我們兄弟姐妹三人各自從美國不同的州搭乘飛機，去參加叔叔的葬禮，並順道探望高齡90歲的祖母。她因中風而癱瘓，也沒辦法說話，只有右手能夠活動。當我們站在她的床邊時，她伸出右手，逐次拉著我們的手放在她心臟的位置，將一隻手搭在另一隻手上，然後拍了拍我們疊在一起的手。祖母藉著這個無聲的舉動，指出了我們三個人不和睦及疏遠的手足關係，並要我們知道：「家和萬事興！」

在上帝的家，也就是教會中，有時我們這些家庭成員也會漸行漸遠。我們可能會因為心有怨恨而彼此疏遠。希伯來書的作者提到了以掃和弟弟的恩怨（希伯來書12章16節），後來怨恨也使以掃與弟弟分開。作者勸勉眾信徒，我們既是上帝家中的弟兄姐妹，就應當彼此扶持，正如他說：「你們要竭力尋求與眾人和睦」（14節，新譯本）。這裡的竭力尋求是指謹慎且果斷地投入心力，與上帝家中的弟兄姐妹建立和睦的關係。這樣的「竭力尋求」適用於每個人。是的，每一個人。

家和萬事興！無論是在原生家庭，還是在上帝的家中，都是如此。我們是否願意竭力尋求和睦，努力彼此扶持呢？

My sister, brother, and I flew from our separate states to our uncle’s funeral and stopped to see our ninety-year-old grandmother. She’d been paralyzed by a stroke, had lost the ability to speak, and had only the use of her right hand. As we stood around her bed, she reached out that hand and took each of our hands, placing one atop another over her heart and patted them in place. With this wordless gesture, my grandmother spoke into what had been our somewhat broken and distant sibling relationship. “Family matters.”

In God’s family, the church, we can grow apart as well. We might allow bitterness to separate us from each other. The writer of Hebrews references the bitterness that separated Esau from his brother (Hebrews 12:16) and challenges us as brothers and sisters to hold on to each other in God’s family. “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone” (v. 14). Here the words every effort convey a deliberate and decisive investment in peacemaking with our brothers and sisters in God’s family. Every such effort is then applied to everyone. Every. One.

Family matters. Both our earthly families and God’s family of believers. Might we all invest the efforts needed to hold on to each other?