the weblog of Alan Knox

Church Life #1

Posted by on Sep 9, 2009 in church life, community, discipleship, edification, fellowship, gathering | 5 comments

This series is about our life with the church as we attempt to live together as brothers and sisters. (For a more detailed description of this series, see my post “Church Life – A New Series.”)

Tuesday: (It could have been Wednesday.) My friend Danny sent me an email Tuesday morning asking about Luther’s “The German Mass and Order of Divine Service.” We had talked about it some the Sunday before, and Danny wanted to read a copy. I had just finished writing another post about Luther’s essay (see “Luther on Making Decisions for the Church“) so I sent Danny a link and printed a copy for him. I also met him for lunch. We went through Luther’s essay and noticed how Luther wanted to meet together with those who were truly Christians (his words, not mine). It was great comparing Luther’s thoughts to our own thoughts about the church.

Wednesday: Wednesday night, Margaret made dinner for our friends the Disseaus. They were in the last few days of prepping their house so that they can move to Dallas. After dinner, we did some electrical work for them in order to help with their house. We were not the only people helping them. Several friends from the church came over to the Disseaus house that night to help.

Friday: I had lunch with a great couple (J. and C.) who wanted to talk to me about the church. We talked about the church as family, and how living as brothers and sisters should affect everything that we do – yes, Sunday morning, but not just on Sunday morning.

Friday night, we had dinner with our friends Jim and Kirstie. We talked for so long that the waitress had to tell us that the restaurant was closed.

Saturday: Margaret and I took our children to a birthday party, then the two of us went to visit our friends in “The Neighborhood.” We were able to give our friend T. a Bible that she could read. She had been having trouble reading (small print) and understanding (KJV) her Bible. (She called me the next day to say that she had read her new Bible and could understand it! She was so excited!)

Saturday afternoon, we all went back to the Disseaus house to help out a little more. I was able to finish some of the electrical work that needed to be done, and we started (continued?) saying goodbye to them.

On our way home from the Disseaus, we stopped by one of our favorite places: Wake Forest Coffee Company. Our friend Danny was playing guitar and singing. We were able to talk with him and J. and C. (from my lunch Friday) before his set.

Sunday: Sunday morning, the church started gathering together at our meeting place around 10:30 a.m. We talked with one another for about 15 minutes as more people arrived before we started our meeting. We sang the song “I (We) Exalt Thee” as everyone found a place to sit. (Our chairs are arranged in two circles, generally.)

I began by reading from Ephesians 4 and praying. Jason played guitar and led us in singing “You are Holy (Prince of Peace).” Later he also chose the hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” He also asked the church to select songs that they wanted to sing. I remember that we sang “A Mighty Fortress” and “The Old Rugged Cross” among others.

Danny taught from Matthew 22:1-14 – the parable of the wedding banquet. Since the previous two weeks we studied two other parables that dealt with Jesus taking the kingdom from the Jews, Danny focused on the last few verses (11-14) which deal with the man without wedding clothes who the king kicked out. He compared this to the parable of the wheat and tares. We talked about how we will never knew who is actually part of the kingdom and who is not, but the king always knows, and he will separate us out in the end times. This led to a great discussion about how we treat two different types of people: 1) those who profess to be believers but live immoral lives, and 2) those who do not profess to be believers. Other passages we brought up, such as 1 Corinthians 5.

After our discussion about Matthew 22:1-14, several brothers and sisters shared prayer requests, and we prayed for them. We made a few announcements and dismissed. During this time, we talked with one another, and some left for home or other obligations. Others stayed and ate lunch together. Some brought their lunch while others went to local fast food restaurants to pick up something to eat.

That evening, our family returned to the Disseaus to help them one last time before they left for Texas. Some good friends of ours (the Carpenters) were coming into town to spend a couple of nights with us. So, when they arrived, we went to our house to talk for a little while before bed time. (I’ll tell more about our time with the Carpenters next week.)

5 Comments

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  1. 9-9-2009

    I think this is very helpful, especially in filling in the “Monday through Saturday” life of the church.

  2. 9-9-2009

    Alan

    Wow!!! Thanks!!! Really blessed me!!!

    Sounds like the second greatest story ever told.

    It was wonderful. No, No, it was an inspiring delight.

    NO, No, delightful. Or was it, terrific,

    tremendous, sensational, incredible, fabulous, fab, out of this world, awesome, magic, far out, killer, brilliant, peachy, dandy, neat, swell.

    Lots of “love” coming through your writing. Incredible…

    Thank you Jesus… Glory to God…

  3. 9-9-2009

    Arthur and A. Amos Love,

    Thanks. Unfortunately, I’ve only been able to give a glimpse of our life together. If you asked anyone else who is part of the church with us, their week would look different. In fact, my wife and children would have different things to share. So, even this description seems incomplete to me.

    -Alan

  4. 9-9-2009

    Alan,
    I really like what you are doing here, listing what is involved in your church life. I am a little confused though because I learned in my bible exposition class today that churches grow and people learn primarily through good preaching. It looks like to me your church proclaims the gospel well without a pulpit. Thank you for sharing this with us.
    -Kirt

  5. 9-9-2009

    Alan,

    For many years a saying, which I don’t claim credit for, kept popping into my teaching and conversations, “We must be seen to be what we say we are”.

    It’s a real joy to read of a body of God’s people actually living out those words.

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