Keep on loving each other as brothers. Hebrews 13:1

“Mind the gap” is the recorded announcement heard in London’s underground train system.  The phrase is a warning to travelers to watch the separation between the train carriage and the platform.  In a few places like Bank Station on the Central Line, the gap is quite large, forming a hazard for weary or preoccupied travelers in which they could suffer significant personal harm.  The phrase and its accompanying purpose serves as a fitting theme for the final chapter of Hebrews and the pastoral instruction it contains.  These instructions are critical for “minding the gap” between our profession of faith in Christ and practice of the same.

What could be so remedial in our practice of Christian faith than “loving one another”?  Isn’t the author of this letter running the risk of offending his audience by stating a command that should be automatic for even the newest of Christ followers?  Obviously, the circumstances surrounding the people to whom this letter was written dictated that the command to love each other be stated.  What constituted that kind of love was even defined as, “hospitality to unknown others in the community”, and “care for those in the community who were suffering for the faith.”  In these detailed instructions, it is easier to see why the command of Jesus was restated no matter how remedial.

Instructions such as these are easily glossed over in our lives today.  We do not rely on the hospitality of others to survive or travel, and persecution is nonexistent in our community of faith.  We are “rich, have acquired wealth, and do not need a thing” (Rev 3:17).  Maybe we need to take a little closer look a this instruction!

We, those of us who are Northside, often profess to be a loving, caring, friendly community of Christ followers.  Yet, on any given Sunday while we gather, guests can be spotted throughout our worship center sitting alone.  A brief survey of our crowd on the same morning reveals the generational strata of our fellowship.  While we are often quick to defend our actions on the basis of “affinity”, we fail to embrace the fact that we are under command to love one another, or “show hospitality to strangers”, because as hosts we expect to encounter God in the process.  And, what about caring for those in prison and being mistreated as we were fellow prisoners and suffering ourselves?  The space of this blog does not permit me to talk about ways to stand with the persecuted and oppressed, but only that we must.  This kind of love is huge!

What are you thinking?  Should we be so quick to profess that we are a “loving” community?  What kind of adjustments can, or must, you make to become part of a solution to this problem of brotherly love in your community of faith?  Let’s talk.

Love you all,

tim