A recent edition of 60 Minutes included the story of coach Frank Hall of Chardon High School in Ohio.
On February 27, 2012, Coach Hall heard shots ring out in his school. He chose to run toward them instead of away, chasing the lone gunman, teenager T. J. Lane, out of the building at great risk to himself. Lane, who was later arrested by the police, had shot six students, killing three of them, before Coach Hall chased him away.
One of the students who survived, but was left paralyzed from the waist down, and another student who was not wounded, spoke to 60 Minutes about their coach’s heroic efforts. CBS reporter Scott Pelley told then they were more than students to the coach. They responded, “Yea, we know, we’re his family.”
Those words reflect the theme I discussed last time – that all of us are connected to one another, and that what affects you affects me.
But that doesn’t seem to be the way millions of Americans think anymore. Instead, radical individualism and clan-ism dominate. It’s all about what’s good for me or my kind at the expense of everyone else.
It’s no wonder we seem to be a nation where it’s American against American, race against race, class against class, an attitude commonly found in government, cities, towns, schools, and neighborhoods.
But what is astounding to me is that it is also found in churches. In today’s America churches seem to serve as a divider of people as much as anyone or anything else.
Consider the fact that controversial issues such as racial integration, economic justice, gun rights, war and peace policies, gay rights and gay marriage, are flash points in churches the same way they are everywhere else.
And the only solution church leaders have come up with is to try to avoid them, to discourage anyone from bringing them up.
What does it say about the state of the church when congregations have to avoid tough issues because people can’t talk about them in a civil tone, that they get upset and angry to the point of saying nasty things to one another or quitting altogether?
I think what it says is that churches are full of people who have forgotten what Coach Hall and his student players knew – that they are family, they belong to each other, that what happens to one of them happens to all of them.
This is what it means to be a real community, “a unified body of individuals.” It doesn’t mean there is always agreement among the individuals, or that they think alike, believe alike, act alike.
It means they retain the sense of connectedness in spite of not being alike, that they are committed to working for the good of all, that they understand different points of view doesn’t make them enemies or mean they cannot get along. It means what unites them is more important than what divides them.
It seems to me that if a football coach and a couple of his teenage players had no trouble understanding that, maybe if the rest of us, especially those of us who are still in the church, set aside our egos, needs, and wants even a little, we wouldn’t either.
Wouldn’t that be something worth seeing!
linnposts.com 
You got right again. That’s why the church in America is declining. I’m a member of Harmony Creek Church in Kettering, Ohio and WE ARE FAMILY.
Those nearby who are disappointed at their church attitude, coming and join us. I get more hugs at church than anywhere else, and each Sunday I feel united and uplifted with everyone present.
You are so very right and this issue is so very frustrating! Because human nature is such that most people need outside leadership for guidance, at all collective levels (home, school, work, church, government) we all operate better as a family when our leadership demonstrates they value brotherhood. Too many leaders at all social levels are demonstrating the opposite (judgment, intolerance, exploitation, natural or ideological supremacy etc.). Perhaps fighting this tendency is a generational learning experience which must be repeated thousands of times before it is embodied by the majority.
Public collectives in particular, who contain among them more enlightened attitudes must move into, or support the movement of like minds into, positions of leadership to broaden the values being demonstrated. The home family is always worth fighting for because that is where values and meanings are taught. But, the human family at large is no less worth such a fight. Each of us can contribute to uplifting that cause through daily thoughts, actions and speech supporting its very notion. We must never retreat!
Thank you for doing your part to remind us of this fundamental human value.
Totally! I think that also stems from a solid foundation of knowing what you’re about. There was a time (so I’m told) that churches could just “be.” They were all things to all people: a social club, a place to gossip, a place of prayer, spirituality and finding meaning, also the cheapest place in town to eat.
Those days are gone. Now we must focus on the “why.” Each congregation. And it can’t be “Cause Jesus.” The answer must stem to “Our congregation is gifted by God in this way and are called to serve our setting like this.” One of my colleage’s church is an urban church right next to a laundry mat. They are setting up a ministry to have bottled water, coloring books, and snacks for families there; both as outreach and evangelism. The why? Because the church exists to support and serve the community.
That’s a hell of a why. Reminds me of Matt 20:26, Luke 22:26 and Mark 10:44-45.
AMEN! AMEN! AMEN, and once again, AMEN!
And, Bob; I really like the last part of your second paragraph, beginning “….Each of us…. .Not many of us can preform miracles by ourselves, but maybe collectively there is hope if we focus on being what I think are real everyday Christians, instead of church goers and amateur theologians.