Today we celebrated the life of a good man, Herb Schrade. In gratitude, his daughter Suzanne gave thanks to all who had helped her family. Let me paraphrase her powerful thought, “I don’t know if it takes a village, but I am sure it takes a church family to make it through the Christian life.” Herb and Betty made lifetime friends at First Baptist Church of Corpus Christi. Those friends came and stood with the family at the service. “What a fellowship, what a joy divine . . .”
The writer of Hebrews knew we were not in this alone. We confidently enter through the blood of Christ, our high priest and we draw near to God with full assurance of faith. Fellow believers help us to remain faithful. Sometimes we believe for each other when our faith falters.
Together we hold on to hope. Hope is confident expectation. Even if our grip slips, God’s does not. Also, we agitate each other! That is the word for “stir up one another.” Some of us are better at agitating than others. Remember the old washing machines had an agitator to help get the clothes clean. We stir up love in one another. All of this happens when we come together. It is hard to agitate at a distance! When we meet together we get to encourage each other. Time is running out. If we are going to agitate and encourage each other, there is no time like the present. Let’s get started. It turns out it really does take a church family!
