If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.

– Philippians 2:1-4

Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians encouraging them to “be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” As I read this, I felt how this was a timely message for all of us and our church as we faced and worked through the difficulties of this last year brought on by the betrayal that we all felt. I appreciated how the spirit of unity that we felt and embraced has brought us through the last year and positioned the church for the future.

In our recent session retreat we asked ourselves how we would describe our church and the word cloud we drew emphasized the word LOVE. In this scripture Paul spoke of “doing nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, regard others as better than ourselves.” For me this is a defining part of our church; as we described ourselves as being a church with a mission of love, actively reaching out in mission to work for “the interests of others.”

My son, an ardent Catholic, recently gave me a book that wrote of the offering of merciful love of Saint Therese of Lisieux. Her teachings inspire us to recognize our lowliness and sinfulness (humility), to be merciful and compassionate (look to the interest of others) and to open ourselves to God’s merciful love.

PRAYER:

Lord, thank you for the unity of our church as we navigated the difficulties we faced this past year. Let us continue to grow as a church, continue to grow in our mission to serve others and to grow spiritually to fully embrace the great love you have for us. Amen.

– David Heilman