52 Reasons to Love the Church

#12- All the Connections

By Kathy Pollard

Don’t you love visiting a congregation while traveling and discovering some sort of connection with one of the members? It seems like no matter where you go, you find someone who knows someone you know. What do we say when that happens? “It’s a small world!”

It makes me smile when that happens because that seemingly random connection is a reminder that we are all united in Christ (John 17:22-23). We are one body, made up of many members (Romans 12:4-5). If you’ve attended a family reunion, you know that there could be people there you haven’t actually met. The first thing you do is discover how you’re related. They explain, “I’m your aunt’s first cousin’s husband’s sister.” You say, “Oh wow, that’s so great, nice to meet you!” What’s so great about it? Just the fact that you’re connected. And when it comes to family, the more the merrier! (Or maybe I just feel that way because I come from a relatively small family.) With that connection comes a sense of belonging, confirms that sense of belonging. And we all want that.

The fact that we’re all brothers and sisters in Christ whether we’ve met or not is already a beautiful blessing of Christianity. But there’s something extra special about those threads that bind us together when we run into people who somehow know our people. When that happens, it’s like discovering a “kindredness” because of the mutual connection. God keeps giving us reasons to enjoy being with His people!

“So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

(Romans 12:5)

One big happy family!

Just got this message from Roger Johnson and had to share it because I love what he says at the end:

Several years ago, when Laura was about 14, we went to an annual family reunion of Joyce’s dad’s family (a large family, as all his brothers and sisters were still living). Accompanying Laura was a friend from church, so she wouldn’t get too bored I suppose. Anyhow, it was humorous to observe multiple family members speculating on who Laura’s friend was. “I think she’s one of Uncle Doug’s granddaughters.” “No, I think she’s with David and his wife. What’s her name?” “She might be Chester’s youngest granddaughter.” But nobody thought she was a party crasher.
We’ve laughed about that for 35 years.
There are no party crashes when we visit other congregations. Agree?