Say What You See: Intimate Fellowship

It’s sad that people can misunderstand the term intimate and only think it involves the sensual and sexual.

It’s sad because it can help reinforce a barrier we put up to prevent people getting too close to us. That to a degree is fine if we subscribe to a ‘trust no one’ mentality. However when we walk with Jesus we discover that this is not what He expects and accepts from us.

The level of knowing He shared with His Father, was something He wanted to be the hallmark of how God’s Family engages with each other. So it saddens me greatly to hear of highly regarded love for Jesus, but nothing near that for brothers and sisters in Christ. Where we should be a beacon of conflict resolution for the world, our actions and behaviour can defeat that swiftly.

I sat in a church building and I was taken aback by just how much the layout determined the degree to which any meaningful fellowship could take place. As in how much it couldn’t happen. That was borne out by the actual session where it was front focussed and very little conducive to interaction with ease with those around.

It was also obvious that if the fellowship wasn’t going to take place in the meetings, it wasn’t going to happen elsewhere in any meaningful way. This made me incredibly sad, because true, deep meaningful fellowship is the spring from which our declaration and demonstration of the gospel and Kingdom is realised. The lack of this reinforced the individualistic outlook that saw church attendance primarily for observing and spectating.

I love the work of Kathleen over at Church in a Circle. I love how it challenges practice to be more in line with what Jesus expected from His followers.

I see church and community life being about expressions of deep and true fellowship that allows for healing and motivates to ongoing growth and service among our own and beyond. That intimate fellowship enables us to truly say we love each other, because we’re evidently committed to knowing each other and using that to spur growth in the things of God.

This is not a pipe dream, or a utopian vision unlikely to meet with reality. I have had fleeting glimpses of this type of fellowship. It has been profound and life-changing in its depth and expression of care for each other. It makes the love Jesus practiced and pointed His disciples to follow, real to me. As with anything of value it requires diligence and perseverance as well as vigilance to bring it, sustain it and develop it.

It takes these and more, but thank God we have Him on our side, endorsing our efforts as they reflect Him.

For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden