While things are tense around us, many of us are bracing for what’s next, and fear, anger, and anxiety seems to be the themes of the day – I hope we can guard our hearts against the temptation to isolate.

We’ve got some tough years ahead of us, from which we cannot simply run and hide.  We cannot just wall ourselves off and give ourselves to guarding only our own personal interests and things.  

Let me take that back, we can do these things, but we will cease to be who God created, called, and redeemed us to be!

As Christians in the world, we are the ‘community of called out ones’, entrusted with the Gospel, to witness to the world about the goodness and the grace of a loving God revealed to us through Jesus Christ.  

We must not shrink from this call – not in our words or in our deeds!

The most powerful and most important commandments in Scripture are the commands to love; to love God and to love others as we love ourselves.  These are positive commands that require something of us.  

The Golden Rule says, ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you…’ This is not the same as ‘don’t do to anyone what you don’t want done to you…’. The former demands community, the latter can occur in isolation.  

In good times and in bad, we are community people!  

While we will all have moments of overwhelm, frustration, and fear – we must not retreat.  Pause if you must, pull back if you need to, but don’t abandon community!  Our faith is lived out in our relationships.  This is the outworking of our witness!

³⁵ By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 13:35

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam