The togetherness of chruch
“Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another” Hebrews 10:23-25.
This admonition from the epistle to the Hebrews is at the core of what it means for us to be a church.
Remember the old children’s rhyme pantomimed with hands and fingers, “Here is the church. Here is the steeple. Open the doors. See all the people.”
When we think of church, we think of people gathered. The New Testament word for church meant that too, only they didn’t have to be gathered in a place with a steeple. The New Testament word for church was used in that era in a secular sense. I meant any kind of crowd or assembly of people. The word was ecclesia. It was what you called people gathered for a sporting event, for a theatrical performance, or for a public forum. However they were only called this when they were together, just like we say when a person is at an event with lots of people they are part of the crowd but when they go home they are not part of the crowd anymore. What’s interesting about the New Testament is that in the New Testament people are still called the church even when they are not together. That is because in the New Testament the assembly of believers (the church) is always united in Christ even when we are not physically together. As Paul said to the Corinthian believers in 1 Corinthians 5:3 and to the Colossian believers in Colossians 2:5, “though I am absent in body, I am with you I spirit.”
That means not even COVID-19 could tear apart Christ’s church; we have a unity in Jesus through the Spirit that makes us one even when we are separated by space and time. Still “meeting together” to encourage and “stir up” one another in love is a crucial element of our life together as believers that’s been woefully inadequate amid digital worship and the social distance of COVID-19 heath precautions. We’ve been able to do some of that, and praise the LORD for internet, streaming video, and Zoom that has allowed for so much digital ministry, yet we are eager for physical proximity, face-to-face encouragement, and tangible expressions of the love of Christ. I can’t speak for you but I am excited about getting back to the “together” aspects of being church, just as Paul was for his physical visits to the Corinthians and the Colossians. He told the Corinthians, “I do not want to see you now just in passing, I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits” (1 Corinthians 16:7). He told the Colossian church leader Philemon, “prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you” (Philemon 22).
Wouldn’t it be great to spend some significant time together again? Wouldn’t it be great to see each other more than just in passing outside after worship. While we are not planning any guest rooms for overnight stays at church in the near future, we are ready to bring some significant fellowship time back to our gatherings. Perhaps the greatest aspect of the new schedule we will be implementing starting July 11 is intentional fellowship time where folks from the whole congregation are together at the same time for at least 30 minutes every Sunday to visit, to drink a warm beverage, to eat goodies, to reconnect, and to encourage one another. Please come! Join us for worship at 9 a.m. or 10:45 a.m. and for fellowship FOR ALL in the Fellowship Hall in between from 10:15-10:45 a.m. If you are going to the 9 a.m. service plan to stay until 10:45 a.m. If you are going to the 10:45 a.m. service, plan to come early at 10:15 a.m.
In Genesis 33 the two twin brothers Jacob and Esau saw each other again for the first time in over twenty years and Jacob said to Esau, “I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me” (Genesis 33:10). I know that for those who come, your experience will be the same, Jesus promises it, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them” (Matthew 18:20). See you soon.
In Jesus,
Pastor Mike