Our understanding of church derives heavily from what Jesus said about the church in Matthew 16 and 18 and Revelation 2 and 3, and when it comes from Acts or the Epistles, it is with Jesus, not the Middle Ages, as context.
More and more, for both Evie and me I think, Jesus' teaching, from Matthew 18, that where two or three gather together in His Name, He is there with them defines our life in community. A pastor is not necessary nor is a church building nor are elders or deacons nor is a planned, uh, service. All that is necessary is more than one disciple and a focus on Jesus...
...So, I'm still banged up and Evie is overworked. We were not up to having a gathering in our house. So, we let the rest of the group know that we were going to take the folks from the home out to lunch and that any of the rest of them were welcome to join us.
The two men from the home can be embarrassing to be around in public. They are intellectually challenged and have poor social skills. No one else chose to join us, which was fine.
We did our best to ensure that everyone ordered an enjoyable, nutritious meal and did what we could to see that the conversation was seasoned with grace and we showed mercy as best we could.
The food we ordered was okay at best this time and the waitress seemed inexperienced and appeared to be overwhelmed.
We made a commitment to meet in our home next week.
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