Oct. 8: Wow!!  Sunday was a busy day with baptisms and communion at both services and reception of new members at first.  How appropriate that our gospel lesson was about the importance, and difficulty, of relationships.  Living in relationship with others is every bit as difficult as living alone, just different.  But, if you'll remember, when God created the earth He looked at everything He had made and said that "It was good" until He looked at man and saw that he was alone.  To that dilemma God said, "It is not good..."  And we have been living with the difficulty of "living in relationships" ever since.  Part of the difficulty is that we are all human and, as such, still maintain our sinful human natures.  Most of us are a tad independent, a bit self-centered, and want to be the one "in control."  Those qualities can prove helpful in certain situations, but tend to get in the way when it comes to our relationship with God and with one another. 

 

God has placed us in families, in congregations, and in His church that we might be "little Christs" to one another.  That we might help, encourage, support and sustain one another on our life's journeys.  In learning to love and care about others, in giving and receiving forgiveness for our imperfections, in needing to practice patience and open our hearts to understanding, we become more and more the people God intends for us to be.  We grow more and more into the "image of God" in which we were created. 

 

Having children, being a child, working with others, living and sharing and learning from others is not always easy.  But it is why we were created and essential for growth in faith and life.  Next time someone, either in your immediate family or your extended family, "gets on your nerves" or "rubs you the wrong way,"  consider what you might learn or how you might grow from the experience and how you could come to better understand that person and "what makes him/her tick."  It might surprise you how different things look and how much you'll grow when you work at the relationship and see Christ in the other.  

 

Peace, 

 

Pastor Carol