LETTER 7 – DISCIPLES OF JESUS MEET ON SUNDAY
MORNINGS
I want you to be with me every Sunday morning.
When I was a pastor in Joliet, Illinois, there was a man
who was always with us on Sunday mornings. He was handicapped. He lived alone.
He walked slowly to the church building every Sunday morning. I mean “every.”
No matter what the weather conditions.
My thought was, “This man is committed!”
Linda and I are committed.
When I was growing up, my family was there on every Sunday
morning. We never missed. Sunday is the Christian’s Sabbath. One of the Ten Commandments says,
Remember the Sabbath day, and be there.
Keep it holy.
My parents did. The DNA of Sabbath-keeping became my DNA.
Linda’s parents did the same with their children. Linda’s
dad and mom were on fire for Jesus! Missing the weekly gathering of the people,
the church, was unthinkable for them. It formed the center of their born-again
life. As it says in Hebrews,
Do not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing,
but encouraging one another—
and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Real disciples are in community. In “fellowship.” So much
of what Jesus has taught me about being like Him has been learned in community.
The letters of Paul are not addressed to individual
Christians. They are addressed to The Community. Nearly every time the word “you”
is used in Paul’s letters, it is plural.
The precious manifestations of the Holy Spirit (the “gifts”)
only make sense within The Community.
Jesus taught me that the Bible is a tribal document. He is building His Tribe
out of all kinds of people.
I need The Community.
The Community needs me.
We ARE the Church.
Love,
PJ
DECLARATIONS
I love meeting with my brothers and sisters on Sunday mornings.
There is something about being together that empowers me.
God often speaks to me as I worship alongside my people.
I am an important part of The Community Jesus is forming.
I am being built into the Body of Christ.
I am a Sabbath-keeper.
I am a Sabbath-keeper.
I need the Community.
The Community needs me.
Coming on Sunday mornings is in my DNA.
