Created For Relationship

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"  And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God will all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."  Matthew 22:36-40

From the first pages of Scripture we see the importance of relationship - from the first hint of relationship in the Godhead itself ("Let us make man in our own image" - Gen 1:26) to the creation of Eve ("It is not good that the man should be alone." - Gen 2:18) to God seeking out Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the day (Where are you?" - Gen 3:9).  The Savior continues this theme when he identifies the significant identifying mark of his followers - "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."  The writers of the epistles understood the importance of this concept, filling their writings with the "one anothers".

This is our chapel theme for 2012-13.  It has often been said that Christianity is not about a religion, it is about a relationship.  I have recently been reading Tim Keller's book The Prodigal God, and he makes the point that that both the younger son and the elder son are "prodigals", substituting something else for a relationship with the Father.  At HCA, we are not interested in developing "religious" students - we want to work with families and churches to develop students who have a relationship with the Living God that influences every human relationship as well.