These days, there’s a lot of talk about the breakdown of society, the disappearance of relationships, the increasing separation of people from each other other. People lose touch, literally—no one touches them, hugs them, thinks about them, wants to be with them. More and more, people are turning into isolated cells, without families or friends, vulnerable to any societal infection that comes along.
Where’s the social network we all need? I’ve found that net of love in The Word of God.
First, I think of a fishing net. Remember things like household birthday parties and cluster Christmas plays? I think of such activities as simple, safe ways to include strangers in my life, until they aren’t strangers any more. It’s easier to help lonely souls who need more of God when I’m working at it with other people. Prayer meetings, household dinners, The Word of God Guesthouse, Word of God guests in my house—when I live these things, I witness, even if I don’t know I am. “Lord, where are you staying?” “Come and see” (John 1:38-39).
Second, I think of a safety net. It’s tit for tat in society; I scratch your back, you scratch mine; one hand washes the other. You help others with the mindset that you’re piling up IOUs to collect on when you need help. In The Word of God, I learned to help others for love’s sake, to “lend without expecting repayment” (Luke 6:35). We hold hands to make a net for catching each other when one of us falls off the tightrope. We help even when the other person can’t pay back the dinner, or the babysitting, or the yard work. We hold each other’s hands, but more than that—we hold each other’s lives.
When I moved to Ann Arbor in 1975, my only network was my large, close-knit family. Everyone in my family believed that only family could be trusted. I joined the community, and my family felt betrayed. I was actually letting strangers help me and I was helping them, treating strangers as if they were family! For over 30 years, my family bitterly resented my involvement in The Word of God.
It took the most cataclysmic event of my life—my daughter’s suicide—to change their minds. They saw firsthand over many months how the community loved, cared for, and watched over me. They saw both nets—the net that fished me out of the ocean and brought me to God, and the safety net that kept me from smashing on the ground when my life fell apart.
We have a tremendous gift here. We’re part of a stunning work of God. The network of love which the world needs has been shared with us. God, help us keep it, and help us keep sharing it!
