University Blog

The Good, The Bad, and The Neighborly

Posted by Rev. Ben Trammell on

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
---Paul to the believers in Rome (12:12-15)

Friends,

I will never forget the day that my wife Holly told me that I was going to be a dad. To my stunned confusion, she explained, "we are pregnant…we are going to have a baby." Even ten years later I remember trying to function as a normal human the rest of that day and into the evening where I attended a meeting for the church I was serving at the time. I recall looking at the people in the meeting and wondering how they could act as if everything was normal when the whole world had just been altered beautifully forever.

On other days I have been so deeply grieved by personal or community tragedy that I struggled with how people around me were still laughing and living as if the goodness and joy had not been drained from the world. My guess is you have known rejoicing and sorrow in your own journey and perhaps have noticed how indifferent unaffected people can be to the highs and lows of your life.

Reading Romans, I was struck by the thought that every single day of our lives we encounter people who are having days so wonderful words may fail to describe their joy and others who have experienced pain and tragedy on a deep and personal level.

Rather than the cold, unaffected encounter that puzzles us in our joy and isolates us in our grief, followers of Jesus are called to join people in their tears and triumph. Whether behind you in line at the store, working alongside you at the office, or living on your street, the people we encounter everyday are the neighbors Jesus calls us to love. It takes intentionality to make space in our lives for other people; we have to want to do it. It takes practice to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.

I hope you feel challenged and called by our exploration of the Art of Neighboring, which continues this Sunday as we dig into Matthew 5. See you Sunday.

Blessings,
Pastor Ben

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