Dear Partner in Preaching, I wish I had an easier way to say it, but here’s the straight-up truth: authentic community is incredibly hard to come by. In case you’re not sure, take another look at these verses from Matthew. Actually, don’t look at just these verses, or you’re likely to fall into reading the Bible as some kind of divine reference book instead of the living Word of God. Here’s what I mean. The heart of chapter eighteen is about forgiveness: about how important it is to God, about how important it is to us, and about how hard it can be to actually extend and receive it. And so in the verses just before those we read...