Greetings to Share
Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 13: 11 - 13 (NIV)
Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All God’s people here send their greetings.
Message: “Greetings to Share”
Greetings in the New Testament
Greetings play an important role the times of the early church - they make the letters personal and authentic - they make the content trustworthy - they bring home some core ideas of the faith - and they provide the foundation for new relationships to be formed…
In a time without emails, phones, or even a mailing system, hand delivered letters were the social media of their time
Not even everyone in the congregation could read - the letters was read out loud, over and over for them reflect on them…
Like a video of a sermon that is being replayed
The greeting part of the letter would be like the 30 second video bite that was easy to share
People would walk away and say: “remember Paul said that we should rejoice, strive for restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace…”
The content of the greeting was the big takeaway
The greeting made them feel that they belong to something bigger than just their group of people coming together
The greeting opened their hearts to make the good news of the Gospel their own
Meeting in person
In a time of emails, google, YouTube, and AI, we are not desperate for information anymore
We can find a full analysis of the anything on the internet throught AI
You don’t need to come to church anymore to find theological insights and facts
You can get it all on your devices - you never even have to leave your house
You can even get a sneak peak on what is going on live in a service - although no one watches the whole service like attending in person…
It is just not the same - you miss something when you are not there in person…
That something we miss is what brings us to church today
We need to belong somewhere in this era of technology
We need to feel the physical presence of others who also love God (don’t know about the holy kiss anymore)
We need to see each other and to be seen ourselves - in person
Neuro-science tells us that meeting face-to-face activates pathways in our brains in several concrete ways:
- Oxytocin (The Bonding Hormone): Physical contact like a handshake, hug, or simply holding eye contact actively lowers stress and builds deep feelings of trust and connection.
- Dopamine (The Reward Chemical): Reading non-verbal cues, shared laughter, and live conversation stimulate your brain's reward center, making you feel euphoric and motivated
- Serotonin (The Mood Stabilizer): Feeling heard, validated, and part of a community regulates serotonin, stabilizing your mood and fighting off anxiety.
- Endorphins (The Natural Painkillers): Casual, positive banter and social ease act as natural painkillers, bringing a sustained sense of happiness and emotional safety
Sharing Greetings
The greeting that Paul shares in his letter, can help us when we apply it to our interactions as a family of faith…
Paul says “strive for restorarion” - take every effort when you see each other to make right what went wrong in your relationships… people have differences and we don’t always agree, but when we are together, we have an opportunity to restore… to make things right… to forgive and to be forgiven!
Paul says “encourage one another” - who of us here today don’t need encouragement? Church is the place where we can be encouraged! So let us do that for each other… let us listen to each other’s stories and let us encourage one aonther to face the challenges of our life stories!
Paul says “be of one mind” - let us never forget that we are brought together through the love of God that was given to us on the cross, where Jesus died for us… look at the cross when we are together and know that we are one… allow the love behind that cross to make us one
Paul also says “live in peace” - our coming together brings peace into our lives… it helps us to make peace with ourselves and with each other… that’s why we should make every effort to come together… whenever you miss peace in your life - go to church! You will find peace there…
Love and Peace in a shared greeting
Paul affirms: do all of this “and the love and peace of God will be with you”
The promise of God’s love and peace is in the greeting of one another!
God created us to be in relationship - hormones of oxytocin, dopamine, seratonin and endophines
God gave us a church where we can go to be greeted and to greet other people
God even gave us a building where we can come together - sanctuary and basement…
God gave us a family to belong to - a family of faith
God bless us with love and peace when we come together and greet each other
May we appreciate the importance of greetings today
May we come together to greet each other face to face
And may we share our greetings more and more!
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