Isolated

In John 15, Jesus expressed solid insight into human relationships, predicated on His example.  we
can read:
9 "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.
10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
11 These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

This is Memorial Day week, and we reflect on those who have been willing to give their lives for their country, to lay down their lives for others.  Jesus demonstrated self-sacrifical love by giving His life on the cross so that men and women - all men and women - could have the opportunity to come to know Him.  And, He taught about and empowered us with a self-sacrificial love, through which we can exalt Him by exalting others, being willing to give of ourselves, so that He can be glorified.

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Imagine a world in which people exercise Godly kindness and treat people with Christ's love and respect for humanity, where the Scriptures are the centerpiece of human relationships. Romans 13
shows us what that could be like:
8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.
9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

There once was a time in which the church was at the center of activity for a city or town.  That is still true in some communities today.  I think of the image of a Main Street in countless number of cities across our land; or perhaps, like in my hometown, it was Church Street.  Once you entered the downtown area, you saw the Presbyterian church on the right, the Episcopal church, then on the left the larger Baptist church, the one in which I was raised.  There were two Methodist churches that were not on Church Street, but were not too far from the city square.

And, even today, churches, in a physical sense, provide a strong statement about morality and cohesiveness.  In a spiritual sense, the Church is strategically placeD to provide hope, moral clarity, and is the representation of Christ.

But, as Tim Carney of the Washington Examiner points out, there is a sense of isolation, or alienation that has crept into our communities.  He has even written a book about it called, Alienated America.  I came across one of his pieces recently - it can be found on the Examiner website.  It's a political piece about the conditions of the election of Donald Trump, but I think it can be instructive as we see the potential of the church in culture today.  He writes:

Marriage, for instance, is retreating in the working class. Americans are increasingly segregated by income and education. And the working class is increasingly falling away from church and organized religion.

So all those liberal critics who said Trump’s election was more about culture than economics? They were right. More precisely, though, Trump support was about cultural alienation. People turned to him to fill a void left by the erosion of civil society.

I think notable to me was the way that a politician, really, a non-politician tapped into a sense of isolation and hopelessness. Carney writes that the core supporters of Trump "...saw things this bleakly because of what was most immediately surrounding them: communities that had lost the connective tissue that ties individuals together and is indispensable for raising a family and getting ahead."

In other articles, Carney has been even more forthright in decrying the decline of influence of churches.  CBN.com has featured the columnist's writing, referring to a New York Post op-ed that he had written.  Here are some excerpts:

"Belonging to a church is a crucial element of living a good, happy, healthy life. And this phenomenon ripples out from the individuals into the community," writes Carney. 

Also...

"The key is churches that deliberately and unceasingly try to build communities and become institutions of civil society, not merely places of worship. These churches teach their followers to live out their faith by serving their neighbors, and they provide the safety net and sense of purpose that only tight-knit communities can provide," Carney added.

Another CBN article stated that Carney, "...hit the road, dug into the data and compared bustling communities to busted ones." He wrote:

"And the biggest difference was the strength in community institutions, particularly in middle America it was the strength of churches. Where they were strong and bringing people together regularly you had better outcomes and where they were disappearing and the population was disappearing the people left behind were really struggling..."

Carney has his own viewpoint on what the American dream actually is, writing:

"So many people have an economic explanation of the American dream. I think that's related, but it's off-base. It's not owning a home, it's not making a ton of money. It really is being connected – usually through an institution to your neighbors, to other people who share the same common higher purpose..."

We live in a rapidly-changing culture, and we can rightly be concerned about its state, including the moral decline that we see all around.  But, we are not helpless - or hopeless - because, there is Christ, there is hope, and the Church can address the search for meaning.

We also can appreciate how the Church can build community.  People are looking for connection, for building relationships, for joint participation.  When the love of Christ is present, people can be drawn to Him as He is allowed to live through His people.

And, even though it is easy to become discouraged, the Church is still at the heart of the fabric of America and Christ's principles are integrated into the very foundation of our nation.  We abide by the principles of individual freedoms.  We, as the body of Christ living in America, are free to love those around us and to share His truth  - we can see the power of loving our neighbor and the expression of the Golden Rule.