A woman by the name of Christina Fox visited some of her family in Alaska a while back. Upon arrival, one of her first questions was this, “What about the bears?”

“Attacks usually happen when people go by themselves,” the family member responded. “That’s what happened to a woman last week. She was running alone and got caught between a cub and a momma bear.”

“We don’t need to go hiking while we’re here….” Christina said.

“We are safer if we all go together,” the family member said.

The truth of that statement is profound. We ARE safer if we all go together. The sad reality of this past year and our cultural preference for uplifting “rugged individualism” chips away at a core truth of how God created us. 

Christian author Paul Tripp puts it this way, “Our lives were designed to be community projects. Yet, the foolishness of sin tells us that we have all that we need within ourselves. So, we settle for relationships that never go beneath the casual. We defend ourselves when the people around us point out a weakness or a wrong. We hold our struggles within…”

We are safer if we all go together. 

I remember how much I disliked group projects when I was in school. Inevitably someone in the group would drop the ball and the rest of us would need to cover for the “weak link” on the team. 

Much later in life, I came to realize this is the exact reason we were created for community. Sometimes we are the weak link. Life is better and safer together. If you haven’t figured it out, all of life is a group project.

Last weekend, we opened our doors for worship. Vaccinations are responsible for that decision. I give thanks for scientists, researchers and the medical community who got us to this point!

I also give thanks for technology: cameras, video streaming, text messaging and emails!

We are blessed to be connected in so many ways, even if we need to stay at home or live in another part of the country. 

As we live into this new, cautious reality that we are in, let us not be cautious in our relational connections with one another. 

I have been blessed in these past few weeks reconnecting in person with friends since my vaccination. I cherish the time spent with others including worshipping God together.

I hope and pray you are connected to others as strive to find normalcy in 2021.

God bless,
Pr. Ben