The strangest thing happened last week at church.
For
the first time, I noticed that most everyone around me was my neighbor.
Literally.....my next door neighbor. Three rows ahead of me, were our
neighbors Dr. Charlie and Annette Rutherford who live just down the
road from us. Four rows ahead of us to the left were our neighbors Jack
and Jackie Carlson who also live in our neighborhood but down the road
in the opposite direction. Up in the choir loft were our neighbors Troy
and Becky Arterbury who live 3 doors down from us. I could go on and
on but you get the idea.
Chuck
and I moved to Mt. Vernon about 10 years ago from Dallas. We both
lived in big cities our entire lives and never do I recall going to the
same church as my neighbors. It was always two separate worlds that,
quite honestly, I didn't want combined. I liked it that way. I didn't
want the same people I went to church with knowing my business outside
of church.
But why??
As
I looked around last week, I had the "warmest and fuzziest" feeling
come over me. These people, our neighbors who I see in shorts on
Saturday and a suit on Sunday, are our family. FAMILY. They eat with
us, they shop with us, they come over in their PJ's for coffee in the
mornings, they pick up eggs and milk for us at the store, they help us
when we fall, they cry with us in our sad moments and they LOVE on us.
It was almost like an epiphany. This is how it SHOULD be........
How was it I never saw this before?
As
I was reading the scripture for today, I feel sure it wasn't much
different for the congregation in Colosse in Paul's time. Matter of
fact, Paul starts Colossians with this, "We are writing to God's holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ." See? They're family! Just like we are.....
Look around you......go ahead, I'll wait.........
The
folks sitting two rows in front of you may not live next door to you,
but they are YOUR neighbor....they are YOUR brother and sister.....they
are YOUR family. What a blessing.....a GIFT.....God has given each of
us to share a pew with our neighbor and family. What a gift indeed!!
"Strong Churches Don't Make Strong Families.....
Strong Families Make Strong Churches"
Dr. Tim Kimmel
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