Let us bless God, the father of our Lord, King, Jesus; he is the father of mercies and the God of all comfort.  He comforts us in all trouble, so that we can then comfort people in every kind of trouble, through the comfort with which God comforts us.                  – 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
I must admit I am equal parts frustrated and at a loss.  I am frustrated that as this pandemic has stretched on, the feeling of family that has so long defined our church is diminishing.  At a loss, because I am not sure how to address the reality of our circumstances.  I am deeply saddened each time someone tells me that they feel disconnected and that the “church” has not reached out to them.  There are people in our church family who are feeling unloved, isolated, and uncared for.

To be sure, this loss of community is mirrored in many churches.  The same is true for families, friends, communities and other civic groups.  We are not alone.  But because we claim to be the body of Christ, we have a sacred responsibility to each other and Christ to address our feelings of disconnection and isolation.  How often have we proclaimed that, “By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world…”?  What can we do to be one with each other?

I remind you of the definition of hope we used in a June sermon series.  I urged us to think of hope as something different from wishing, something deeper.

Hope can be both a noun and a verb.  As a noun, hope is a conviction that despite one’s current circumstances, the future will in some meaningful sense be better than the present.

As a verb, hope is choosing to believe and act as if the future will be better than the present.  As a verb hope is choosing to act or work to make things better.

I ask you to choose to act, to work to make things better.   Act in ways that change our feelings, and strengthen our ties to each other.  The only cure for our collective feeling of isolation is by reaching out to each other.  One of our strengths as a congregation is so many of you have close friendships with a group of people, so it has been easy to keep connected.  I want to challenge you to think beyond your small group of friends.  Who is someone you normally greet at church that is not in your normal social circle?  Who is someone you don’t know well?  Who is new to our community and might not have a strong connection to fall back on?  Who do you know that does not live in Livonia proper and might feel out of the loop?

Now the hard part.  Please reach out to the people whose names came to mind.  If no name comes to mind, look through the directory and identify a brother or sister in our church you could reach out to.  Again, not a part of your normal social group.  There are many ways of reaching out and letting someone know that they matter and you care.  Perhaps the best is of course a phone call.  You might also consider a handwritten note or card, a text or an email.  Also consider leaving a goody bag at someone’s door.  Be creative, but do something.  Choose be hope in action.

Remember, each person (you included) matters to God, and each person should matter to us.   Please accept your role in caring for each other, especially those who are not a part of our normal social bubble.  Recall Jesus words to Peter.  “If you love me, then feed my sheep.”

Pastor Hoyt