Mending the Web of Broken Relationships

Recently, Tony Robinson wrote a devotion concerning the delicate nature of the web of relationships in creation and what happens when that web is broken. For example, he talks about the loss of willows around water sources that has impacted the beaver population and their making of dams in streams to create settled water for fish to spawn. As well, he shares about how this web of creation has been impacted by the near extinction of wolves that had allowed the deer and elk population to expand which, in turn, started eating all of the willows.

"What an intricate, careful web of relationships You, O God, have created," exclaims Robinson. Indeed.

What happens when personal relationships are broken? What happens to that web of relationships between spouses, parents, children, friends, parishioners? Just as we, as humans, must be proactive in our involvement in the stewardships of creation and the webs that involves, we need to be good stewards of the web of personal relationships.

This Sunday we will be in our third week of a sermon series, "Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water," focusing on the issue of fire. We will look at what happens when wildfires take place in relationships and how "controlled burns" contrast with them.

Our biblical focus will be from Genesis 5:1-5 and Romans 8:1-11. Let's face it, conflict in congregations is inevitable, and sometimes conflict can be healthy. Sometimes "controlled- burns" are needed... for our spiritual growth. The Apostle Paul reminds us that we are accepted, forgiven and transformed. That is liberating when we look at the difference between "controlled-burns and wildfires" that exist around us.

Pastor Steve