We will be playing with some material from “Holy People” by Gordon Lathrop.
There are some characteristics to the Christian ‘assembly” many of which are quite unusual among current conceptions of public meetings. This assembly should meet regularly, every Sunday at least. It should be of life-and-death importance to its participants. This assembly should be marked by participation and by an honored place for every participant. Is should have its strong and cherished center in the things in which the community participates, the things we have called the heart or the basic building blocks of the gathering… Indeed, the assembly should have an open door, a permeable outer boundary, accessibility to the surrounding world, a marked hospitality. Its practice should have lines of meaning that extend from the meeting into the re-descriptions and re-imagination of all ordinary life.
This is such a remarkable piece. Can you imagine an assembly – and for me that would be the body of Christ in worship – gathering as though it is of life-and-death importance for us to be together?!? Not only that. Imagine a community in which all have an honored place – no matter who we are, what we have been, what we have done, how we go about our lives. We would, in such an assembly, be people who trusted only in the word of God’s promise to all people in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. There is no “get better” or “first you must stop this or do that”, there is only the grace of our Lord, Jesus, Christ. And yet…that is the case…even now…and we can be a part of that kind of assembly.
Connection: This is the perfect time to let loose of all that is keeping us from taking part in the fullness of the body of Christ and to shed the trappings we tend to want to use to cover up that body.
Lord God, by your gracious love you honor us with life that is brilliantly upheld by your love and nothing else. We thank you, O Lord. Amen
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