Relationships are what it’s all about really

Relationships are what it’s all about really. That was what I took away from my breakfast meeting with a new acquaintance. We met so I could get some advice on how to proceed as we (C²UMC and I) explore a possible risk-taking mission for us—a residence for persons with Intellectual Disabilities. While John, the director of L’Arche in Arlington, gave me tips on aspects we need to consider, he emphasized that the most important consideration is how the congregation wants to be in relationship with the potential residents. Other entities can provide services. What we can do best is in the area of relationship.

This is true in so much of life, all of it really in my way of thinking. Last night, as several young adults and I talked further about finding purpose in our work lives, for many it’s the relationship with co-workers and others that helps to make the biggest difference. That’s what makes it all worthwhile for me—the people with whom I am privileged to work.

That’s what I see modeled in the Trinity—a holy mutual relationship, one that is most concerned with the other, pouring out grace upon grace, inviting and welcoming others into the relationship. I see that lived out around me in so many ways—in how Matt greets me with a hug and often a kiss; in how Barbara makes quilts for babies she will never see; in how Bill searches for someone to repair a windshield that doesn’t belong to him; in how Bridget welcomes hurricane survivors into her home. This is no theoretical idea. This is flesh and blood, and Holy Spirit relationship. That’s what it is all about, really.

2 Corinthians 5:18-19

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.