Connection, Meaning, Purpose
From
February 27, 2026
“If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.” (Isaiah 58:10-12)
A church can quietly start believing its main job is to keep itself going, pay the bills, maintain the building, preserve the traditions, run Sunday smoothly. None of that is wrong. But if that becomes the center, we end up protecting the shell while forgetting the life inside it.
The real question is simpler, and more demanding: Are we becoming a place where the Lord’s kingdom actually takes shape in human lives?
One way to see the answer is to look at what people are starving for—not on the surface, but underneath. In a world that’s more connected than ever, people feel isolated. In a world full of information, people feel confused. In a world full of options, people feel aimless. Beneath a thousand different stories, hunger often comes down to three spiritual needs:
Connection
People don’t just need to be around other people. They need to belong. To be known. To have someone notice if they’re missing. To have relationships that carry weight—relationships where you can be honest, where you can be helped, and where you can help.
Loneliness is not only a social problem; it’s a spiritual one. When a person is cut off, it gets harder to hope, harder to repent, harder to keep going. And the enemy of real community isn’t usually outright hostility, it’s polite distance. We can be friendly without being connected.
So, one of the first church questions is: Are we building a community where love can actually land? Not just “we’re nice people,” but real connection: shared life, shared burdens, shared joy, shared service.
Meaning
Connection alone isn’t enough. A tight-knit group can still drift into confusion. People need light for the mind—truth that helps them make sense of life, of the Lord, of themselves.
We live in an age that is loud and persuasive without being wise. It’s easy to be flooded with opinions, anxieties, and half-truths and you still feel like you don’t know what’s real, what’s good, or what kind of person you’re becoming.
The church has something distinctive to offer here—but only if we offer it clearly: the Word, and the way the Lord uses it to teach, to expose what’s false, to steady what’s shaky, to call us to repentance without crushing us, and to give us a path forward.
So, another church question is: Are we actually giving people light—truth that helps them see life more clearly? Not just inspiration, not just “a good message,” but real spiritual understanding that can shape daily life.
Purpose
And then there’s purpose: the deep need to be useful. Not merely busy. Not merely entertained. Not merely comfortable. Useful.
Most people discover sooner or later that you can fill your life with pleasant things and still feel hollow. Comfort has its place. Rest has its place. But a life that never moves beyond consuming pleasant experiences starts to feel thin.
The heavenly doctrines describe a divine pattern: love, wisdom, and use. Love is the warmth that connects. Wisdom is the light that shows what’s true. Use is where love and wisdom become real in action—something done for the sake of others and for the sake of the Lord’s kingdom.
So, a church should be a place where usefulness isn’t reserved for the “usual few,” and where serving isn’t framed as guilt or pressure, but as life—because it is life.
That leads to a very practical question: Are we giving people real ways to be useful that fit their gifts, their season of life, and their capacity? If someone can’t find a meaningful place to contribute, they’ll eventually feel like a consumer. Maybe a grateful consumer—but still a consumer. And that doesn’t satisfy for long.
The Goal of Our Church
Here’s the point: these three need to hang together.
Connection without meaning becomes shallow. Meaning without purpose becomes sterile. Purpose without connection becomes lonely duty. But when love, wisdom, and use start working together, something begins to feel like the Lord’s kingdom: warmth, light, and life.
Isaiah paints the picture in a way that still startles me. When the Lord’s people live in a way that actually lifts burdens and brings help, then light rises in darkness. Then a community becomes like a watered garden—alive, nourishing, resilient. That’s not the image of a club protecting its comforts. That’s a living church.
And the encouraging part is this does not require us to be large, wealthy, trendy, or impressive.
It requires us to be intentional. Measuring success the right way. To ask, regularly and honestly: Are people finding connection here? Are they finding meaning here? Are they finding purpose here?
The hopeful truth is that we’re not being asked to generate this life out of our own energy. The Lord is the source. Our part is to turn toward Him, keep learning from His Word, and keep choosing uses that express love.
If we do that—steadily, humbly, together—the Lord will do what He always does: bring light into obscurity, bring life into dry places, and grow something real right where we are.
Rev. Glenn “Mac” Frazier, Pastor
Washington New Church, 2026.02.27