FELLOWSHIP
It’s a shocking statistic. The average Christian in America attends a church gathering approximately one and a half times per month. Discussing how we seemed to have lost the importance of gathering, a Pastor recently remarked, ‘Jeff, we used to be at church events three times a week thirty years ago. Now we’ve come to this? What’s happening?”. Surely the answer is that we’re living in a ‘selfie’ culture that is often busy, self-preoccupied, and tempts us to see church as a consumer product rather than the vital community of faith - the church is the only organisation on earth that Jesus says He is specifically building.
As David finds himself in the desert, one of the key experiences that he craves is being in the sanctuary, worshipping with God’s people (Psalm 63:2) He looks back on those gatherings with fond longing. This was not just a religious habit of his, but a vital priority, a lifeline.
According to Philip Yancey, a recent survey polled people what single sentence they most wanted to hear said to them. One might think that the top answers would be ‘you’ve won the lottery’, or ‘you’re a famous person worldwide’, but the most sought after sentences had nothing to do with money or fame. The number one most popular choice, unsurprisingly, was, ‘I love you’, followed up with, ‘I forgive you’. And then the next in line was ‘supper’s ready’. Yancey, commenting with his usual brilliance, observed that these three sentences are the primary elements of the good news of the Christian gospel - in Christ, we discover that we’re loved, forgiven, and invited to take our place at the table of God in relationship with Him and with one another. By nature we’re formation fliers, called into community, knowing that community life together can be exacting and painful. Solo spiritual aviation is not what God intended for us.
I know. Church can be tough. But let’s affirm once more that we’re called together for the purposes of God in the earth. God give us a thirst for fellowship, and a determination to make being part of church a priority, especially when it’s difficult to do so.