Rebuilding Community: Embracing Cross-Generational Connection and Hope

What if in the next three years, cross generational adoption was the norm. Paul writes to the church in Ephesus, and he says, God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. Sometimes, I think, even though we can remember that we are adopted by God through Jesus as sons and daughters, we can forget that that makes us adopted brothers and sisters. [01:04:39] (36 seconds)  #CrossGenAdoption

He says, but our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it only had one part. Everyone picture that for a moment. Yes. There are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, I don't need you. The head can't say to the feet, I don't need you. In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. [00:59:39] (33 seconds)  #ManyPartsOneBody

If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it. And if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. All of you together are Christ's body, and each of you is a part of it. As I said, in its proper context, this Paul was writing about spiritual gifts in the community, but the message is simple. Right? Everyone has something valuable to contribute. No single generation can say to another, I don't need you. [01:00:42] (34 seconds)  #EveryoneHasValue

If there's a whole generation or two of anxious young people who are almost physically attached to these digital devices, I wonder if that presents an opportunity for a generation who didn't grow up in that context to speak words of life, to actively demonstrate a life of peace and gentleness, To teach other generations about what it means to not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God so that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guide your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus. [01:03:20] (48 seconds)  #TeachPeaceNotPanic

If you're a builder or maybe even a boomer today, Maybe one of the great contributions you can make to the next generations is to introduce them to a life that is ruled by the prince of peace and not the glowing rectangle in their pocket. What if an ache of one generation is an opportunity for another to show Jesus? [01:04:08] (31 seconds)  #LeadWithPeaceNotScreens

Did you know that loneliness has now been linked by several extensive studies to poor physical and mental health, greater psychological distress, general dissatisfaction with life, and even premature death. One study even revealed that the consistent loneliness has an equivalent effect on someone's health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. [00:49:28] (27 seconds)  #LonelinessHealthCrisis

Jesus' community was made up of all sorts, men and women, rich and poor, the commoners and the the religious, the Jews and the Gentiles, the influential and the completely unknown, the older and the middle aged and the young adult and the youth and the children, all mixed together in community. And everyone was seen as having something valuable to contribute. [00:58:28] (30 seconds)  #DiverseFaithFamily

For most of recorded history in nearly all cultures, people have lived and grown and flourished in communities of diverse ages and generations. Cross generational connections have been the norm up until only just recently in terms of human history, including throughout scripture. All throughout the Old Testament and the story of the people of Israel, God is referred to as the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Three generations. God of generations. [00:55:04] (43 seconds)  #GodOfGenerations