The Gift of Being Together

This Sunday, October 25, we will focus on being together as a congregation. We'll be sharing in one of our Together @ 10 services, where the 9:30 and 11:00 congregations get a chance to worship, sing, pray, laugh and ponder together. Our worship, on this Choir Dedication and Commitment Sunday, will be a special time of celebration, as we receive music from all of our choirs, and dedicate our gifts to God for the year ahead through our financial pledges and service interest sheets.

Before and after the service, we'll be together sharing in a pancake breakfast served by the youth of the church, and table fellowship that allows us to enjoy conversations with new and old friends in the congregation (be sure to take a few moments on Sunday to talk with at least one person you don't already know well).

It's a simple concept, this being together just for the sake of - being together, but it's a gift we probably don't savor enough. We are subtly pushed in our culture to be predominantly task-oriented, to value our time by what we get done, instead of also giving equal value to the sheer gift of discovering more about another person by being in his or her presence.

But in the church, we know that "being together" holds a world of possibilities. Jesus taught us that where two or three are gathered in his name, even without an agenda, he would be there in the midst of them. In his human life, Jesus often took time to get to know a person better, even when he had an urgent task awaiting him. And we are told in Acts 2 that the church began to be a what it was meant to be - a lively, outward-focused, prayer-rich, learning, worshipping,  giving,  healing and rejoicing community --  after spending much time in simple, prayerful fellowship - Being Together.