Gathering: 8-23-15

So, a very usual gathering.

For this group.

Intense intimacy is the standard so much so that I suspect we take it for granted.

But, today, it set the tone for the whole time we gathered.

There was barely an order to what we did today. Without any plan or forethought, the theme was "bear on another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ."

I preached/harangued, about faith not being faith unless it bears fruit in action. I referred to Hebrews 11: "By faith, Abel did this. By faith, Noah did that. By faith, Abraham did the other thing."

This idea is not controversial. Heads were nodding.

Once again, we struggled together with the issue of what is love or mercy as opposed to encouraging sin. And, with how you choose to show mercy to one person and not another. (We are being asked by two people for the same act of kindness at the same time when it is physically possible for us only to do it once. The only choice we have is to, perhaps, refuse to do it at all. A real possibility.)

It seems to me that what makes our sense of community so intense is not that we are so familiar with each other but that we are so intensely committed to the same pursuit of righteousness.