Last Sunday I introduced you to my two-part theme on nurturing heavenly community. The takeaways or summary of that message was that heavenly communities exist and grow wherever people gather together in God’s Name, which essentially happens whenever people are loving the Divine One as they know the Lord and loving and serving all people as the neighbor. Indeed, God cares for everyone equally and wants everyone to receive His Life-Force forever.

I shared also that heavenly communities are welcoming of newcomers and that as each new person gets involved the church, community or group grows in its spiritual perfection; and all such groupings are always open to a diversity of people, thoughts and ways of worship and being “church.” We noted that Christ was almost always involved in ministering to groups, both large and small, and He urged His followers, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34) First and foremost, the Lord’s Church on Earth is about loving the Lord most of all, and everyone as our neighbor, wanting to serve them in ways that are useful and good.