Strength in Community

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.” 
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 New Living Translation

Instead of eating dinner with our fellow pastors at a recent conference, my friend, Don, and I took the opportunity to go hunting with our cameras. We both share the same passion for photography, though in different areas. Don is an excellent wildlife photographer and I love landscapes. Unfortunately for Don, most of our pictures were of landscapes. That is until we returned home.

Near Parkdale, Colorado

I took this picture at Five Points campground on the Arkansas River. Having retrieved our cameras from our vehicles, we slowly walked into a meadow where a number of ewes and rams were feeding and laying in the lush green grass. Three rams decided to stand and walk toward the woods. I guess they were tired of posing for us. Thankfully, they were not in a  great hurry to move to higher ground and we captured a few more pics of them.

Hanging together in the body of Christ can be a good thing for us to do.

The above passage is often used at weddings where the third chord is often referred to as Christ at the center of the marriage. I’m not going to argue with that usage, but the Preacher of Ecclesiastes is probably using it in a more generic fashion. He has stated how two people can help each other succeed, aid each other in difficult times, and keep each other warm. And then, as an afterthought, he states that a triple-braided chord isn’t easily torn apart. Enter the third person.

Three is not a crowd in the Christian church, it’s community and there is strength in community. May we experience the strength of Christ in fellowship with each other no matter how many of us there are.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO