Gathering 6-26-16

It was an interesting and challenging meeting for me.


Interestingly, as we were doing our "When you come together, everyone has a hymn," part Evie noticed that all of the songs but one had words by Fanny Crosby. I don't like music from that era because I think the theology is pitifully shallow. But, not so with Fanny's lyrics. Hers are profound and personal. The singing was an unusual blessing for me.


Evie led Word time around the story of Ananias and Sapphira and the issue of truth and telling the truth and telling lies. The time was even more interactive and participatory than usual. We were all, I believe, challenged and convicted on the issue. I certainly was.


But, I have to admit that, by the end, I found myself dwelling on that horrendous statement in the introduction to HERE WE STAND, which I have highlighted in the past. And, I found myself feeling resentful about it.


Each gathering takes its own course, following only a very broad outline. We take for granted that the meal will come at the end and that the taking of the bread and cup will probably come right before it.


Unusually, we spent little time in prayer today. (Sometimes we spend most of the time in prayer.)


Evie asked me to lead bread and cup time and I did simply by focusing on the words of Jesus explaining the meaning of the bread and cup.


The meal was simple and enjoyable and fellowship was sweet, however, for a time, we talked about how the absence of Maggie changes the quality of our gathering and the woman we bring into our house from the nursing home suddenly burst into tears and blurted, "I miss Maggie!"


Before that, the whole group, apart from me, agreed that we should get another dog. I told them that, in that case, the whole group can walk the dog and clean up its poop. (No one said, "Amen.")


Undoubtedly, I'll lose this one but I won't go down without a fight.


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One other note that I've been musing over for a while: I'm concluding that we are now far off of my personal goal of replicating early Christian gatherings.


I criticize worship services because they make the attending of the gathering out to be an act of righteousness in which the consumers of worship are convinced that by attending they have served the Lord. In our own way, we have developed a sort of antimatter take on that sin.


Our gatherings have become about serving the "least of these" people we bring into the meeting. So, for us, the gathering has become not a time to consume, but to serve--a sort of sacrament of service--but not to spur each other on to love and good works.


This grieves me. But I don't know what to do about it. Hopefully I'll have opportunity to blog about this on later occasions.