A friend recently asked about one of our groups, "is it a gathering, a small group, a service?" First of all, let me put you at ease that it’s not an environment that has a lot of religious expectation or pressure for any of us. When I say ‘religious’ I’m referring to manmade traditions that have grown up over the ages that can tend to distort the pure & simple truths of God. In fact, it is clear in scripture that Jesus was not a ‘religious’ person, but was interested in restoring ‘relationship’ between God and people in the thick of messy, everyday life. There were extremely religious people in His day, and they were the recipients of His criticism...indeed, they were the ones who had Him killed.
So when I say that Jesus was not religious, I'm obviously not defining 'religion' as belief in God or adherence to Godly morals or anything like that. But isn't it true that there are zillions of traditional practices and doctrines in various forms of the Christian faith that have little or no basis in scripture? Isn't scripture supposed to be our guide? I'm kind of a 'call it like I see it' kind of person, and although i have lots of tolerance for people who believe differently than i do, i don't have much patience for Christians who are so caught up in the religious practices of Christianity that they totally miss the relational intention of Christ! I try not to be condescending & judgemental, but it really bothers me when my brothers & sisters in Christ fall into the same traps as the Pharisees & Saducees of Jesus' day. There is so much messed up theology and tradition these days, that we embrace the simplicity of the very first gatherings of the Church, as recorded in the New Testament.
"All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching [the New Testament], and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer." (Acts 2:42, NLT)
We call our times together “Community Groups”….because experiencing community with others who are on a similar journey is a central focus and value for us. We see life with God as a JOURNEY. We’re not all at the same place, but we’re all on journey in the same confusing world using the same compass. We talk and get to know each other a lot, eat, laugh, eat, discuss issues we are dealing with and how the Bible speaks to our situations, eat, pray, sometimes sing…..and did I mention we eat? It’s very informal and personal, more like a potluck dinner party than a church service. A central value for us is connecting with each other in ways that encourage us all.
That’s it in a nutshell.
Hi Taft! Like the Blogs here. Also like your "church"; where can we sign up? :)
Debra
Posted by: Debra Holliday | May 31, 2009 at 04:38 PM