Relationships.

They are often some of the most fulfilling and the most challenging aspects of our lives. Friends, spouses, parents, roommates, kids, colleagues, siblings — all have ways of bringing out our best and our worst selves. Figuring out how to cultivate healthy relationships is hard, good work. And it’s what we’re going to be talking about over the next five weeks.

There are about a million books out there on healthy relationships, and probably nearly as many sermons. So why are we adding to the pile? Because we’re convinced that there’s something fundamentally different about what it means to cultivate healthy relationships when you’re part of a church community. Marriage looks different when you’re part of a church. So does friendship. Parenting, too. And while we don’t pretend that we’re the only ones to have ever had this insight, we know how easy it is to live as if all those things weren’t true. And so we think it’s worth spending some time digging in to these questions and seeing what it might mean for the ways we live together. David, Clay, and I will be sharing this series, and we’re all really excited for it.

Jesus’ approach to relationships was summed up in three little words, words he shared with his disciples at their last meal together: “Love one another.” It’s a deceptively simple instruction, because I think it actually contains a wealth of wisdom — on what it means to be part of a church community, on how being part of that community impacts all of our relationships, on what it means to love someone at all. Those are great questions to ask together, and that’s exactly what we’ll be doing between now and Thanksgiving. So join us.

– Erin