Gathering 12-21-14

I've been sick for more than a week and I had a bad night last night and wasn't sure I would even take in today's gathering. In the end, I did go.

I'm glad I did.

In a twist from the normal pattern, I, the guy who despises the whole idea of celebrating Advent, asked people to mention favorite parts of Scripture dealing with God becoming flesh. The comments were remarkable and exciting. And, our time in the Word ran longer than your sermon. AND, everyone was sitting on the edge of his/her seat up to the moment we had to cut off our time in the Word to respect obligations that some in the group had to keep.

Each passage mentioned had to do with the disciple's lifestyle of obedience to Jesus based on the Father and Son's actions in the incarnation.

So often when we gather, my mind reflects on what we used to do when we were, for example, celebrating Advent and what you are doing if you are typical of Advent celebraters. And I am both sad and angry.

What we do has become focused on what the New Testament says about gatherings. Today, as is normal, we didn't worship God. We provoked each other on to love and good works. We now understand, as the NIV says, "true and proper worship" is celebrating the Lord by offering our own bodies as living sacrifices out of love for Him and His incarnation and atonement.

Another great day for us in His Kingdom.