriad of ways cooking, cleaning, and more.

These are simply church members obeying the command to love one another. They are not necessarily Sarah's best friends, and only a few of them are in her Home Group. One young woman didn't even know Sarah until she arrived at Sarah's front door!

Of course loving one another doesn't always mean big, heroic service. Home Groups, for example, frequently demonstrate how we are called to love each other in small but significant ways, like praying for each other. Time and again my Home Group has come alongside me with Scriptures to encourage me and to challenge and convict, ever reminding me of the need to be gospel-centered in my thoughts and responses.

Like all of our Home Groups, the members in mine serve each other in times of need—helping out at someone's home, providing a meal, changing a tire, and more. They even came to my rescue, in the midst of their own busy lives, one day last month when I dropped my keys somewhere in Chapel Hill (yikes!). After many, many phone calls my keys were found. Then one member of my Home Group retrieved them from UNC hospital. Another member picked them up at his home that evening. Her husband took them to work with him near Apex the next morning, and he made sure they were delivered to me that very day. Nothing really grand or heroic, though it was certainly heroic to me!

There are so many examples. Michelle Alston's testimony in early August of the hope she found through the body of Christ at SGC, the army of church members who helped prepare the adoption fundraiser for Daniel & Kendal Rich, and many more. I'm sure you're thinking of an example you are aware of even now.

Loving One Another really means something at this church. I am grateful it is part of our church vision, and even more grateful it is an evident part of our church life. Perhaps someday that Spanish Muslim woman, in the Reformation 21 post, who witnessed a church loving God during choral evensong at King's Chapel, will have the opportunity to witness and be blessed by the body of Christ loving one another.