When We Gather
There was a storm churning out in the Atlantic this past weekend, passing a few hundred miles off the Florida coast. That did not prevent me and a vast throng from the Bulldog Nation from making our way down to Jacksonville for the annual gridiron meeting of Georgia and Florida. The Bulldogs prevailed this year and I along with the rest of the red and black faithful returned home happy.
Sunday morning before departing Jacksonville and making the trek north I made my way to the Lakewood United Methodist Church in Jacksonville to attend their early worship service. I try to attend worship even when I am observing a Sunday of vacation because God doesn’t take a vacation from me. Further, in as much as I expect my congregation to be present in worship I feel I should do the same.
Also, I have found that it is good to visit another church and see what programs they have and ministries they undertake. I like to see if there is anything they are doing that might be worthwhile for our congregation. I also enjoy listening to other pastors preach not with a critical ear but with a desire to see if I can learn something from their presentation of God’s word that might make me a better preacher.
I did this on Sunday. The folks at Lakewood were gracious to the stranger dressed in red and black, quick with a handshake and a smile along with a word of welcome. I looked at their church bulletin and Lakewood seemed to me to be a very active congregation with great programs and ministries. If I were a lay person living in Jacksonville I would strongly consider being a member of Lakewood.
As the service continued I sang the songs, listened to the children’s sermon, and heard the prayer. Then a large youth choir sang the anthem for the morning. The song was a contemporary Christian selection originally recorded by the group Casting Crowns entitled “Who Am I?” The song asks the question, “Who am I that the Lord of all the earth would care to know my name, would care to feel my hurt?”
The church has a video screen at the front of the sanctuary. As the youth sang, scenes were shown on the screen of various folks dealing with life issues. Each were in desperate circumstances but in their desperation each were made aware of the power of God, a God who cares to know our names and feel our hurt.
As I watched the video and heard the young people sing I felt what John Wesley described as having “A heart strangely warmed.”
I thought about my life, about the lives of my family, about the lives of my friends, about the lives of those in the churches I have served through the years. “Who am I that the Lord of all the earth would care to know MY name?” rolled through my mind.
A tear, a small tear, formed in the right side of my right eye as the song concluded and I thought of the amazing implications of God’s love for me and those in my life. The church’s associate pastor then delivered a challenging and thought provoking sermon. It was certainly a holy moment.
To be perfectly honest, I entered the sanctuary of that church in Jacksonville last Sunday more as a spectator or an observer than as a worshiper but something changed once I was there. The Holy Spirit moved and one can never discount how the Holy Spirit might move. I certainly felt the presence and power of the Holy Spirit last Sunday. I did nothing but put myself in the place for it to happen.
When we gather as God’s people the Spirit does move among us. That is why the author of the New Testament book Hebrews calls us to not neglect to “meet together.”
That is why Jesus said, “When two or more are gathered in my name there will I be also.” We never know when and how God might speak to us when we gather in his house.
There are those who say that gathering in God’s house is unimportant. Many can find all sorts of excuses to not attend. Yet, my experience has taught me one thing and that is that it is important to be in God’s house.
There is something very special about being in the house of the Lord. It is an experience that I hope you will have this Sunday.