There's a mindset that seems to pervade our generation of churchgoers that I would like to address.  I don't think it's entirely a fallacy, I simply think we may have put a tad too much emphasis on it. It just bothers me when I hear this:

Person 1: "I think it'll be sweet when I get to meet <insert non-Jesus biblical hero here> in Heaven."
Person 2: "You'll get to meet Jesus...you won't care about anyone else there."

I think that this is garbage.  I mean, sure, Jesus will definitely be, by necessity, by definition, infinitely more glorious than anything we can ever imagine.  We will be dazzled with His love and He will be the sole reason that any of us will be there at all.  Yet I don't, for a second, think that it won't matter to us who is and isn't there.

Allow me to insert a disclaimer here, before I go on:  I have never been to Heaven before, so I am merely making an educated theory about it based on Holy Scriptures, i.e. what I am saying is not canon.  That being said, let's move on.

I submit that our relationships with other believers will be incredibly important to us in heaven.  First of all, consider the fact that the Garden of Eden before the fall was how God intended things to be.  No part of creation had been perverted by sin yet.  So, basically things were set up the way that God had intended, because He is the one who set it up and nothing was tainted by rebellion against Him yet.  Now, during this time God looked at Adam and said, "It is not good for the man to be alone" (Genesis 2:18).  God, who had called every part of His creation good up until then, now says that it is not good that man is alone, even though He was with Adam, and, more than likely, would have walked with Adam in the cool of the evening even if Eve wasn't there.  It was a good thing to God that He should create more creatures like Adam.  So he made Eve.  Thus, clearly God intended us to be social creatures.  He wants us to cultivate relationships with other humans.

And from there on out there are several examples of the idea of unity, oneness.  Adam and Eve became one flesh; "what God has joined together, let man not separate" (Matthew 19:6).  God blessed the people of Israel as one, and He cursed the people of Israel as one.  In the New Testament, the believers in Christ are described as members of one body, of which He is the head (Romans 12:3-8).  In fact, this particular analogy makes the point that each member belongs to all the others.  Never in history does God give us reason to think that anyone's relationship with Him is singular.  We are in this together!  This recurring theme of unity tells me that God places a special emphasis on our loving dependence on and symbiotic correlation with each other.  This is a much deeper and more intimate idea than cultivating relationships with each other; we belong to each other.

Finally, I come to my crowning argument.  Jesus told us not to store up treasures here on earth, but to store up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21).  Essentially, He doesn't want us to waste time building up things that won't last (this does not mean you can slack in life...read Heaven is a Place on Earth for further understanding on that issue).  However, Jesus also tells us that the second greatest command (second only to loving God himself) is to love our neighbors as ourself (Matthew 22:34-40).  If this is the second greatest command, one of only two that all the other commands hang on, then Jesus is telling us to invest a great deal of ourselves in showing love to each other.  Now we come to the crux of the issue:  if Jesus told us not to invest too much in things that won't last, and if He also told us to invest our very lives in relationships with other humans, then why would we ever think that the only ones we'll care about in Heaven are ourselves and Jesus?  Clearly, if Jesus wants us to invest in our neighbors, then it stands to reason that those relationships will be important to us even in the unshakable kingdom of Heaven!

Why do I bother to make this argument?  To open your eyes to the wonderful blessing of brotherhood that God has given us!  To exhort you, if you are not already a member of a local church body, to become an active member of the brotherhood of believers.  To increase our love for each other, so that the world may see our unity and know that Jesus was sent by the God of Heaven and that He loves them (John 17:23).

So, please, cease thinking of the church only as a place you sing songs and listen to a guy talk.  Serve your fellow members, for we belong to each other!  This week when you join a group of brothers and sisters in singing praise to Jesus, still your voice for a moment so that you may hear the church as a body sing her aromatic songs to her Lover.  I dare you to fall in love with the spirits singing around you...it's the same Spirit that our Father has given you!

I just passed a very special anniversary a couple of weeks ago.  Many of you know of how I came to my current life a little over a year ago.  I admit it openly now...at my lowest point I was completely unable to properly use the term "f'shizzle m'nizzle", I didn't mind the taste of mayonnaise, and I had yet to discover the joys of orange soda.  I tried to clap to music, but I would inevitably stray from the beat.  I looked like a complete moron driving my creme-colored Lincoln Towncar.

My name is Chuck Stone...and I used to be white.

I guess I should specify that I used to be only white.  That is until one fateful day last April when a dark stranger inducted me into the black community.  I still retain much of my white-icity, but now I have had a black-itude introduced into the very fibers of my being.  My life has not been the same since this transition.

You may be wondering why I'm bringing this up now.  The reason is that just a week ago, shortly after my blackiversary, a random Indian stranger essentially inducted me into the Indian community.  Here's how it went down:

I recently had shaved my amazing beard and left huge (what I thought were Scottish-style) mutton chops.  On the night of my destiny I was sitting in the student computing center around 3 in the morning and the stranger came up and informed me of his opinion on the glory of my chops.  He then took a picture of me and told me that I was very Indian for cultivating such facial hair.  I took this as an invitation into the South Asian culture.  What do you say, Goo-Unit?  Am I in?  This could completely change the demograph of our rap duo (keeping, of course, the "hot babes" demograph constant).  It would appear that April is a big month for me and the various ethnic groups around the world.  So, I've decided to declare the last week of April "The Festival of Chuck Unified".  Your duty this year is to eat some barbecue brisket with curry before the week is out.  I wonder what I'll add to my repertoire next year.  Japanese?  Honduran?  Cannibal?

I don't quite understand, though, why I have been chosen to bear a motley of the banners of the world as my cape.  I guess I don't need to understand it.  I must simply accept it, as these various cultures have accepted me.  How does this affect you as the reader, you ask?  Well, I guess next time we see each other and when we embrace, you will essentially be hugging every one of the robot children from the Disney ride "It's a Small World After All".  So I hope those things didn't freak you out.  But don't be surprised if the next time you see me I know how to dance in wooden clogs, or cook with maize, or have the song "Baby Got Back" stuck in my head.  Happy Chuck Unity Week to all!  God bless us everyone!!