If God’s people took notice of what Paul says to the Colossians:
‘Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.’
Colossians 3:12-14
Something to meditate and pray about….
‘Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. He will only do harm to himself and to the community. Alone you stood before God when he called you; alone you had to answer that call; alone you had to struggle and pray; and alone you will die and give an account to God. You cannot escape from yourself; for God has singled you out. If you refuse to be alone you are rejecting Christ’s call to you, and you can have no part in the community of those who are called… But the reverse is also true: Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. Into the community you were called, the call was not meant for you alone; in the community of the called you bear your cross, you struggle, you pray. You are not alone, even in death, and on the Last Day you will be only one member of the great congregation of Jesus Christ. If you scorn the fellowship of the brethren, you reject the call of Jesus Christ, and thus your solitude can only be hurtful to you….
We recognize, then, that only as we are within the fellowship can we be alone, and only he that is alone can live in the fellowship. Only in the fellowship do we learn to be rightly alone and only in aloneness do we learn to live rightly in the fellowship. It is not as though the one preceded the other; both begin at the same time, namely, with the call of Jesus Christ. Each by itself has profound pitfalls and perils. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair.
Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.’
Bonhoeffer, Life Together
If you read my post from last weekend, you would know that I have been plagued by a question that a visiting pastor had recently asked me. If you have no idea, you can check out that post here. I have found like most things that bother me… when I try to work them out… it always ends up with a lot more questions and thoughts. Maybe I’m over analysing something that is pretty simple – who knows? Well anyway, I have thought about it more plus we had the chance to discuss it at our staff meeting this week. Here is what I’m thinking/questioning:
As you can tell by my many questions…. I was a curious child.
Something has bothered me all weekend and no its not YC related.
I was giving one of the pastors whose group is staying at the church this weekend the grand tour of the facilities. We eventually ended up in the sanctuary and like aways I get the questions about how many people can the sanctuary hold and what our attendance is on a Sunday. No problem there… Get this all the time.
However what happened next took me by surprise. The pastor asked me why there was a big gap between the capacity and attendance- why the sanctuary wasn’t packed on a Sunday. I couldn’t answer him… And its bothered me ever since. We have great teaching, good worship and some great programs… But I was lost for words. How would you answer that question?
Copyright 2010 Commentary on the Ordinary
Powered by Wordpress. Designed by 
