Quick Summary:

The Center for Disease Control says life expectancy in the USA is going DOWN…and not for the first time but for the third year in a row. It’s the longest sustained decline in a century. Driving that downward trend are the rising numbers of deaths from suicide and the opioid epidemic. What’s driving those causes? Dr. Daniel Low calls it “an epidemic of loneliness.” “Loneliness threatens the futures of more people in our country than virtually any other illness.”

Tradition tells us the author of the Gospel of Luke was a physician, which makes complete sense when you see how central healing and community-building are to Luke’s portrait of Jesus. Time and again we see how SALVATION is more than a theological concept— it’s a web of interlocking realities—physical healing, forgiveness, safety, wholeness and community. Jesus in Luke strives to bring wholeness to all these aspects of our lives and world. And his primary method for doing so is through building diverse communities of men and women who connect with God and each other in faith and service.