This part of the country is full of people who didn’t grow up here. They came chasing
ambition. Within a sixty-mile radius, you’ll find as many high-performance type A’s as
anywhere in the world. That means scheduled, regimented lives—Google calendars packed
with meetings, deadlines, drills, workouts, and shuttling kids to their activities. Life is
programmed down to the minute.
The danger for Christians like us in the DMV isn’t missing an appointment. It’s
committing a category error—thinking our faith is just one more appointment. Sunday
morning becomes a box to check: “Go to church.” Then on to the next thing.
But that’s not how the New Testament describes the Christian life. Christianity is not
a private faith squeezed into a busy schedule; it is life together. The word the Bible uses
is koinonia. Paul told the Thessalonians, “Encourage one another and build each other up” (1
Thessalonians 5:11). The writer of Hebrews urged, “Let us consider how we may spur one
another on toward love and good deeds… encouraging one another” (Hebrews 10:24–25).
That’s not a vision of isolated individuals—it’s a picture of a family, a body, a people who
need one another in order to remain faithful.
So let me ask you: what are you doing practically, tangibly, meaningfully to edify
your brothers and sisters? Are you speaking words of encouragement? Using your gifts to
build up the body? Taking time to listen, to pray, to serve?
Fellowship isn’t a quick hello in the lobby and coexisting on the same pew for an hour
once-per-week. It’s carrying one another’s burdens, celebrating one another’s joys, and
helping each other stay faithful. Beloved, Christianity is not a block on your calendar but a
way of life together.
Maranatha,
Jordy
