I
do
not like funerals. However,
as I stood
out at the city cemetery this past week, I was reminded that I
love what
happens around funerals. In
short,
people slow down and show up.
Days ahead of time,
several folks
were cleaning the church building and making sure that the
facility was
ready. Then the food
started showing
up. Even with the large
crowd that came,
we had more food than we needed. People
travelled
hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometres to be here. They hugged one another and,
when they spoke,
their conversations often centred on topics that were deeper and
more important
than the weather, or whatever else we often discuss. There was a lot of laughter,
a lot of tears
and a lot care for one another.
Unfortunately,
those pictures and words are not the ones that normally describe
us. Ask someone how they
are doing on an average
day and they will likely say, “busy”.
Everyone is busy! Too
busy to
visit, to slow down, to have anyone over or to doing anything
other than get
through their day. The
next word you
will often hear is “tired”. We
would
love to make time for people, but our busy lives have made us so
tired that it
never happens. This all
feeds another
word that describes most of us: “Independent”.
While I admire those who look after themselves, we can
carry our
independence so far that we become isolated from one another. None of this beneficial and
we end up feeling
alone.
On
the
other hand, when God describes his people, he chooses the word
“together”. For example,
the letter to the church in
Ephesus tells us that we are “made alive together… raised
together… and seated
together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:5-6).
We are also “joined together” (Ephesians 2:21), “built
together” (2:22),
“heirs together… members together… and sharers together” (3:6) and
we are
“joined and held together” (4:16).
In
each of those cases, the people are better off because they are
together with
God and with one another.
You
are
made for community. You
are made to be
cared for and to care for others.
God
knows and loves individuals, but he most often blesses us in and
through one
another.
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