News & Stories

A book was recommended on a reading list for 2019, The Art of Gathering – How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker.  I’ve read it and was fascinated.  Priya does an excellent job of relating in story-after-story how to plan gatherings, identifying the purpose of a gathering, how to begin a gathering in an inviting way, how to help attendees to feel included in a gathering, how to close a gathering well.

What does loving one another well look like?  It is forgiving, it is being humble, it is serving, it is encouraging, it is being patient and kind and thoughtful, it rejoices in truth. It is talking to one another and clearing misunderstandings, and asking God for his help to keep relationships pure and clean before Him.  It is believing the best about one another. 

We live in an increasingly broken and isolated world.  Families are fractured for a multitude of reasons.  Our connecting points have vanished.  Community centers and clubs and front porches are rare.  Young people, especially our kids and kids coming along, frequently do not have the privilege of seeing how life can be well-lived outside of their own homes.  And our homes are often our castles.  Doors closed.  A place of retreat.  We can be different.

Christ is in us.  We must recognize and remember His work.  We must behold Him.  Then we can go and point to His work so that those we meet will say, “Who are You?”, and God can reply, “I am One Who has waited long to hear you speak.”

What if the solution to our society’s biggest issues has been right under our noses for the past two thousand years? When Jesus was asked to reduce everything in the Bible into one command he said: “Love God with everything you have and love your neighbor as yourself.” What if he meant that we should love our actual neighbors? You know, the people who live right next door.