Last evening, our Thursday night group gathered for the first time since I don't know when.
Meeting together in our small community of gatherings has come to mean something so different from what it means in the organized church that I can't describe it because I no longer understand it.
There are, however, some biblical truths that are always in play--in mind at least. I talk about some of those truths from time to time. One of them is that we gather to provoke each other to love and good works. Another is the teaching of Jesus that whenever two or three gather in His name He is present.
Last night, there was little structure and or organization of the time we spent together. One of the guys was delayed in arriving because he had a last minute customer show up at his business. If we'd had any sort of an order of worship we would have been flummoxed but, we are now so far into this way of being disciples in community that there was no problem at all.
In the end, we spent our time as we most often do. We encouraged each other in our ministries among the least of these in our acquaintance.
We spoke, very briefly, about the fact that the meeting took place on Maundy Thursday but we didn't do Feetwashing as an ordinance or sacrament or any type of religious ritual.
After washing the disciples' feet Jesus said, "As I HAVE LOVED you so you must love one another.". The HAVE LOVED refers to the Feetwashing, not the cross, which was still in the future.
In our Thursday meeting, we strive to obey the new commandment, even if we didn't wash feet last night.
We had a blesséd meeting.
No comments:
Post a Comment