As I was sitting in church this morning, a striking fact confronted my perception of the Christian Church today.  It was Rally Day, and yet, there were few people in church.  Perhaps people were staying home to watch the Packers games; some may have had children with athletic games.  Still others may have gone to the car show at the park.  More significantly, will the American Christian church survive into the next decade, or will it succumb to the apathy of American citizens towards one another and mass materialism?

I found material for today’s blog in the lessons.  I am using Romans 13:8-10 (KJV), which states, “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

I do not understand the vast majority of America’s problems, but one thing is quite certain. We, as a nation, do not love one another.  There is so much division, abuse of words, anger, hatred, and violence that we are slipping away from the Christian tenets of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  The largest flaw in our character is that God is no longer first in many American minds and souls.  Pope John Paul II said when we lose touch with Jesus Christ, we lose who we are, and we become lost in materialism.  We’re so worried about our exterior appearances that we lose track of the people and things that are trying to steal our souls.

I also believe if we were not so hostile towards one another, we would see the inner greatness of everyone. Writing in his book, “The Nazi Doctors and the Nuremberg Code,” Elie Wiesel said, “We must not see any person as an abstraction.  Instead, we must see in every person a universe with its own secrets, with its own treasures, with its own sources of anguish, and with some measure of triumph.” In other words, we must love one another as Jesus Christ taught us to do.  You have as much of a right to walk this earth as I do.  We all are entitled to worship God as we chose.  He doesn’t care if I am a Christian, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Jew, or any other type of religion. All He really wants is for us to worship Him and that starts by coming back to worship together as a family and to love one another, regardless of our differences. Those who do not believe today will not inherit Eternal life. This is the Lord’s day; let us rejoice and be glad in it. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20-KJV)

Anna Hartt