My Devotion
Growing up, I used to think I had been literally birthed in church. It seemed like if we went anywhere, other than to school or a relative's house, it was always to church for some event, service, activity or program. Even going out to dinner, which was rare when I was younger, was with church families we knew. Mom was always preparing some yummy dish or dessert to take to church. My sister and I would drool at the delicious aromas greeting us when we walked in the front door. "One time," my mom recalled to me, "I was baking something and Judy asked me in a wistful way, 'is that for us or the church?'" To which my mom realized maybe she'd have to make more special stuff just for us at home.
There was Sunday School, the Sunday morning service, Sunday evening "training union", mid-week Bible study, Monday night men's study, Thursday night women's study, Vacation Bible School, Saturday "fellowship" suppers, and so on. At one time, my dad was leading a men's quartet and the evening worship, so we had to go quite early for practice. Then, mom was in the choir...so more early arrivals for practice. At my young age, it seemed to me we spent more time at church than anywhere else! But I loved it. I loved all the commotion, fussing and playing that would go on while "us kids" roamed around the church grounds, before and after, the services.
Everybody knew everybody. Dad would always be helping someone move, paint or build something. There were always sleepovers, allnighters and Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer boutiques, pageants, festivals, etc. Our church was the hub of the community and the buzz of excitement. I don't recall it being an exceptionally large church. Maybe 75-100 people regurlarly attended. Oh! And back then, everyone was "brother Jim" and "sister Lena" or "Miss Lena." They took the body of Christ literally as one family. I really liked that.
That's probably why I felt instantly comfortable and "at home" with the little community church in Guatemala. It reminded me of the churches we attended as a child. Like this struggling little community church in Guatemala, the churches I grew up in focused on loving God and loving their neighbor. They lived this out in all the small, less glorious ways. Somebody was always pitching in to plant a garden, mend a fence, paint a house, etc. When the need was known, it was tended to.
When Frank was getting ready to teach in Guatemala, he ran a joke by Pastor Jorge about "what does it mean when a preacher looks at his watch? Absolutely nothing!" Pastor Jorge told Frank the church peoples wouldn't get the joke. You see when the Guatemalans come to church, they are prepared to stay until the Pastor is done preaching - even if it takes 4 hours. Wow! We, in America, get antsy if the pastor takes more than 45 minutes.
The Bible doesn't say how long the early church services were, but it does say "they devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."
What would that look like today in our church?
Today's Devo challenges us to rate ourselves and our churches on how well we are doing in this area. However, I would argue our churches are a reflection of our devotion to God and then each other.
PlanetWisdom.com Devotionals |
| Posted: 29 Jul 2009 01:58 PM PDT "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." (Acts 2:42) Once the New Testament church had been launched, what did they do with themselves? That's the question we'll spend the rest of the week and weekend answering from the end of Acts 2. The first thing they did is the one thing Christian churches still focus on most clearly: They tuned into the apostles' teaching. The apostles were those guys who had been trained by Jesus and specifically chosen to teach the church how to walk after Him. A couple of millennia later, we're still devoting ourselves to their teaching in the pages of the New Testament. The church then, like yours today hopefully, was all about spending time together, as in "all for one and one for all." That meant eating and praying together became the norm for this growing family of brothers and sisters in Christ. Membership in the church was never meant to be an online-only kind of thing that you went off an did by yourself. God intended us to be a family, learning about Christ and following after Him together, asking Him for help because it's hard to follow Him, and "breaking bread" together (for Communion or "the Lord's Supper") to remember what He did and what He will do. Think: How does your church do in these areas? How do you do at participating in each of these things with the people in your church? Do you think you place enough value on participating in church life? Pray: Ask God to help you to devote yourself, along with other Christians, to studying God's Word and to the fellowship of believers by breaking bread and praying together. Do: Write down a number from 1 to 10 (with 10 being high), rating your opinion of how your church does at each of these areas: being devoted to the Bible's teaching, eating and/or sharing Communion together, and praying together. Then write down a number rating how you do at contributing to these areas in your church. Visit PlanetWisdom.com for more great resources!  |
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