Church on the lawn...

Church on the lawn...

Yesterday we had our first gathering in over months...

Oh, we have had Zoom, Facebook, YouTube, FaceTime, emails...all the techy stuff... and probably some small gatherings, but not actual gathering as a congregation for over two months....

Is the virus gone, probably not...but the social distancing is going on, people are being careful, smiles and hellos were being exchanged...fellowship, teaching,  corporate worship...it felt like a spring rain after a drought...and the sun and slight breeze was welcoming...the Word presented by this body’s shepherd...

I sat there with a part of my family,  close to others I knew and soaked it all in...how refreshing...thank YOU...

But, I couldn’t help but picture the same type of gatherings a couple of thousand years ago...Jesus seated or standing on a boat or hillside teaching...the gathering of people, children sitting on the grass or rocky hillside, parents intently listening, taking in the teachings, some there for healing, some to mock, some needing comfort, many to believe...

All listening to the words of wisdom by the Shepherd...fellowship, teaching...

We really haven’t changed through the ages...we delight in these gatherings....thank YOU for the opportunity to openly worship...not taking for granted the times You have gifted us...

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore.

Matthew 13:1-2 

Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. 

As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. 

Yet the people still came to him from everywhere. Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 

When they heard about all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon.

Mark 1:45,3:7-8 

Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there).

John 6:10 

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11