“God used to live here and then he died so now you live here,” a preschool child told me matter-of-factly as he walked out the church door after chapel.

I told him that God is indeed alive, and he bubbled with excitement. “Do you mean that God is alive RIGHT NOW?!?!” His eyes opened wide and his face lit up with an irrepressible smile. “That’s awesome!” Then he scurried off to catch up with his class, and our brief conversation was over.

This unexpected exchange left me wondering, “Who else needs to know the good news that God is alive right now?”

As I stood there pondering the child’s words, I also realized he had spoken an important truth. “So now you live here.” We are here to continue God’s work in the world and to be Christ in our neighborhood. Imagine God telling us, “So now you live here. Love your neighbors.”

Come on, church. We have work to do.

When we look for what’s best in the person we happen to be with at the moment, we’re doing what God does, so in appreciating our neighbor, we’re participating in something truly sacred.

Fred Rogers