Gathering

Don't give up on gathering, 

face-to-face,

to comfort each other,

to pray with & for each other,

to sharpen each other, &

to motivate each other to love & do good.

This is even more important 

as you see The Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:24-25

(Vicki's paraphrase based on the original Greek)

(feel free to look up this verse in the translation of your choice)

And is The Day not approaching, people?

For me, this is the standard for what church is. It's not a specific day or time or style of service. It's not programs or check lists or pot lucks.  (Although...who doesn't love a good pot luck?)  It's not a building or how it's decorated or how many people happen to be in the room.  It's certainly not about a denomination.

The homeschool community we are a part of (Classical Conversations) has a principle that if you can't teach something using a stick in the dirt, you're making it too complicated.  That's not to say that using other teaching tools isn't effective, it's just not necessary.

In that same spirit, the criteria for what constitutes a church meeting is quite simple.  (We tend to make things too complicated, don't we?)  So whether the church is meeting on Sunday morning in a sanctuary or on Tuesday night around your dinner table, this is the standard.

When things start feeling complicated, I think about developing countries.  One thing my husband and I have talked about through the years when it comes to the essentials of faith and the basics of how church is done is...if it doesn't work in a developing country, it doesn't work.  The Bible wasn't written only for North American Christians.  Shocking, right?   Many people we serve in developing countries don't really care what time it is or even what day it is.  They don't do check lists or pot lucks.  What buildings? What decorations? You might have a few people under a tree or thousands in a field.  But they could teach us all a thing or two about comforting each other, prayer, sharpening, loving & doing good every chance you get.

If I don't walk away from a church gathering feeling comforted, prayed over, sharpened & motivated to love better & do good things, I feel like my time has been wasted.  If I walk away without comforting, praying with or for somebody else or inspiring somebody else to love better & do good things, I feel like I've wasted their time & my spiritual gifts.

We all get dissatisfied & burned out with attending church.  Not admitting to this is like a married couple saying, "We never fight."  Denying that both statements are true is dishonest & unhealthy. You know why we get dissatisfied & fight?  Because churches and marriages are made up of imperfect, individual human beings. The only remedy for that is operating in the Spirit, which is an almost lost art of intentional, supernatural discipline & surrender.  This will always be true on earth.

When I get in this spot with church, this verse always comes to me.  This is what it all boils down to. If I'm struggling with wanting to gather with the church, it's probably because I'm not focusing on these basics (or they aren't) and we're too wrapped up in periphery.  

Today, I challenge you to find a group of people (at least 1 or 2 others) to gather with as often as you can, eyeball-to-eyeball, who comforts you, sharpens you spiritually, prays for you & motivates you to love & do good. And when you find them, comfort them, sharpen them, pray for them & motivate them to love & to do good.  That's it.  Because life is coming at us fast...and so is The Day.

Have a restful Sunday, everybody.  And don't give up...