“Do not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” — Hebrews 10:25
On two separate occasions I have had old friends reach out to me on their deathbeds. In both cases, we had totally lost touch. I had not seen or really even thought of them much in years. Yet, as they faced their own mortality in the eye, they remembered me and the connection we had shared long ago.
We all get busy with this thing called life. Every day there are things calling for our attention saying with such urgency, “Watch this thing!” “Send this work email.” “Join this program or buy this thing now!”
In her book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, palliative nurse Bronnie Ware shares her experience of having spent countless hours supporting terminally ill patients. She says that in a person’s final twelve weeks of life their top two regrets are:
- I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends
- I wish I hadn’t worked so hard
This rings true for me. In my own journey, I have not valued and prioritized meaningful relationships as much as I would like to. God made us for relationships and loneliness is now an epidemic. We need to be in loving relationship with God, with ourselves, and with others. Like it or not, we simply cannot find meaning and peace apart from relationships.
This month we are kicking off a sermon series called “The House of Belonging” where we will be talking about humanity’s ache to belong. Together we will explore how we can nurture belonging through simple but powerful practices that create meaningful and transformative community in our lives.
Hope to see you there!
Susie Grade 