CLERGY CORNER

Have you ever stopped to think about how we gather together in the Touchet Valley? How we meet one another and work together? How we build relation­ships? How we find friendship and support?

Let me list the ways: Parks and resorts. Shops and mar­kets. Cafes and restaurants. Festivals and fairs. Businesses and public offices. Shops and markets. Hospital and clinics. Churches and theaters. Libraries and schools. Historical sites. Athletic events. Clubs.

These all are the ways in which we gather. Please notice I am not talking now about “where” we gather, but “how” we gather. The “how” is more important than the “where.” Just because twenty people are in a restaurant doesn’t mean those twenty people are forming community. Just because there are two hundred people at a fair doesn’t mean they are forming community.

Some are forming community. Some are there to meet one another, work together, build friendship and find sup­port. There isn’t enough of this going on. Some are afraid or ashamed or angry. Some are excluded. Some are judged.

Jesus forms a community of disciples—people from dif­ferent backgrounds who would come out of their individual worlds to go with him, see what he does and how he does it, listen to what he is teaching. Disciples are teachable persons, students who listen and practice. Practice what? Working to­gether. Building relationships. Supporting. They form a com­munity, a little society in which all are learning the message.

What is the message? Just this: There is hope for us. We are deeply loved. The God who made us is with us, and work­ing to bring us the healing we need. What do we need to be healed from? Our brokenness. Our estrangement. The hell we make for ourselves. How did he prove this love? By giving himself up.

Please notice now I am not saying that this WAS the mes­sage of Jesus. I am saying that it IS the message of Jesus. He is among us: calling, gathering, reconciling, teaching and healing. He can be found in the lives of those who have de­cided to dump their entire portfolio into this message. Take a risk. Learn who you are and where you belong.

It matters, because some of us are alone; fractured and disconnected; and it isn’t a reality TV show.

Editor’s note: This week we present the first in a series of occasional series of columns by local pastors on faith and the church in our community. Leaders of local congregations are invited to submit columns for this space. For more informa­tion, please email us at editor@waitsburgtimes.com, or call us at (509) 337-6631.