Thursday - worshipping together

Prayer:  We are Your willing servants Lord… how can we serve You today.  We are Your willing servants Lord… how can we share Your love with others today.  We are Your willing servants Lord… grant us Your peace.  Amen.

As we come to the end of August,  our eyes and hearts are turned toward the new beginnings of September – new Church programs,  Sunday school begins again,  Bible Studies and prayer Groups begin again.  September is the month when we begin our Christian Education programs anew.  And what a better time than to begin to keep in prayer all the programs and events that help people see the Good News.

These last few days of August and then in early September will be spent focussing upon what is the Church.   We won’t be focussing upon the physical building but on what each portion of the Church building represents.  

We begin today with the beginning Church.   The Church after Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension.    The Church in the Acts of the Apostles began in people’s  homes.   People from the community would gather together to worship and celebrate the Lord’s  Supper.  In some communities,  these families were persecuted for their faith but that did not stop them from worshipping together in secret.  

Read  Acts 16:  11 – 15     and Philippians  1

After hearing the Good News of Christ Jesus from Paul,  Lydia founded the house church in Philippi.  Beginning a house church was not easy.  There was much opposition from the community who did not want a new religion in their midst.  There was also a large learning time for the house church people on what it meant to be a Christian.    Yet,  the Good News of Jesus Christ blossomed and thrived through persecutions and struggles.    

Today we look back and need to remember that the focus of worshipping the Good News of Jesus Christ in the early Church  wasn’t in the Church building but in each person who worshipped together. 

Prayer:  Shine in our hearts, O Merciful God, the pure light of Your Divine Knowledge and open the eyes of our mind that we may understand the teachings of Your Gospel.  For You are the source of Light for our souls and bodies O Christ our God.  Unto You we give glory,  now and forever.  Amen.