Sign up to get weekly blog post from our pastors and updates about what’s happening in the life of the church. We call it the eNote and it will come to your email once a week.
This week's eNote
March 24, 2025 by pastor terry mchugh
In talking about the family nature of Christian Community in his message “Better Together: 30 Days of Community – We Belong Together,” Pastor Chip led us on a deep dive of the meaning & importance of the Greek word “storge” which can be understood as “family” love. He said “Storge is not discriminating. … the special glory of storge is that it unites those who most emphatically and even comically are not normally united. Storge exists between people who, if they had not found themselves together in the same household or community, would have had nothing to do with each other.”
It reminded me of a story out of the Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary in Georgia about a lion (Leo), a Bengal tiger (Shere Kahn), and an American black bear (Baloo). The three predators had been kept as pets by a drug dealer who severely neglected and abused them. Eventually they were rescued by the Sanctuary who gave them a safe home and helped them return to health and wellbeing.
Initially, the staff put the lion, the tiger, and the bear in different areas away from each other to prevent fighting, but they seemed even more uncooperative when they were separated. After they were reunited, they became calmer and more well behaved, spending their days together playing ball, cuddling, chasing each other, and eating cookies. Allison Hedgecoth of Noah's Ark said, "They live together and they don't see their differences."
This week our 40 Days of Community Groups will be talking about Session 3 in the Study Guide, “Belonging Together.” In the video that goes along with that session, Pastor Rick Warren says love is the primary characteristic of being a follower of Jesus, reminding us of Jesus’ words "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another, " (John 13:35) and talks about the 56 “one anothers” in the Bible. He also says, “You’re not just supposed to be believers, you’re supposed to be belongers.”
Here are some questions I’m reflecting on this week (and that I invite you to reflect on) as I think about what it means to be not just a believer, but a belonger:
1. How have I experienced the power of community in my own faith journey?
2. In what ways can I better protect, trust, hope for, and persevere with others?
3. What areas of my life have I been trying to go it alone instead of relying on the support of fellow Christians?
4. How can I become more intentional about inviting others to experience the love and fellowship here at Garfield?
