“May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome one another...as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”

Any law enforcement officer will tell you that a policeman would rather try to stop a bank robbery than to intervene in a domestic argument. Bank robbers want only to take the money and run. But an estranged husband or wife, two feuding brothers fighting it out in the kitchen or the bedroom -- someone is likely to be hurt. More people are murdered by relatives than by strangers. Family feuds are the worst fights.

Luke tells (Luke 15) of a family feud in which an older brother and a younger brother contend…