A note from Keith
9 July 2010
1 Thess 2:8 
Dear Friends
This week I write to you about building God’s community today.
As Christians, we are architects, designing and redesigning community life in relation to our life in Christ. God’s chosen instrument remains the Church, despite all its imperfections. It is the place and community which is a visible symbol of Jesus Christ’s presence and activity in the world. Whilst it is true that distortions have periodically blunted the impact of our true purpose, the Church has continued to mediate God’s real presence to the human family, transforming the quality of people’s lives.
During the last months of his life, while confined in prison, Dietrich Bonhoeffer sketched the outline of a book which he did not live to complete. He wrote about Christian discipleship as ‘being-there-for-others.’ For him and for us, this was and is the accent on servanthood which marks out the life of Jesus Christ.
For the Christian, being part of a servant community means exactly that … ‘being-there-for-others.’ Community amongst people only becomes possible in the deepest sense in the context of our communion with God. This seems to me to be highly consistent with the fact that we are called to love God first … and this devotion leads us to love our neighbour. How we do this at the heart of a busy city is without doubt a great challenge, but it has to be faced. In his relationship with others, Jesus demonstrated the importance of valuing people. For Jesus, love was the supreme quality in all relationships.
Take time to consider the gospel in which we see Jesus engaging with people time and again. When Jesus talked about love, he was swift to demonstrate it and there was no credibility gap between what he said and who he was. It is also interesting that, in his teaching on love, Jesus preferred stories to lectures and he certainly illustrated what he taught by how he lived. None of us dare stand against the plumb line of God’s measure in Jesus Christ, but we choose to respond to his grace and live with him day by day.
Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. (1 Thess 2:8)
Breathe on me, Breath of God;
Fill me with life anew,
That I may love what Thou dost love,
And do what Thou wouldst do.
(Edwin Hatch)
Warmly yours ,
Rev Dr Keith Garner
Superintendent, Wesley Mission
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