A bow in Japan, foreheads pressed together in New Zealand, a handshake or a fist bump here. Every culture has a way of saying hello. The harder question is whether anyone in the room actually feels seen.

In this seventh message, we turn to a command that closes five different letters written to five very different churches: “Greet one another with a holy kiss,” in Romans 16:16 and its parallels. In a world divided by masters and slaves, insiders and outsiders, and rival factions, that greeting made something radical visible: nobody here outranks anybody else.

Be the church waiting at the top of the airport escalator, scanning every face for someone you love. Drop the bags and the headphones and the pretending. Get past your personality, because the command was given to everyone. Come early. Learn the names of the people you have sung beside for years. Notice the person standing alone. And welcome one another the way Christ welcomed you.