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\u201cThey are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name\u201d (Nehemiah 1:10-11).

In Genesis 2, the Lord God says, \u201cIt is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him\u201d (2:18). And before that, in Genesis 1, we read, \u201cSo God created human beings in his own likeness. He created them to be like himself. He created them as male and female\u201d (1:27).

Beginning with these two passages, God\u2019s people have long understood that we humans were created for community. That\u2019s why solitary confinement is considered a form of punishment and many people are voicing concern that it does way more harm than good. We also understand that we find our self-identity not in isolation but in the context of our community. There is evidence that the rise of anxiety in our culture is, at least in part, due to the lack of community shaping us. Individualism, apparently, does not form healthy people.

The church understands this. That\u2019s why we have always made efforts to include children and youth in church life. We all need community and we need that community to shape us and help us form our identity. Each us of also, whether young or old, needs to shape the identity of that community. Identity is not static, but constantly shifting due to the people and the circumstances.

Well, let me hasten to rephrase that. The core of our Christian identity does not change, but how we live that out and express it as congregations does change and hopefully mature. Nehemiah gives us the essence of our identity. Let me paraphrase, \u201cwe are God\u2019s servants and God\u2019s people, whom God redeemed by his great strength and his great hand.\u201d

Nehemiah was referring back to God delivering his people from Egypt. We, of course, refer back to Christ\u2019s death and resurrection. That was the great act of God\u2019s delivering us. Because of Christ, we belong to God. We are his servants.

But we have difficulty remembering this. On the one hand we are just forgetful. On the other hand, there is a constant barrage of information tempting us to see ourselves differently.

I love the prayers of God\u2019s people recorded in the Bible. They are more daring than most of our prayers. Did Nehemiah think that God had forgotten? \u201cThese are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed\u2026\u201d Did God need reminding? Not likely.

But we forget. We need the Christian community to remind us of who we are. That is one reason why we gather for weekly worship services. Its also why seminarians are constantly told, \u201cPreach Jesus.\u201d One Sunday afternoon, an elderly parishioner called me with this, \u201ceverything you said this morning was true, but a Jewish rabbi could have preached that.\u201d He had nothing against Jewish Rabbi\u2019s; he was just reminding me, with all kindness, that I was called to preach Jesus. That was a long time ago, but I won\u2019t forget.

In these lonely days of COVID; in this week after a Thanksgiving celebrated with less people than normal, we need to remember that we belong to Jesus. And here is the wonder of it, we belong to our Heavenly Father, not because we decided, but because he decided. He wanted us enough that Jesus died for us. No. He will not forget.

This prayer also reminds us of what we do. We serve God. We serve him on Sundays. But we especially serve him in the days between Sundays, in our work and our play, among our family members and among our co-workers, employers and employees.

As you journey on, remember, \u201cWe are God\u2019s servants and God\u2019s people, whom he redeemed by his great strength and his mighty hand.\u201d He will hear our prayers.