Hey friends,
 

          When I was a kid, we had a basketball net in our yard.  I would be out there every day shooting hoops.  In those days, all alone, my imagination knew no limits.  I can’t count the number of times I was playing against Michael Jordan, and I was on the free throw line with no time left on the clock.  We were down by one point, and it was all up to me to win the NBA championship.  I imagined the crowd’s hushed silence (incidentally, the only time fantasy and reality lined up).  I dribbled the ball two or three times and then took the shot.  Swish.  The game was tied.  Just one more basket and we would rule the world.  Dribble, dribble, dribble. Aim.  Pause.  Shoot.  Swish.  WORLD CHAMPIONS!

 

            In my yard and in my imagination, I was INCREDIBLE (and that’s being modest).  I was unstoppable, astounding, and thirteen inches taller. 

 

            Then something changed.  I joined the high school basketball team.  Suddenly, I discovered that I wasn’t as awesome as I had thought.  There were fifteen-year-olds better than me…stronger, taller, faster.  And not all of them were boys.  I had much to learn.  I needed lots of practice. 

 

            All my imagined greatness, all my lack of self-awareness was tested by the aggravating grace of community.

 

            We need to be together in community because, you see, the arena of interpersonal relationships is the key place where our salvation gets worked out.  It is also the defining metric of spiritual maturity.  Purity, personality, piety, are always defined relationally.  They are measured relationally.  They are visible and only made real relationally.

 

            This is why we are told in the book of Hebrews not to give up meeting together. 

 

            I know that Covid restrictions have made this supremely difficult these days, but we still need to find ways to connect in community.  There are ways, within the rules, that we can still meet, and we need to make every effort to do that.  Community is the place where we can grow, where we can be honest, where others can be honest with us, all within the confines of love.

 

            From Jesus, “the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work.”

 

            I am glad that we are a community of believers and I know that as we seek creative ways to connect now, when it is hard, it will pay off in great dividends for when it is easy to connect.  And that day will come.  We need to be patient and endure these difficult times; they won’t last forever.

 

            This weekend, I will be preaching on our third theme from the book of James: showing favoritism.  I hope you can be there.  Also, this Sunday, Khristie and her team are hosting a red-carpet photo shoot in the church parking lot from 2:00-3:30pm.  Come by with your family in costume and get your picture taken.

 

            I hope you have a great weekend and that you continually sense God’s presence as well as His delight in you.

           

            I love being your pastor.

 

Pastor Tim