Rev. Tom Hathaway - November 1, 2026
When Families Fall Apart
What do we do when family relationships fall apart? The tragic story of David and Absalom reveals two ways we can make a bad situation worse: avoiding conflict and seeking revenge. Drawing on Paul's advice in Romans 12:18, we consider what it actually means to be a peacemaker, why pursuing peace sometimes requires difficult conversations, and how to take responsibility for our own actions when reconciliation may be beyond our control.
Scripture References: 2 Samuel 13:1-39
From Series: "Collapse: Hope When Everything Falls Apart "
Things fall apart. Families, friendships, nations. We are living through a season when a lot of people quietly suspect the center won't hold, and the church too often answers that fear with cheerful reassurance no one believes. This series doesn't. Over four weeks we'll sit honestly with collapse at every scale: a family torn by a son's rebellion, a friendship that breaks with no villain, a city under siege. And then we'll turn to a people who actually came back from the worst, who stood in the rubble and rebuilt, because the truth scripture tells isn't that nothing breaks. It's that broken isn't the end of the story.
