I was recently reading a magazine from an institution of higher learning (OK, I may have heard some of you thinking, “David…higher learning…really?), and I was struck by the “testimonials” of present and former students. I wasn’t struck so much with the power of their testimonies, as I was by just how familiar those testimonials sounded – people seeking God’s leadership, finding a welcoming community, growing in their relationship with God.

As much as things have changed since I entered the doors of higher learning some 41 years ago, much remains the same. Humanity seeks relationships that lead to personal growth. Even those of us inclined to being ‘Lone Rangers’ must often live out our ‘Hi Ho, Silver and Away’ in the context of community. So what does all this mean?

People will find their places of meaning, and those places will most often be where opportunities for relationships and growth are available. Ours is not the task of deciding who needs – or is better suited – to find community and growth here. The task before us is to give everyone – regardless of status – the opportunity to be in relationship with us and to have processes in place for personal growth. At the end of the day, people matter. May the call of Jesus Christ on our lives build an even bigger desire to open up to new relationships and to new ways of growing in God’s grace.

-Pastor David