Christy Gutowski, of The Daily Herald, wrote about a meeting of two Chicago Bears players in the locker room in August 1984:
After ten seasons with the Chicago Bears as place kicker, Bob Thomas was notified by the Bears’ management that he was being cut. Thomas, a Christian, waited until he knew the locker room would be cleared of players to clear out his things. He didn’t have the emotional strength to face the players he’d grown to love.
His celebrated teammate, Walter Payton, another believer, had learned of Thomas’ termination and waited alone at the kicker’s locker after the others had left. When Bob saw Walter, he buried his face in the running back’s chest and allowed his friend and fellow Christian to comfort him.
After Walter Payton’s death in the fall of 1999, Bob Thomas recalled that emotional moment in the Bears locker room. “To share your grief with a Hall of Fame running back with that kind of compassion, empathy and ability is really my fondest memory of the guy we called Sweetness.”
In 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 we read: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
Our God is the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort! When we are letters from Christ to the world, ours are the arms that hold the grieving, ours are the hands that lift up those who stumble, and ours are the lips that offer genuine, reassuring smiles to the fearful.
I look forward to connecting with you this Sunday as we celebrate a God of compassion who invites us be Christ’s letters of compassion to the world.
Peace,
Pastor Cathy