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“Where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” Matthew 18:20 NLT

“Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” Colossians 3.12-13 NLT

“Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.” Exodus 3:5 NLT

Day 18 of 40: Our earliest human family is our first experience of “life together.”

For some of us, our birth families have helped us reach the “stars;” for others, our first experience with family has left us with deep “scars.”

No family is perfect, but there are huge differences in our early family experiences. And these differences shape our inclinations for/against trying out “life together” in the church.

Robert Schuller said: “God wants to turn our scars into stars.” That’s true… and small fellowship groups with Jesus at the center are one of the primary vehicles that God uses.

In the Bible, the word fellowship refers to sharing common life with others… “Communion” (The Lord’s Supper) is its deepest expression. Continue reading “PDL 18 – Experiencing Life Together” →

“The household of God… is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of the truth.”
1 Timothy 3:15 NLT

“So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.” Ephesians 2:19 NLT

Day 17 of 40: “Believing and belonging” make perfect sense to me, but like most aspects of life in Christ… the practice is much more difficult than the theory.

I think it’s the “imperfection” of it all that makes it so hard. And my own imperfections only add to the difficulty.
Which reminds me of Groucho Marx:

“I wouldn’t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member.”

(BTW – I almost ran over Groucho in a cross-walk in Beverly Hills many years ago… that would have been a “game changer”… for both of us.)

Believing: The Church is the repository and arbitrator of the Truth and Mysteries of God. The Bible, as we know it, has come to us through the Church. The essentials of Christian doctrine have been hammered out through the Councils of the Church.

That’s why Evangelicals and Mormons, for example, are sometimes on different wavelengths. Evangelicals have a 2000 year history traced back through the Apostles of working through difficult theological issues starting with the Apostles Creed. Joseph Smith decided he knew better, added a new “revelation,” and Mormons have been trying to harmonize it all ever since (160+ years.) Personally, I’m sticking with the Church of “Former-Day” Saints. Continue reading “PDL 17 – A Place to Belong” →