By Jill Riley, Communications Assistant
There was a time when I thought it was a bother, a nuisance. Traveling, meetings, classes, and seminars. All the work that it took to be gone away from my primary responsibilities, family and schedules was bothersome. So why do it? Why make the effort? This is not a question to be answered just because of our annual “Gather”, happening in California. This is a question for pastors to answer of themselves, on behalf of the church.
Every week we invite people to leave their over-scheduled lives and join us in worship. We interrupt their weeks with small groups, engage one another in ministry teams and work together in the community. We encourage parishioners to welcome the stranger and be open to the possibility that a relationship could form out of seemingly mid-air. But what once I considered it an interruption, now I consider it a privilege.
I took 6 years off from meeting together, passing the peace and engaging in beautiful covenant relationships. After 42 years of being in the church I just quit. The reasons were personal but the result was, predictably, detachment and isolation. While it was a needful time of reflection it was an anxious time of considering what was essential, who was important and, in the pyramid of daily responsibilities, what was foundational.
As I shook out the bag filled with my responsibilities, obligations, and self-care, what plopped out as the biggest, most essential part of the pile was, gathering together with saints, friends and family who loved me, despite my anger and absence. I had missed it. Not the busyness. Not the chaotic schedule. I missed the easy conversations about faith and life. I missed the encouragement of friends to hold strong in my faith, despite the winds of change whispering around me. I missed hearing other voices raised in songs that extoled the virtues of my Jesus. And I missed the still small voices of reassurance, love and acceptance that waft through crowds of people when they follow Jesus.
So many people today feel they can be the Lone spiritual Ranger. Rugged, independent and solitary. In my opinion, having walked that road, community sharpens us, makes us stronger, refines our faith and lifts our spirits. Those factors are hard to come by when walking alone.
We are familiar with the writer of Hebrews reminding us to, not “give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Heb.10:25)
Don’t do it. Don’t give up meeting together.
Meet together. Gather in classes and seminars. Worship in groups. Never take for granted the privilege it is to be together. Cherish those precious moments.
I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.
Psalm 122:1