Seek for Fellowship… Like a Thick, Warming, and Meaty Stew!

Great to see everyone around the Training Table again! Thanks for being here.

The menu for today consists of some quick but meaty thoughts that will give us the sustenance we need to run the good race… for “TODAY…” (Psalm 95:7-8), the only day we’re given.

Please take some time to ponder where your faith life might resonate with any of these ideas.

A Quote from John Eldredge’s Most Recent Ransomed Heart Mailing: Isolation Promotes Shallowness
“Years ago, when Brent and I were writing The Sacred Romance, one of the thoughts we were most deeply struck by was how our souls in this post-modern world have grown so thin, so light, so insubstantive and therefore is so vulnerable to every passing wind. We called it a lack of “ontological density”. The lack of a deep groundedness of being.” (May 2011)

An Early Morning Bike Ride Remembrance: Torn Apart and Put Back Together Again
The other morning while bike riding, I must have flooded my brain with too much endorphin: Out of nowhere I had a vision of one of my favorite scenes from a movie. In The Wizard of Oz the flying monkeys had just invaded the intrepid seekers after life’s dire dilemma’s.

As the flying chimps took off with Dorothy and Toto in paw, the camera pulled back to reveal the mess they had made out of the Scarecrow. “Oh my word, I’ve never seen such a mess! My chest is over there! My arms are over there!” the Scarecrow yelled in great alarm.

After being dismantled, torn asunder, and left scattered hither and yon, the Scarecrow survived for one reason: A community of tried, trusted, and true friends put him all back together again!

The Early Church: The Communing of the Holy Spirit and the Importance of Community
Immediately after Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was imparted by Jesus Christ to initiate The Church, indwell the first Christ-following community, and begin the transformation of the world, hearts were supernaturally transformed, and The Community of the Saints were united spirit-to-spirit… to seek and save the lost.

They were saved to serve. And they sustained in doing so by being in a community.

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42-47).

Please take some time very soon to assess what sort of COMMUNITY you have committed to… or not. What sort of DEPTH of trust, transparency, and transformation do you really have, need, or most desire? How might SHALLOWNESS define your relationships? Why might depth be most desired, and yet most frightening?

Seek for Fellowship… Like a Thick, Warming, and Meaty Stew!

“… let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25).

JohnDoz