In some churches the members refer to each other as brother and sister. This reflects a spiritual reality, for the members of one body are also the members of one family. So more important than using these terms as titles is the conduct it calls for. How well did you get along with your brothers and sisters while you were growing up? This may not be something to emulate in your church. My word says it is good and pleasant for brethren to dwell together in unity. Whether you use the terms brother and sister in church or not, you should relate to them also as friends for whom you would lay down your life. 

Have you ever felt rejection from others? Who is not in a position to know firsthand how painful this is? In addition to the rejection you feel just from human existence you may experience rejection from people because you are faithful to me. Have you rejected other people? Is there anyone who would say you have? You have no control over the actions of others, and they are free to reject you, but you are not free to reject them in return. This may seem like an unfair burden, but I have called you to be the children of your Father in heaven, and he does not reject anyone, so you should not either. 

My disciple who reclined with me at dinner later said that he once knew me by the flesh but now knew me by the spirit. There were witnesses to my life on earth and he was one of them. Have you ever wished that you had been too, or heard your fellow believers make this lament? Compare and contrast knowing by the flesh and knowing by the spirit. The apostle who experienced both would not hesitate to say that knowing by the spirit was better. Do not live with regret that you were not able to know me in the flesh, for the better part is as available to you as it was to John.

You are a spiritual being and yet you experience this as a human. Touch is a basic human need and some feel it more acutely than others, but infants cannot survive without it. I invite you into relationship with me, yet I am a spirit and those who worship me do so in spirit and in truth, for I seek those who will. Does this leave you feeling detached? Yet you use the word ‘touch’ in a larger sense, as being touched by a performance or anything emotionally engaging. My followers refer to being touched by me as more than a figure of speech. Come taste and see that I am good and receive a touch from me.