The Wonder of the Gathering (Part 1)
(This article is part one of a three-part series)
The marvels and wonders we are most prone to miss are ones that play hide-and-seek inside the simple, ordinary things we encounter every day. Have you considered, for instance, the music of nature resounding all around you? If you were to step outside for a moment, or just look up from wherever you’re reading this, how many different bird songs could you identify? Could you distinguish between the swoon of a mourning dove and the chirp of a song sparrow? Or what of nature’s other instruments? Do you sense the rhythm of the drumming pitter-patter of rainfall, or the gentle swell of an evening breeze?
It is an enrapturing phenomenon: creation sings. And yet, we hear the orchestra so regularly that, tragedy of tragedies, we likely miss the song entirely. And of course, the truly sad thing is that we, all of us, are apt to miss countless other wonders. We rush by a blooming cherry blossom without a second thought; we opt to lock into our phones rather than share uninterrupted connection with the person we’re eating dinner with; and if we’re Christians, we are often blind to the wonder of being a part of Jesus’s church.
I doubt that many church-goers in America would call their local church a “wonder.” We might say our churches are great and very practical, but they aren’t “wonders.” The Grand Canyon is a wonder; not the church. And because of that, gathering with a church on Sunday mornings frequently feels like a labor that might not be quite worth the trouble. Why endure the headache of waking early on a Sunday morning and loading into the car, when you can watch an incredible sermon online and catch up on chores or errands simultaneously?
I’m initially inclined to empathize with such thoughts; time is an invaluable resource, and why waste a second of it on something that often seems so unremarkable and dull as gathering with a church?
But, it is my hope to help you redirect your gaze for just long enough to see the often unseen beauty of the church, to seek and find its hidden wonder, and invite you into a deeper and richer participation in the gathering of your local church.
Historic and Miraculous
Let’s begin by simply considering this: for as long as God has had a people that he’s called his own, they have physically gathered together to worship him and hear his word. When we assemble together with our local church, we are participating in an event that has historic and miraculous significance, dating back to Israel’s exodus from Egypt. After God delivered the Israelites with awe-inspiring signs and wonders, he gave them his law, so that they could more fully understand him and set themselves apart to be in relationship with him. Naturally, God being God, he could have just planted all of his law directly into each individual Israelite’s heart like a gardener planting an already-grown tree into a new patch of soil; but he didn’t. Instead, he chose to have the law presented to his people as a physically-gathered-together congregation.
“Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, ‘These are the things the Lord has commanded you to do…’” (Exodus 35:1).
And we as God’s people have been assembling together ever since, and the wonders that await us when we gather together might rob us of our very breath when we experience them, might cause tears to well up from some deep, unspeakable place - because if the Bible is true, when we gather together as Horizons Church (or as whatever church you might belong to), we are following in the paths that God’s people have been treading for thousands of years.
When we gather together, God’s very Spirit is in our midst (1 Corinthians 3:16), moving among us and breathing the life of Jesus into dead souls, speaking encouragement to weary people, leading sinners to repentance, and providing a bed of rest for those who bear heavy burdens.
When we gather together, we are participating in the foreshadows of what will one day be the gathering of all of God’s people, from every nation and every people-group, throughout all of time (Revelation 5:9-10, 7:9-10).
When we gather together, we are accepting an invitation from God to sit at a table that stretches on forever, not as strangers, but as God’s adopted sons and daughters, feasting over and sharing in and reminding one another of his goodness and all the myriad wonders he has done for us.
And all of this, of course, is only the smallest glimpse into what is really happening when we gather together. We have much more to behold together, and it is my sincere hope that we will be able to do just that in these brief articles - just as it is my sincere hope that even now, wonder of wonders, we will find as we gather together in our churches, that the light and love of Jesus shines all the brighter in the midst of all the darkness and shadow that is passing through our world.
