Finding Faith ... in knowing that, yes indeed, we are our brother's keeper

EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2021 I began a new venture writing a newspaper column titled "Finding Faith" for the Forum Communications Co. network of newspapers and websites. I was asked to contribute to the company's ongoing conversation about faith, lending a Lutheran and fairly ecumenical approach to the discussion. The column was published in several of the company's papers and websites, including The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. This column originally appeared as a "Finding Faith" column on Sept. 13, 2024.

Pastor Devlyn in his home church, Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn.

By The Rev. Devlyn Brooks

Friends … tend to your friends. Please!

They need it, and you need it. … We all need it.

This week I had a very overdue lunch scheduled with a dear friend.

But the past few weeks I’ve felt underwater because of the responsibilities at home and at work, and this week has been no different. By midmorning on the day we were to lunch, I already felt the temptation to kick the can down the road again. 

The devilish voice in my head teased me, “You don’t have time for this. This is a luxury you cannot afford.”

But thankfully, for me, I can share that the tug of the Holy Spirit was stronger: “You need this; you deserve this. We are created for fellowship.”

So I kept the date, and it turned out to be exactly what the Creator prescribed. My cup was filled again. ... I pray that my friend's was as well.

Friends, the answer to Cain’s disingenuous question is unequivocally: “Yes, I am my brother’s keeper!”

We face a loneliness epidemic.

We’ve -- pastors included! -- allowed the go-go pace of today’s modern age to convince us that we don’t have time for relationships. After all, there are bills to pay, chores to cross off, emails to be sent … so many things to be done to measure our “busy-ness.”

Friends, don’t fall for it.

It might be said that the definition of sin is being separated from our Creator. Well, if we know Christ through those around us, then wouldn’t it make sense that making time for our loved ones -- family, friends and strangers, alike -- is what we are called to do?

The tug of the to do list is a siren song. I get it. I do. … It’s so easy to measure ourselves against the list of items that we are checking off, but hear this: We are called to be human beings, not human doers.

In Luke 10:41-42, Jesus reminds us: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, but few things are needed—indeed only one.”

And that “one” thing we need is relationship, both with our Creator and with each other.

Friends, there is work we need to do on this earth, both to care for our own families, but also to contribute to a broader society. After all it is we who steward creation, and it is ever moving forward.

But fight the urge to make the work our identity, our reason to rise. Yes, there is work to be done, but not at the expense of our relationships with each other, and ultimately our Creator.

Take that lunch with your friend next week. And when the quiet voice in your head nags you about it, tell it a pastor prescribed it. Amen.

Devlyn Brooks is the interim CEO of Churches United in Moorhead, Minn., and an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America serving Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He blogs about faith at findingfaithin.com, and can be reached at devlynbrooks@gmail.com.