An excerpt from Pastor Varner’s sermon, offered on October 15th:
“St. Augustine famously described the church as a hospital…He saw church as a place for people who are hurting, who are in desperate need of healing. He saw the church as the only hope for a hurting world. Because it’s only here in church that we are healed and strengthened to live as Jesus taught us — to grow in our love for God and for our neighbors, even to the point where we love our neighbors as much as ourselves. As we grow in our ability to do this, everything that divides us from each other — the sickness of isolation, disconnection, and fragmentation that plagues our world — it all miraculously fades away, and in its place grows love. This healing of the world happens one moment at a time, one person at a time, one connection at a time, one relationship at a time, as disconnection and separation fall away and loving relationships and connections grow in their place.”