Living Word Lutheran Church

The New Testament is filled with encouragements, warnings and reminders. It’s also packed with words about how to get along, how to get together and ultimately: how to love. In that dusty, ageless book on some shelf somewhere in your house you’ll find a common combination of two English words that appear nearly 100 times in 94 verses: the words “one” and “another.”

As we face this galactic shift in the “world as we knew it” it is so comforting (and critical) to embrace the truth of the Bible. We’re being bombarded with numbers and projections that can sound truly terrifying. It can be overwhelming. In times like this, as always, the Word of God is unchanging in the face of changes we couldn’t see coming. Under the category of UNITY these gems from the Bible never lose their luster.

“Be at peace with one another (Mark 9:50). Don’t grumble with one another (John 6:43). Be of the same mind with one another (Romans 12:16). Accept one another (Romans 15:7). Gently, patiently tolerate one another (Ephesians 4:2). Be kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving to one another (Ephesians 4:32). Bear with one another and forgive one another (Colossians 3:13). Seek good for one another, and don’t repay evil for evil (1 Thessalonians 5:15). Through love, serve one another (Galatians 5:13).”

These words were written, memorized, applied and shared among people that had their lives turned inside out: the first Christians. Remarkably they didn’t knuckle under but linked shoulder to shoulder, pledging their very lives to the global perpetuation of the good news in some very dark times.

The days ahead of us look difficult, even shadowy. Some aspects of our future will be harder than we expected them to be. But I serve a God who removed the sting of death and the shadow of darkness forever — and he did it in love, giving the most meaning to a single word we all need right now: hope! Jesus said it so well, “Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13:34)

This crisis will test everything about us, but it need not break our spirit. When we are anchored in God’s love for us our love for one another can only multiply, grow and remain. It’s the only way 1,000 generations from this one will be able to repeat, live by, share, memorize and trust in the boundless, matchless, limitless and timeless love of God.