Imagine a community where God’s love is the tie that binds us, where young and old, rich and poor, women and men, people of all cultures and ethnicities partner together to love the people in our neighborhood, city and state, country and world.
Can you feel it?
Can you feel hope breaking in to replace despair? Do you sense the retreat of injustice as we engage in community development and advocate for justice and good stewardship in city planning? Can you feel the joy of a conversation or embrace that turns loneliness and isolation into restored relationship? Can you feel what it is to know you are created in Gods image and that He loves you with such a love that language fails to describe? Can you imagine the feeling of sharing such love with a neighbor? Can you imagine the feeling of being authentically you while finding acceptance from others as you share life together?
Can you see it?
Can you see God’s kingdom breaking in all around us in the beautification of a park, the painting of a neighbor’s house or the restoration of the environment? Do you see the smile on a mother’s face when her child is equipped with school supplies and tutoring she wants to provide but is unable? Just imagine the expression on the face of a young woman in Congo who, because of our generosity, is able to get an education and break free from the cycle of poverty. Picture a community that values the visual arts as expressions of reality and as metaphors of Gods creation to His glory. Can you envision living, serving, and worshipping among a diverse group of people who all bear the image of God?
Can you hear it?
Can you hear a child in one of our local schools reading to grade level because we cared enough to encourage and tutor him? Can you hear the silence of night in an African village where there was once wailing but because they received clean drinking water and medical attention there is now peace? Do you hear the music and songs that have yet to be created as reflections of reality and expressions of praise and glory to the God who cares enough to pursue us in love the God who, through Jesus, has promised to make all things new? Can you hear rejoicing when the bewildered, the lonely, the wayward, the broken, the confused, the ill, the strong come to know how truly loved and accepted they are by Jesus?
When you consider this vision, are you thinking of a neighborhood church? You could be. We at Lettered Streets Covenant Church believe that God is actively working to make lives whole and restore creation. We believe that Jesus is in the process of making all things new and that he has called all of humanity to participate with him in this incredibly challenging and satisfying adventure.
Do you hear him calling?