I had an opportunity a couple of years ago to participate in a conversation with Sue Nilson Kibbey. One of the things she shared was that pastors really have one sermon; one message that finds its way into whatever they preach.
She asked, “What’s your one sermon?”
I could easily pick it out for others, but for some reason couldn’t articulate what mine was/is. What’s the message I come back to? What’s the point I find myself trying to make over and over again?
I couldn’t name it then, I may have it now.
[BEFORE YOU READ ON…If you know me, I wonder what you might name as my one sermon?]
We are creatures created for community. We are meant to relate to God and to each other.
This is the lens through which I read scripture. This is the driving force behind how I see myself in ministry. Not profound or complicated, but difficult and costly. Relationship. How? When? Where? Why? The thread I find weaving through my thoughts, my messages, my life.
It is the root of this blog.
So today as I ponder “world”, I think “relationships”.
My connection to orphans in Russia.
The child who shared his way of folding a paper airplane in Guatemala.
The pastors I will gather with tomorrow to discuss leadership.
The students I watched slinging dodge balls for justice.
My children.
My friends.
My family.
The young man who took my lunch order.
The co-workers who met to discuss a new series.
How many people have I meet in my lifetime? How many relationships formed? How many degrees of separation really separate any of us?
As we sang in the 80’s, “We Are The World”. All of us. Together. Subtract just one and we are less than. We are diminished. We are smaller.
World = Us = Relationships
Here’s to us working to “make a brighter day”.
Life is better together,
Shawn
Big Rubber Band Ball 
Better, together.
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