I Will Not Leave You Orphaned: Protect and Unite

``We can be people who remember that belonging comes before behaving. Because in Christ, we are already held in God's love. So I invite you to one simple practice for this week. Should you choose to accept, here it is. Reach out to one person you know who might feel alone. A neighbor, a coworker, someone in the congregation. Pray Jesus' prayer. Protect them in your name, and use their actual name in the prayer. Let Christ's unity become visible in one small act of care. [00:31:11] (60 seconds)  #BelongingBeforeBehaving

Jesus is already praying it into being. Jesus is already holding the church together in the father's name. Jesus is already refusing to leave us orphaned, which means we don't have to pretend the world isn't fractured. We don't have to deny the pain of isolation. We don't have to hide the places where the church struggles to live as one. We can bring all of that to Jesus because Jesus is the one who prays for us. And that means Easter is still doing its work. [00:29:37] (52 seconds)  #EasterStillWorking

And that means Easter is still doing its work. You see, resurrection is not just an event somewhere behind us. It is a presence with us. The risen Christ is still protecting, still gathering, still making us one, still saying to us, I will not leave you orphaned. And because of that, we can live differently. We can be a people who make room for others. We can be a people who keep showing up. We can be a people who refuse to ride off the lonely, the grieving, the different, or the difficult. [00:30:24] (47 seconds)  #ResurrectionWithUs

And that kind of unity is hard. That kind of unity asks for patience, for humility, for forgiveness, for courage. It means listening when we would rather dismiss. It means staying in relationship when it would be easier to just walk away. It means remembering the person beside you is also someone Christ has named, claimed, and loved. And here's the good news. This unity is not something we manufacture from scratch. Jesus is already praying it into being. [00:28:44] (59 seconds)  #UnityTakesCourage