Happy Tuesday church family,
This week we will be concluding our series on community as the season of Lent is right around the corner.
In Romans chapter twelve, the local church is described as an interdependent body. When we gather together to worship, we are not only meeting with God, but as the writer in Hebrews says in chapter 12, we also gather to encourage one another to love and to do good deeds.
I believe community should be at the center of who we are as a church. I love to see all the various conversations happening on Sundays after our time together. I value the conversations I have with you whenever we gather. We love to chat with each other, I have witnessed and experienced Marion to be very friendly and welcoming.
For the past five weeks we have talked about being community.
Is being friendly and welcoming enough to be considered community?
Is that why we gather on Sunday mornings… to drink coffee and chat?
I am reminded of the words of Jesus in John chapter thirteen…
By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
Jesus said that the church is to love and support each other in a way that is so different from how people normally relate so that they see the power of Jesus in how we love each other.
I am not interested in being a deeply connected social community.
Does that make me anti-social? I hope not.
I am interested in being a part of a Jesus centered community who loves and cares for each other that all that love and care spills out into our neighborhoods, workplaces, and into the world.
Let’s talk about it on Sunday.
~ Pastor Dustin
