I was bound to write this blog entry! (Let me get that out of my system from now.)
A good friend of mine shared something in a message about a trend seen in the experience of members of church in a locality. They seemed to shift away from seeing their homes as centres for hospitality and more for closed confines in which they can remain housebound. There are sufficient mod-cons to keep them occupied without needing to invite people in and have to do things like engage them in conversation, develop relationships, attend to needs, serve with love and kindness – and all those other time-consuming, energy-sapping pastimes. Those mod-cons include our ever present Christian channels on TV, the Christian material on the Internet, music galore and the like, which keeps them content in their own world.
The friend spoke of how people were becoming more housebound, that fellowship bound. There was a lot of truth in that from my experience, as well.
I keep coming back to Jesus’ prayer in John 17 and his desire for unity and His proclamation that the world will know that God sent Him through that growth into perfect unity we have together. That does not take place mystically by osmosis. There is an intentional effort on the part of all the members to know each other, love each other and become one. That does not happen if we are housebound rather than fellowship bound.
The push for individuality and anxiety over protection that follows does a great job in putting barriers between ourselves and others. As long as those barriers remain there is no way we can truly fulfil the Second Great Commandment to love our neighbours as ourselves. As long as we’re housebound rather than fellowship bound we will not experience what God desired for us both in regard to our reflection of Him, and in terms of relating to other members of the Body of Christ.
It is so easy to do superficial in conversations and mistake casual chat as fellowship without actually engaging with each other as deep fellows. It does take time – intentional investment of time and conversation with vulnerability and transparency, along with laughter and of course absolutely no coffee – for this fellowship to be fruitful. Life does offer up those opportunities if we make the most of them, if we do what it takes to pursue and develop them. They come in car or train journeys, they come when we share meals together, they come when we share pursuits, they come in all shapes and sizes – if we see the value in having them.
That comes back to what we are bound by.
Still, I was bound to say that. (Have I said that before …)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 