"Why gather? If the "small group" of christians contains everything the body of Christ needs to reproduce and transform society, why get together in large groups on a weekly basis?
How do you answer that question?"
Why Gather
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I've been reflecting this last week a bit on some of the dangers of preaching...
If there's a ditch on both sides of every road (and there is) the twin dangers on either side of the preacher each and every week are preaching for the nod and preaching for your critics.
Do you know what I mean by "preaching for the nod?" It's what we do when we want to hard wire a bit of ego-stroke for ourselves into a sunday morning.
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yeah... two years plus and counting. That's about how long it takes for us all to figure out that there simply isn't any way for a church community that inhabits the sphere of reality to match up to the one that inhabits our hopes and dreams.
Two years plus and we begin to see that yes, we all hurt each other. We all disappoint one another. In fact, it's tough to spend any time at all in close proximity to someone, and not be disappointed at some point. Two years is more than enough to learn that...
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So I find myself today praying for wisdom: Wisdom to love people well and generously and wisdom to set good, healthy boundaries. Wisdom to forgive and let love cover over a multitude of sins and wisdom to hold people to account for their own good and the good of everyone involved. Just wisdom...
