When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.”From that time on, this disciple took her into his home (John 19:25-27).

Slowly the pandemic appears to be loosening its grip.  Slowly life is “returning” to “normal.”  We still have a way to go before COVID is in the rearview mirror, and there may well be some unexpected bumps or detours before we get there, but, for the first time in many months it’s beginning to feel like it’s okay to hope again, to start a cautious move back towards normal.”

The pandemic has already deeply impacted how we think about school, work, family activities, “safety” and so much else.  It’s too early to know which changes will remain (maybe working from home more and more?) and which will fade (ZOOM meetings?!)

How about how we think about “church”?

Our new series theme is Community, Purpose, Love.  We could say that a “church” is a community of Christians whose purpose is to love the world around them in Jesus’ name and for his sake.  But that’s a little abstract.

This week’s Scripture might help us get a bit more concrete.  As Jesus hangs dying on the cross, he speaks his mother Mary and his follower John into a new relationship, he speaks them into a new kind of community: “Dear woman, here is your son … dear friend, here is your mother.”

We don’t get to choose our biological parents or siblings … and we don’t get to pick our spiritual parents and siblings either.  Are we involved in Chatham Church merely because it’s our choice, or because it is Jesus’ will for us?

On Sundays during pandemic times, we always enjoyed watching the chat-scroll on the livestream.  Many of us signed in with some form of “Good morning, church family!”  It is both a beautiful statement and a challenging one.  How is Jesus speaking us into a new kind of family, his new community?  How is he desiring to put some “flesh,” perhaps some new kinds of “flesh,” onto the bones of that we-are-church-family statement?

“Church” still matters to Jesus.  But “church” as he sees, understands, defines and builds it.

As we find our way out of whatever “caves” we have sheltered in during the pandemic, may we not lose focus on what is most truly precious about our life together in Christ.  May we not cling to forms and structures and ways of doing things that don’t truly serve the purposes of our King.  May we rediscover Christ in one another and become more of the kind of community whose purpose is to love the world in Jesus’ name.

What are some ways you have “moved away” from church during the past year?  What is a way you could consider moving back into church?