This is not necessarily surprising since God, by the Biblical writers admission, seemed to want humankind to feel instinctive bonds to one another. Think about how Cain's behavior and Noah's generation, for example, are portrayed as offending God's sensibilities. The fact that they broke ties of interrelationship and harmed their fellow humans grieved the heart of God. God did seem in fact believe that humans are their brother's keeper. If we are made in God's image, and thus some likeness of God is present in each of us, perhaps God and his intentions are even more evident when a few or more God-imaged-people come together. Or to put it in familiar language, where two are three are gathered in my name, there will I be.

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