You Belong
You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Peter 2:9,10
There’s an epidemic going on. No, I’m not talking about COVID19. I’m talking about loneliness.
Loneliness is on the rise in America. A report from the Harvard Graduate School of Education states that 36% of Americans feel serious loneliness. The numbers are even worse when you consider young adults, ages 18 to 25—61%—and mothers of young children—51%.
People are lonely. People feel isolated. People feel like the people in their life know very little about them.
Do you feel that way, too? Do you feel like you’re a wisp of grass floating alone in the river of life?
You’re not alone. You’re not alone in your loneliness. But you don’t have to be alone in your life either.
Peter tells us, “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.” We look for community in all kinds of places. Often, however, the bonds that hold those communities together are about as strong as spiderwebs. When the bond breaks, the community falls apart.
God has given you a community. He has made you his chosen people, his royal priesthood, his special possession. By bringing you to faith in Christ, he makes you belong. Christ continues to strengthen the bond between you and himself through Word and sacrament. And as the bonds grow between you and your Savior, they also grow between you and the saved.
As the Church, we can be better about living out our existence as the body of Christ. Too often, we think of ourselves as all spokes and no wheel. Connected to Christ but not connected to each other.
But we are actually a spoke and wheel. We are connected to Christ and to each other through the bonds of faith. The same Word and sacraments that bond us to Christ also bind us as his body. We belong. And you belong with us.
