From Me to We
Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Bob Henry
August 23, 2026
Good morning, Friends, and welcome to Light Reflections. This morning the text I have chosen to support my message is from Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 from the New Revised Standard Version.
Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other, but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.
This morning I would like us to spend some time reflecting on the invisible, yet unbreakable threads that bind us to one another (as we heard read in our scripture for this morning). And please note, like I said last week, this connection is not by technology, but rather by the spirit of our shared existence.
Friends, if we look around our world today, we notice something deeply paradoxical. By every modern metric, we are the most connected generation to ever walk the face of this earth.
· A message can cross an ocean in a fraction of a second.
· We can see the faces of people thousands of miles away with the tap of a screen.
· We are inundated with data, flooded with updates, and constantly plugged into a global network.
YET, something I began to notice this summer on my sabbatical, is that if you look closely into the eyes of people around you, or perhaps look closely into the mirror during a quiet moment, you will find a quiet, persistent truth:
We are profoundly lonely.
Even though we are wired together, we are drifting further and further apart.
The noise of our world has grown deafening, but the depth of our communication has grown very thin.
Another query I began to ask myself over sabbatical and I want to present to you this morning is,
What is it that we truly need right now? [Just pause and ponder that for a moment.]
I don’t think it is faster networks.
It’s not more data.
I think what the world needs right now—at its very core—is a revival of human empathy, a restoration of genuine connection, and a commitment to constructive cooperation.
I know, a while back, I did an entire sermon series on empathy. But it is worth a review in this context.
True empathy is more than simple pity; it is the courageous act of stepping outside of our own assumptions and sitting in the space of another person’s reality.
It is looking at someone with whom you disagree, someone whose life experiences are entirely foreign to your own, and saying,
"I see you. Your pain matters to me. Your story is valid."
In a world that encourages us to view one another as metrics, or political opponents, or mere faces on a screen, empathy is a revolutionary and often radical act.
It first demands that we slow down, and then it requires us to listen not to reply, but to understand.
When we cultivate empathy, we begin to heal the fractures in our social, familial, and personal fabric. We realize that beneath the layers of inflation, economic anxiety, and cultural differences, we all share the same baseline desires:
· to be safe,
· to be valued,
· and to be understood.
But empathy cannot live in a vacuum; it requires proximity. It requires genuine connection.
We live in a culture of distraction, where our attention is bought and sold by algorithms designed to keep us looking down at our screens.
But real relationships require us to look up. It requires us to step away from the digital static and invest in the sacred space of community.
· True connection is found in the unhurried conversation over a cup of coffee or tea.
While in Hannibal, Missouri we had coffee each morning at the Java Jive as did many of the locals. One thing we noticed almost immediately was the absence of phones and the volume of the conversation. Even after coming back after a day of walking the city, people were still gathered until almost 10pm sharing their lives at this café.
· It is found in sitting in silence with someone who is grieving. And grieving doesn’t just mean death, it could be the loss of a job, the loss of health, the loss of understanding, the loss of control…
· It is found in holding the hand of your partner or close friend as you watch the sunset together or while taking a walk. Connection does not have to happen just through words, for some it must be through touch.
While in Boston, I saw a group of people at the marketplace from another country who were walking together, each person in the group held the hand or arm of someone else in their group. I loved watching their interaction, the smiles on their faces, and how they interacted and held each other – it was so intimate, caring, and clearly different from the others in the crowd around us.
· Most importantly, it is found in the messy, beautiful, face-to-face interactions that cannot be captured in a text message or a social media comment.
When we prioritize genuine connection, we build a shelter against the storms of isolation. We remind each other that we do not have to carry the weights of this life alone.
We move from an ideology of "me" to a theology of "we."
Finally, when empathy leads to connection, connection must inevitably flower into cooperation.
The challenges facing our global community today are too massive for any single individual, group, or nation to solve in isolation. Whether we are discussing environmental stewardship, economic fairness, or the pursuit of peace, we must realize these are SHARED human burdens.
Folks, you and I cannot afford the luxury of division.
Constructive global cooperation is not a naive utopian dream; it is a practical necessity for our survival and flourishing. It means finding common ground even when our differences are vast. It means realizing that when one part of the human family suffers, the whole body suffers. When we cooperate, we acknowledge that our fates are intertwined. We build bridges instead of walls, and we find that our diversity is not a barrier to unity, but the very strength that makes our collective fabric resilient.
On our cruise, we were seated with another couple for our evening dinners. They were about our same age and ironically, also had three grown children. As we began to engage, we found them both to be from military backgrounds, Roman Catholic in faith, and living in the deep South. In many ways, VERY opposite of Sue and me. The more we engaged them, the more we found so many similarities in our lives. We both shared our faith stories, our struggles with family, and we somehow avoided talking about politics. By the third day, we looked forward to getting to dinner to catch up with them. Soon we were taking excursions, having a drink before dinner, and going to the shows together. We laughed so much we shed tears together, we told story after story, and before we left, we gave hugs and shared our contact information allowing us to stay connected. We still text and share our lives, today.
Think about it, when was the last time you made a new friend? And what are you letting get in the way for new friendships to be built?
Well, to wrap up my thoughts this morning, some of you may be asking, where do I begin?
Well, we begin right where we are.
The world changes not through massive, sweeping shifts alone, but through the accumulation of small, intentional choices.
· Tomorrow (or even this afternoon), when you walk out into this crazy world, choose empathy over judgment.
· Choose to look someone in the eye and truly listen.
· Choose to invest in your local community, to connect deeply with those around you, and to cooperate with others to make your corner of the world a little brighter, a little kinder, and a little more just.
Let us step away from the noise, let us look up, and let us weave those strands of connection so tightly together that they can never be broken.
Amen.
Now as we “center down” into our time of waiting worship, let us ponder the following queries:
1. When is the last time, I made a new friend?
2. Who is someone I disagree with that I have not taken the time to see and hear their story?
3. Who do I need to have a cup of coffee or tea with this week?