Lots of stuff.
It felt very 1 Corinthians-ish to me.
An interesting singing time, including a time of discussion about all the ways we were lying when we sang, "You are my all in all."
I came with the hymn, JOY TO THE WORLD because I wanted decomparmentalize the gospel, i.e., I wanted to bring a part of the story of redemption normally segregated into one time of year out into the open. The song is not about the nativity. It is about the incarnation. We are far enough along in our struggle against high churchism that singing it seemed comfortable. That was gratifying to me.
Word time was exciting as we taught each other in the story of the woman who fought through the crowd to touch the hem of Jesus' garment and was healed. What I love about our interactive Word time is that I get to grind my ax and also am edified by what the Lord was speaking to others as well.
How biblical!
The meal was wonderful as always, made more so by the contributions to it by so many.
Today was a rare time I led bread and cup time. This was the Corinthian time. The gathering had run long. The children were antsy. Our one talent people were losing focus and it felt chaotic. It was the sort of struggle to encounter the Lord Paul makes mention of in 1 Corinthians 11. But He was there to be found.
There is nothing like the gathering of the saints in your own home.
Much more to it than this but these are representative highlights.
One thing I will say about our gatherings is that the potential for mess is always present. There is never an order of worship. There is a vague pattern. Part of the pattern is the understanding that anyone has permission to veer us away from the pattern at any time.
ReplyDeleteThe result is that we almost never follow the pattern.
Years ago, it struck me that before Paul said that everything should be done decently and in order he allowed for one prophet to interrupt another as if that interruption was decent and orderly.
What is normal for us would certainly seems chaotic in the Christendom world. And, I believe that that is to the shame of the Christendom world.
But, yesterday was a bit chaotic even for us. . .so much so that I considered suggesting that we not take the bread and the cup.
In the end, I led that time and it blessed me, at least.
Upon reflection, that decision reinforced in my mind the conviction that remembering His death on the cross as the sign of the New Covenant is the most important thing we do when we gather.
Back to the interactive Word time.
ReplyDeleteAs glowing as Ed's accounts of his travels in the CGGC are, we all know that the church is declining in vitality and in its influence over the American culture. Does anyone really believe the implication of the eNews articles that, in the CGGC, every "leader" Ed encounters is dynamic and every congregation he visits is growing and transforming its community?
I believe that one reason for the decline of the American church is that, more and more as time passes, the typical church person is permitted to be a consumer of religious products and services provided by church "leaders."
In our community still called Faith, that is not the case and a microcosm of that reality is how the truth of the Word is spoken. I almost never am the initiator of what is addressed, though I have more training in the study and teaching of the Word than anyone else BY FAR. Everyone can present an interpretation. Anyone can interrupt me or anyone else with a comment, or even a point of disagreement. And, the bottom line is that our people are advancing in the holiness of their lives when they are not "in church.". They are influencing others lives more, not less.
For me, the greatest benefit in all of this is that I can speak my passion in the Spirit without feeling that I have to temper my own passion out of concern for the interest of others.
I used to take care not to beat the same drum over and over again out of fear that what interested me would dominate the group. Now that is not an issue.
On Sunday, someone else led us to a passage and directed the conversation. Yet, I was able to bring to the group passions and insights that the Spirit has been giving me. And, I had no fear of making others mere consumers of my own passions.
Groovy.