Greetings! Glad to be with you today. Being Thursday, we’re almost through in the Pastor’s Workshop.
This week we’ve focused our “New Normal” on our relationships. As we “train ourselves in godliness” (I Timothy 4:8) how are we making healthy choices to build God’s best into the life we share with others?
Our guiding Scripture in addressing this question has been Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. Throughout the week we’ve been listening for what this word would say as a Word of truth for us. On Thursday we review our thoughts and discern a message the Spirit would be speaking. For me as Pastor this will be central to what I say on Sunday.
Here’s how my message is shaping up.
The two parts of this Scripture that engaged me were the first clause of verse 9 and the last phrase of verse 12. “Two are better than one” (verse 9). “A threefold cord”, or as some translations render it, “a cord of three strands”, “is not easily broken” (verse 12).
“Two are better than One” is a relational principle which resonates powerfully in a time of sheltering, a time when so many of our normal opportunities for relationship are not available. We miss not being “two-gether”.
“Two are better than One” is a basic statement about what’s possible in human relationships. For me it witnesses to a spiritual reality existing between myself and everyone I encounter. In that space “in between” is the presence of God. God’s grace is there, waiting for me to recognize it and live into it. In every relationship there is an “in-between blessing” ready to come into being. To have that understanding brings a richness to all relationships.
The teacher of Ecclesiastes recognizes that truth and celebrates it. The teacher provides four practical examples of what those blessings might look like.
· When we work together, there is shared reward (collegiality, synergy, mutual accountability, team accomplishment).
· When one falls down (and certainly life holds lots of falls), another is there to pick them up.
· When one is out in the cold, another is there to offer personal warmth, comfort, and consolation.
· When feels vulnerable, another is there to stand alongside, to be with, to offer strength.
There are just a few of the blessings of “two”. As you and I review our relationships we can think of others.
The “New Normal” challenge for this week: As you review your relationships, what is one way, in one of your relationships, you can claim and live into the “blessing of two”? Can you work together, lift someone up, comfort someone, stand with and support someone, so you and they share in a blessing? What are other ways you might claim and live into the “grace” in the “space” between you and another?
Even as we think on this, Ecclesiastes closes by expanding the challenge. If “two are better than one”, than “three are better than two”. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.
We think of personal relationships as “two”. But this Scripture invites us to think of them as “three”, you, the other, and Jesus. To “weave Christ” into our personal relationships is how we make them strong.
How can we “weave Christ” into personal relationships in a “practical way”?
For me that answer involves another threesome – Listen, Learn, Love.
First, Listen. Before I fill the space in between me and another with my thoughts, feelings, wants, needs and words, invite the other into that space. Listen to their thoughts and feelings, their wants and needs. What’s happening in their life?
Second, Learn. Beneath every thought or feeling is a reason, a good reason, why a person thinks a certain way or feels a particular emotion. Learning goes to this “second level”. This deeper understanding often clears up misunderstandings and builds deep connection.
Third, Love. God is love. Jesus is Love in Action. As you Listen and Learn, draw alongside. What most people really need is a friend who will accept them for who they are and affirm them as a beloved child of God wherever they are in life. And even as you accept and affirm also envision and encourage. People have hopes and God has purposes. God’s Spirit would be leading every person into becoming the blessing God would have them to be, the new creation they can be in Christ.
Your commitment to this cord of three strands, Listening, Learning, Loving, weaves Christ into the relationships you share with others. This cord of three strands, you, the other, and Jesus Christ, is a strong and beautiful blessing!
That’s how my message is shaping up. What do you discern? What are your thoughts? What do you hear in this word from Ecclesiastes? Again, God’s Spirit speaks uniquely to you, so make sure you listen for what the Lord would be teaching you about your relationships.
I look forward to being with you on Sunday. It’s Mother’s Day, which is always special. It’s an opportunity to join our hearts in worship. It’s a chance to experience how good it is to be “two-gether”, even if it is on the web, and to “weave” the third strand of Jesus Christ into our relationships.
In that blessing, I’ll see you Sunday. (and on Saturday too, as we prepare with prayer).
Prayer: Gracious God, thank you for your grace that abides in the “space” between myself and others. Thank you for how your Holy Spirit invites me to live into grace, so I and others would know the blessings You bring into the relationship we share. For that gift, which is ever present with everyone, I give you thanks through Jesus Christ who is Friend of all. In his name I pray.