Over the years, some brethren have stopped attending church services either temporarily or permanently due to hurt feelings or conflicts with another member. This contributed partly to the creation of the "cassette church" a few years ago.

Although these feelings are understandable, they are no excuse for staying away from the commanded "holy convocation". Those who stay away from the worship services because of a strained interpersonal relationship put their personal problem — the strained interpersonal relationship — before God because they disobey God’s command. Love for God is the first great commandment.

God wants us to learn to get along with all kinds of personalities and to love all the children of God. Church services are a place where we can practice the cultivation of interpersonal — "brotherly" — relationships.

God wants our own skin to be "thicker" with regard to our own feelings, but gentle and sensitive to the feelings of others. Instead of withdrawing and licking our wounds, God wants us to focus on healing the wounds of others.

Even if there were a serious conflict, God wants us to "turn the other cheek" in trying to reconcile and apply the biblical principle of peacemaking (see also Matthew 5:38-48). Prayer, fasting, humility and diligent efforts usually lead to reconciliation. Other members or elders can help as peacemakers. And if the other person does not respond in a positive way, we can console ourselves with the knowledge that we have done our best to resolve it in God’s way.

Relationship problems are nothing new in the church. In the epistles of the New Testament we read about conflicts between Christians and about instructions on how to solve them. We can use these instructions to solve similar problems in the church today.

With these thoughts I wish everyone a rewarding Sabbath!