Friends, I have more and more been thinking about what it means to be a community, or “in” community. And the thing that keeps coming up in my mind the most is: communities are made up of people who take care of each other. I have talked to so many people recently who have deep concern about the essentials of life, mostly having to do with money and the essentials that it allows us to purchase. But there are also health concerns, and food concerns, and environmental concerns, and concerns about violence and safety, especially concerns about people experiencing violence because who they fundamentally are is suddenly making them a target.

Maybe you share some of these concerns. Maybe you think some of them are being blown out of proper proportion. But regardless: these are conversations I am having, on a daily basis at this point. And honestly, I think that around this area we’re in general pretty good at being “community” by the definition I stated above: people who take care of each other. So if concerns are rising in a place where people are generally pretty good at taking care of each other… how do you think it feels in other places, places where people are more likely to keep to themselves, places where the concerns are more pressing and the sense of community isn’t as strong?

I can’t answer that… but I do know that many of our siblings in humanity are feeling tremendous pressures right now. Please pray with me that the spirit of community, the desire for people to take care of each other, would rise to meet all concerns and pressures, here and in every place.

I pray especially that all those who claim to be followers of Jesus would “come to themselves” and run to embrace the vulnerable and the outcast, and to insist that they are a part of the community too.

The gospel text this weekend is about a man who goes on a far journey to a distant place because he is certain that he, he alone, knows best how to take care of himself and be successful in the world.

Let’s talk about it. We can’t wait to see you.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Matt