There is a new theme emerging in Ordinary Life, one centered around how to “be” during times of change. Usually, there is a thread that we have followed from week to week, but in the change in teaching dynamic along with the change in theme, there is not as much of a thread. So we introduced a verse that proclaims in the middle, “We are to persuade men and women to drop their difference and enter into the work of making things right between them.” This is awfully similar to Bill’s commenting on Wayne Day’s closing of “We are to go out and be God’s people in the world.”

We dance around the questions of when it is right to respond and when is it right to maintain the posture of “We’ll see.” Reconciliation is a really nice idea. To love one another is our highest spiritual calling, but what does it actually look like? How can we consciously create communities of belonging? And when the covenant of belonging is ruptured, what is the process of repair?

Given the world we live in — a war in Ukraine, a divisive country, a divided church — it’s worth considering what principles and agreements govern how we show up. We will continue to explore along these lines. As always, thanks for listening.