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We are Better Together

                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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