A Call to Home
In Acts chapter 2, the Church would meet in two places, first in the temple, but then also in the home. We don’t know if this was because they were kicked out of the temple or whether the home was the only place where they could “break bread” sacramentally as the Eucharist under the command of Christ Jesus, or safely profess their faith and find fellowship with one another. Being Jewish followers of Christ, they were likely not openly welcomed into the temple areas and synagogues.
Nonetheless, we do know they went from house to house breaking bread. One thing I can certainly envision is the joy and intimacy of the believers, the great blessing of hospitality the homeowners must have known, having opened their homes for such joyous occasions.
Today, we live in a culture that is extremely isolated as well as relationally challenged. People do not know their neighbors let alone their greater community only one block or more away from where they live. Those who may be believers, if they do live close by, are likely denominationally uninterested in gathering together with believers from “another Church”, and besides, isn’t “Church” something you do on Sunday in a Church. Who are these Christian fanatics anyway?
The call to gather and assemble together in the Christ is something written on the hearts and minds of Christians, but now I must ask, is gathering on Sunday in the Church building enough to satisfy the thirst for fellowship with God and his people, or even intimate enough to draw people not only into loving God, but one another. If the days are lived out working and traveling to and from work, and the nights are spent either online or in front of a flat screen, how ar we evergoing to get down to loving one another. There needs to be interaction, relationship, and the sharing and caring of one’s needs. A corporate-only model of Church can only take you so far towards filling the expansion of one’s needs, which can and will only be met in close proximity to other believers. This proximity has to be the sharing of one another’s lives. The problem is that while this may sound exciting and desireable, it doesn’t take long to find out how difficult and troublesome it is. But, if it was easy to really love one another, Jesus would not have had to command it.
If we are going to love one another in a way the world can see in the isolated and self-interested culture we live in, the only solution is to break down the isolation and confront the self-interest we are drowning in, and do something different.
As we close into summertime, where we will bake in the heat or cool off in the pool, plan our trips and take our breaks from work or school, I ask that you begin to consider what will it take to for you to begin to think differently from the world; that is, to recognize the importance of gathering with other believers in your home or theirs, on a regular basis, in order to get to the point where we face the issues involved in loving one another the way Christ would have us do so. I ask you to consider these things and prepare your self for the fall, when we will reimbark on the call to gather together into homes during the week as even we gather together at church on Sundays. You may even want to consider how you might ask a friend, a co-worker or neighbor, to join with you in meeting together as you meet with other beleivers… and the world will know we are His disciples by how much we love one another.
