Monday, July 16, 2012

Decompressing

I said a few weeks ago that we were taking the plunge and looking to start up a home fellowship. Thanks to work and life that hasn’t really taken off. I have to say though that being away from the pressure to “go to church” has actually been pretty nice. We definitely need to get some fellowship going but I feel zero urgency to have any sort of formalized meeting time. I don’t think we are “forsaking the assembly” because we have not “gone to church”. We minister on Tuesdays with other Christians at the pregnancy resource center, praying together and encouraging one another while serving others. My wife has spent a great deal of time over the last few weeks (months!) helping a Christian neighbor prepare to move because her husband has Parkinson’s and is completely disabled. We have had company over to our house and shared meals with friends. Not to mention the constant busyness of a home with ten people plus a teen-aged house guest who is spending an indeterminate amount of the summer “down on the farm”!


I think this short time of decompressing from “church” has been good although it definitely is temporary and needs to be ending soon. I really needed to get some distance between me and the more traditional church setting. Having gone through a series of disappointments including the latest and most stinging, we needed time away.

Do I desire more and more fellowship with the Body of Christ? Oh absolutely yes! Do I miss “going to church”? Not at all! Our vision of fellowship is far too limited and tradition bound if we can only think of Sunday morning meetings when we read Hebrews 10:25.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Almost five years later...and not a day goes by.

Brian said...

Hi, Arthur. I'm curious- Do you see the Sabbath command as being completely abrogated for Christians today?

Aussie John said...

Arthur,

Seems to me that you are BEING what God intended for the Body of Christ, a temple of living stones, worshipping Him with their lives.

Arthur Sido said...

Hi Brian

If by the Sabbath command you mean one day set apart, in our case Sunday replacing the Jewish Sabbath, then yes. Jesus Christ is our Sabbath rest, not Sunday. Sunday is never linked as the replacement for sundown Friday to sundown Saturday in the New Testament.

Unknown said...

Sounds like forsaking the assembly to me. Just saying.

Marshall said...

Joseph, Hebrews 10:24-25 is a reminder for all of us to be gathering together "one another" from afar the people sho we do not usually spend time with. 10:25 has the word sunagoge/assembly [those scattered], not ekklesia/church [the called out, coming together].
In truth, it is the traditional churches that are neglecting ekklesia/church by treating everyone (except clergy) as though estranged.

Seth said...

@ Joseph,
I used to think that too, but then realized that if the assembly won't come meet with me in my home, then it can equally be said that the assembly is forsaking me...

Unknown said...

Sounds to me like every other person who has a problem with the church- they aren't what I want them to be - won't run it according to my understanding of government, won't meet in my house, won't look at the greek word. you all scream where God whispers imo - rather than lead by humble example and bring about deliberate gospel change- you take your ball and go home. "oh yah? I quit!" You aren't looking for a church to go to - you are looking for reasons to not have to go.

Arthur Sido said...

Joseph, do we "have to go"? Is that what it is all about, acquiescing to some sort of religious tradition? Far from looking for an excuse to "not go", which is really easy to do (dress us, show up, shut up, pay up), we are looking for an expression of the church that functions are we see it in the Bible and fulfills the purpose we see in the Bible. I am completely uninterested in showing up so I can punch a religious time clock.