"gifts You Can't Buy at the Store: Relationships" I Thessalonians 3: 6-13; John 1: 1-4

This week we focus on relationships.

1.  The Triune God we know depicts relationship as Father, Son and Holy Spirit are connected one to the other.  As the opening verses of the Gospel of John  remind us, the three work in tandem, inextricably intertwined.

2. We see God's desire for relationship in the act of creation -- God desiring to be in relationship with humans (which will be shown again in the coming of Christ) that leads to the act of creating; God creating man and woman so that human relationships develop.

3.  When Christ comes to redeem the relationship between God and humanity;  he models for us the hope that we can redeem or repair our broken relationships.

4. This focus on relationships connects us back to the sermon on time -- we need to commit time to develop stronger relationships; and it projects us forward to a future week when we discuss forgiveness, since forgiveness is necessary to maintain good relationships.  I had not realized how intertwined the sermons would be with each other.

5.  The title of the now well-known book Three Cups of Tea comes from what Greg Mortenson learns from Haji Ali about the meaning of having tea :  "The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family.” Haji explains to Mortenson that he must make time to share three cups of tea, by which he means Mortenson needs to build relationships with the Balti people if he wants to accomplish his goals in the region.

6.  I'm thinking about these three points:  God gives us the gift of relationships that make us better; God gives us the opportunities to redeem broken relationships; God gives us the gift of a relationship with Christ as the foundation of it all.  Not sure which order the points should be in for the most effective sermon.

7.  In Mitch Albom's The Time keeper, Father Time chooses two people to share the gift of time.  The two need each other. one cannot do it without the other (or so it would seem).   

8.  Joan Baez: "the easiest kind of relationship for me is with ten thousand people. the hardest is with one."