Gathering 4-16-15

I am a morning person. Not to the degree I was when I was younger, but the best time of my day is before 10:00 a m.. So, these evening gatherings are a bit of a challenge for me.   

We started our gathering late because the man in the host couple, who owns his own business, had a very bad and stressful day and was delayed in arriving. Fortunately, Evelyn had organized most of the meal and I helped her prepare it.

But, there was a distracted feel for the gathering from beginning to end. For that reason, the intimacy of the relationships we share was especially sweet and, really, saved the evening.

True to the tone of the evening, the approach to taking the Lord's Supper was arranged in an impromptu way but it worked well for me.

We spent much of the evening attacking big picture issues, including how to minister to a very troubled woman who has come to the Sunday gathering and needs more of Jesus than we can give her through a gathering. That discussion will need to continue. Incidentally, she, like Matt, is a former coworker of mine. She found out about our group through Matt.

We also discussed, at length, a request from someone who is a colleague in ministry with me, to visit our meetings as part of a wish to understand how we do ministry. (Incidentally, he is not the first to suggest something of this nature.)

We concluded the evening with more discussion of chapter seven of CRAZY LOVE.

This discussion was extremely challenging. All of us live very simple lives, at least for white Americans. The question of the evening had to do with the spiritual danger of materialism. Compared to others I know, none of us own much nor love stuff much. But, we do own stuff and enjoy it. Nothing was resolved last night. I suspect all of us left the gathering convicted.

As always, the purpose of our gatherings is to spur each other on to love and good works. I, for one, felt the spur.