Brrrr…Good (?) Monday Morning,

If you are out and about this morning bundle up and be safe on the roads.  I will not be in the office this morning but will be in for an extended period tomorrow and then back in town for the Centennial Anniversary meeting Wednesday night.

Being a good neighbor is our focus right now just in case you seemed to have missed it.   Sherry and I were having a cup of coffee this morning discussing an offer on our house in Augusta as she opened her YouVersion Bible app. She said maybe you are on to something. Listen to the verse of the day…

Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.     Rom 12:10

In this verse, love is the philia or brotherly love the Bible speaks of and that fits well with the honoring part of the verse.  If you recall yesterday’s message, philia is based on mutual respect and admiration for one another.  The Greek for honoring here means the price of something or to value.  In other words, we are to value one another for what each of us brings to the table.  Everyone has something of worth to offer…EVERYONE!  As a loving neighbor, we should make it our mission to discover just what that is in those we are called to love.  This covers the L and the V in our L.O.V.E acrostic from yesterday – Learn and Value.  Is it going to be difficult to learn these things and value others? Yes!  That is why Jesus commanded it and not just merely suggested it.

In a Harvard study released last October, 1 in 5 Americans reported feeling lonely.  This is amazing to me considering all the technology we have designed for social connectedness.   Of those who reported being lonely 81% said the experienced anxiety or depression, felt like they had no purpose in life and that their place in the world was not important.  In addition, 67% felt like they were not part of a meaningful group and 61% said they lacked close friends or family.

Here were some of the key recommendations to overcoming the problem:

1.  Promote a culture of care and service.   I wonder why “one another” is mentioned approximately 100 times in the Bible. If we do the “one anothers” in the Bible we could move this along.

2.  Take time to reach out to friends and family.  I would include take time to reach out to your neighbors.

One more solution was to create more community activities for your neighbors.  We mentioned that yesterday as well.  The MABC Leadership team has been discussing the idea of trying to do a community activity at least once a quarter in this new year.

There are no easy solutions.  We will all – young, old and in-between – need to play a part in this. Start today.  Reach out to a neighbor and check on them.  The weather, as much as we hate it, gives you ample reason to check in…”How are you doing in this cold weather?”

Pastor Rick