Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. (Romans 13:11-12)

Have you ever thought about the difference between urgency and panic? Urgency is a state of heightened awareness and motivation. Urgency gives us a focused sense of purpose and a drive to address a pressing issue effectively. At its best, urgency brings a clear-headed approach to problem-solving. Panic, on the other hand, is an intense and overwhelming emotional reaction, rooted in fear and anxiety. It prejudices our judgment and blinds us to rational thinking, it prevents compassion. While urgency can be a constructive force that propels us to take necessary actions, panic is counterproductive and makes problems worse. We rise to a sense of urgency and action—we descend into panic and chaos. Urgency gives us purpose—panic leaves us hopeless.

John Kotter, retired professor of leadership from Harvard Business School, says that the most important aspects of true urgency are relentlessness, steadiness, and the purposeful pursuit of a goal while continuously purging irrelevant activities to provide time for the important and to prevent burn-out.

There are so many forces today that are inviting us—trying to demand us, actually—to panic. In today’s passage from Romans Paul gives us profound wisdom about responding to these forces not with panic, but with the urgency of righteousness and love.

Love, Paul says, is the debt we owe each other—a commitment to each other, an obligation to each other. Love is, in fact, the fulfillment of the entire law. It becomes the lens through which we view and live our lives as disciples of Jesus.

There should be urgency in our love. The night is far gone and the day is at hand–The time for us to live as people of the light, people characterized and recognized by love, is now. We must seize every opportunity to learn love, to practice love, and to show love to our neighbors and to the world. We must wake from our slumber—this is not a time for dreaming, but for action.

It’s easy to become complacent or distracted or tired in our faith journey, but Paul reminds us that the time is short. To live in the light, he says we are to put on the armor of Christ and cast off the works of darkness – cast off the doubts and fears and behaviors and attitudes that hinder us from walking with Christ.

So how can we do this? To get better at anything, you have to practice. That’s what we’ll be doing with our Table Life groups this year. In a time when our world suffers from divisions that fracture our lives, choosing to intentionally gather with others at a table laden with food, conversation, and love might be the most powerfully subversive Christian witness we can provide our communities. By persistently gathering in love around food, conversation, and reflection we are bearing witness to the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. My goal is that every single person at St. Andrew’s will join in one of the small groups.

We are light for each other. We are a beacon of light and an oasis of love for our communities. We have been given so much. My prayer is that we will continue to find more and better ways to fulfill our debt of love to one another and to all people, bearing witness to the transformative power of Christ’s love in our lives. There is no cause for panic; there is every reason to feel the urgency of our task of shining the light of Jesus’ love in a world that so desperately needs it.