Church Life #3
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.”)
Monday: I was able to have lunch with Jonathan today. Jonathan and I had lunch together several times during the summer. But, with his new work schedule and school schedule, we’ve had a hard time getting together. I think we’ll both be available on Mondays now! We talked about school and work and games and elders and Bible studies and missions and many, many other things.
Tuesday: My new friend Jeremiah had to take his van to the shop. So, he called and asked if I could pick up him and give him a ride home. I was able to spend a few minutes talking with him and one of his daughters. Once we got to his house, I think we talked longer than either of us intended… lots of good topics though.
Wednesday: After work, we went over to the Henry’s house. They had mentioned that they were painting their house that night, so we wanted to help them. They fed us some very delicious chili before we started painting! We were able to get the first coat on their living room and hallway before going home.
Thursday: A friend of mine (not a “member” of Messiah Baptist Church) was dealing with depression. He told me over the phone, so he and I got together for a few minutes to talk about his situation.
Thursday afternoon, a young man asked if he could meet with me. He had met with us one Sunday and had questions about the church. We talked for a while about elders and ministry (service) and other things. Usually, when I talk to someone like this, I end up saying “Well, we do things a little differently” several times.
Friday: Margaret and I went to New Bern, NC for the weekend to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. Our anniversary was actually back in January, but Margaret’s dad had heart surgery then and she spent a month with him to take care of him. Some friends stayed at our house and took care of Jeremy and Miranda while we were out of town.
Saturday: Our good friends Kevin and Misty moved to the New Bern area last year. So, Saturday night we got together with them for dinner. Kevin is a football coach at a local public high school, and I am so excited about what God is doing through them there!
Sunday: Since we were out of town, we did not intend to meet with the church Sunday morning. However, it turns out that downtown New Bern closes Sunday morning. So, we ate breakfast and drove back home. We go to the meeting place around 1:00, and the church was still meeting. This was a very encouraging meeting because four men who had been nominated to be elders by the church were leading a discussion. The church was asking them questions as the church prepares to recognize some or all of them as elders.
Sunday night, Jeremy and I and Jeremy’s friend Jason went to Jeremiah and Kerri’s home for a bonfire. We had a great time getting to know them better and eating s’mores!
Church Life #2
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.”)
Monday: Monday was Labor Day. Sunday evening, our friends the Carpenters came to town to spend a couple of days with us. Eric was one of our original elders before his family moved to India. We went out for pizza for lunch, then to a local coffee house. While we were at the coffee house, we ran into Jonathan. We invited him to our house that evening for hamburgers and hot dogs. Jonathan said he would invite a neighbor who had met with us for the first time Sunday morning.
Monday evening, our friends the Henrys and Jonathan and his neighbor John joined us and the Carpenters at our house for dinner. We played games and talked until late.
Wednesday: In this series, I primarily list my interactions with other believers. But, there are many daily interactions among the church which neither I nor my family are involved with. For example, on Wednesday evening, a group of our friends get together for fellowship and Bible study. For the last month or two, this group has been spending their Wednesday evenings helping our friends the Disseaus work on their house. Since the Disseaus moved earlier in the week, this group resumed their normal Wednesday night get together. This week they started by talking about elders, since we are in the process of recognizing additional elders among the church. Then they spent the remainder of the evening playing games and enjoying ones another’s company.
Thursday: I had lunch with my friend Geth on Thursday. Last Spring, Geth and I had lunch together almost every week. We got out of the habit over the summer because he decided to travel to Scotland without me. (I’m pouting, but only slightly.) We always have a great time together, talking about life and marriage and Scripture and faith and anything else that comes up. I also like to talk to Geth about his work teaching in prisons.
Thursday night, our family and the Henry family went to the Disseau’s house to clean. They left for Texas earlier in the week. We told them that we would clean their house so they wouldn’t have to do it and they could leave earlier. While we were there, two of our friends dropped by: Katie and Laurel. They had each worked hard over the last couple of months helping the Disseaus get their house ready.
Friday: Friday evening, we had one of the most fun times we’ve ever had in downtown Wake Forest, thanks to the Wake Forest Coffee Company and our friends Danny, Adam, and Jonathan (and Danny’s guitar student Sam). Danny, Adam, and Jonathan played together outside the coffee shop while many, many people milled around and talked while listening to the music. I’ve heard about several awesome conversations that went on during sets which included Joe Satriani and Stevie Ray Vaughn songs among others.
Saturday: Saturday morning, Margaret and Miranda volunteered to help at a rabies clinic put on by the Franklin County Humane Society. They were able to have lunch with other volunteers afterward, and Margaret even found out that her waitress had a medical need. We hope to go back to the restaurant to talk to her again.
While they were at the rabies clinic, Jeremy and I spent some time in “The Neighborhood.” It was a beautiful day, and we were able to talk to one of the neighbors outside. Unfortunately, one of the ladies who has been having health problems was taking her bath, so we were not able to talk to her. Also, when we went by the nursing home, Ms. Jennie was out with someone for the day. We’ve missed her two weeks in a row now.
Saturday afternoon, Jeremy, Miranda, and I went to the apartment of our friends Jason and Ryan. They were hosting a brother from South Africa. Several other brothers and sisters were there as well. After spending a couple of hours eating together and getting to know this brother, he told us about how he and his family serve some children in a neighboring village. He doesn’t run a huge ministry. They’re just a family serving God and others where they are.
Sunday: We met for our scheduled weekly meeting Sunday morning. This week, the songs that the church chose were more recent songs, but still very relevant to who we are as the children of God. “Ancient of Days” and “How Great is Our God” stands out. After we sang the latter song, several people praised God for his blessings during the previous week.
I was scheduled to teach that morning, so I taught from Matthew 22:15-22. (We are studying Matthew together.) We started by focusing on “giving back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s”, but we ended by discussing how we can “give back to God the things that are God’s.” Again, there was a great discussion about this passage. I’m always encouraged when I’m scheduled the teach, but the church teaches me as well.
As normal, we ate lunch together. Jeremy wanted pizza, so we picked up some pizza, while other brothers and sisters picked up subs, and others had brought their food with them. At one point, I was greatly challenged by a brother who was talking about struggles and trials. I tend to get angry during trials, but James encourages us to “Rejoice!” I’m not there yet, and I thank God for brothers and sisters who can exhort me (and others) toward a life of joy in spite of our circumstances. (Oh… the pizza was good too.)
Church Life #1
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.)
Church Life – A New Series
Often, I meet with people who have questions about the church. We talk about Scripture, and living as community in Christ, and leadership as service without someone “in charge,” and giving to those in need instead of “tithing to the church,” and church meetings where several speak or discuss or share.
Eventually, when talking with people about these things, someone usually says, “But, what does this look like?” or “How would this work?”
In other words, even if our understanding of the church begins to change, it is still difficult to know how it “works” without seeing it in action. We’ve seen the traditional church structures and organizations for so long that we can’t imagine something different.
But, I always have difficulty describing “how it works” in our case – that is, in the case of the church that we meet with. You see, when people asks, “How does that work?” they are usually wondering about the Sunday church meeting (what most Christians call the “worship service.”) Most Christians have a difficult time understanding how they can meet with other believers as the church without a music service, a pastor’s sermon, and a tithe to hold it all together. How can we have a “worship service” without someone “in charge”?
However, if I tried to describe our Sunday meeting, and only described our Sunday meeting, then I would be doing a disservice to Messiah Baptist Church and to my readers. Why? Because our Sunday church meeting is only a small part of who we are as the church. Sunday is only one day out of the week. The Sunday meeting is only one meeting between believers of several meetings during the week – either planned or spontaneous.
So, this series will help explain how we live life as the church… how we share our lives with one another. Certainly, I will not be able to talk about everything. But, hopefully, this will give my readers an idea of how we are trying to live together as brothers and sisters – not just in name, but in identity and reality.
No, I do not think we are perfect. Yes, we have problems. But, I’m hoping this series will be an encouragement to other followers of Jesus Christ to live in community with others.
I also encourage you to share stories (in the comments, or email them to me) about how you are living together as brothers and sisters with the church.