Wake Up, Look Up

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch and in today's episode, we're asking the question, is there a seat at your table? This is prompted by an article I read in the Wall Street Journal about one man, who began in Philadelphia now is in New York, a man named Finn Colleton, who, during the pandemic, was sitting in a Philadelphia park with a sign that just read, how's your day going? The sign and his sitting in the park was designed to combat his own loneliness. Like a lot of us, he's spending a lot of time at home inside. And he recognized his need for. For human interaction. So going to the park with the sign was his way of saying, somebody, please talk to me. And as a result, a whole movement called American Dialogues was born as people continued to sit with him in Philadelphia. And like I said, now he's in New York. He had really hit on something. People were lonely like him. They were looking for interaction like him, even if it came with a stranger. And in the park, that shouldn't surprise us. The data is overwhelming that loneliness is a current epidemic in America. One in five American adults report serious, frequent loneliness. And 81% of those adults report anxiety and depression as a result of their loneliness. And the argument that Colleton and others like him are making is that loneliness is a curable illness, if you will. It just takes human interaction. You know, when I read this, I thought, man, I think a lot of times we think that if we were to engage people, reach out to people, we would have a negative response. But in a world where you can go to the park with a sign that says, how's your day going? And it start a movement people are hungry for relationship. Made me realize that sometimes when we think about serving God, we think we think too big. Now, I'm not against thinking big, but sometimes you can think so big, you miss the opportunities that are right in front of you. Like, let me use an example for my family. I have seven people in my family. My wife Amy and I and five kids. We have eight chairs at our dinner table. I thought, man, how easy would it be once or twice a week to simply have as a family a mission to fill that eighth slot, to reach out to somebody who's in need of an hour and a half meal with a family, sitting around laughing and telling stories about the day and just enjoying human interaction, that's not hard it's one more plate, it's one more piece. of bread, one more chicken breast, whatever we're eating that night. That's not hard financially. It's not hard on my calendar. It's not hard to do. It's an easy opportunity to love people that I often miss. You know, it's exactly these kinds of opportunities that Paul had in mind in Romans 12:13 when, when he tells the church, practice hospitality. the Greek word there for hospitality really carries this idea of turning strangers into brothers, which is an amazing, amazing way of thinking about hospitality. And that doesn't require a movement. It doesn't require going to the park with a sign. It doesn't even require your local church launching a ministry or a mission. It just requires an invitation to dinner. We all have space in our lives for one more person. I'm talking about a lifetime commitment. I'm not talking about one person with a standing Tuesday dinner invitation. I'm just saying, occasionally saying, God, would you put in front of me a lonely person that I can care for in an easy and practical way? Our country is full of lonely people. Lonely people who are probably, in addition to in need of being loved, open to the idea that God might also love them. When I read 1 in 5Americans are struggling with loneliness, I read that 1 in 5Americans are tremendously open to the good news of a God who loves them in Jesus Christ, especially if that good news is shared over a hot meal at a dinner table. So let's not stop dreaming big. I don't want to stand in the way of movements or ministries or plans, but let's never miss the opportunity to leverage the little moments, the small ways that just might change a lonely person's life. Hey, thanks for checking out Wake Up, Look Up. For more content, be sure to visit the Christ Community Chapel app or or website ccchapel.com.

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