Dark Florals and Intentional Fellowship
When was the last time you went out to a coffee shop or out to dinner with friends? Did you converse or did you spend most of it locked into your phone? When was the last time you and your friends got together as believers instead of believers getting together? More and more in our society, fellowship, true intentional fellowship, is becoming a lost art. Even in the Christian community more often than not we are just believers coming together because there were cookies and hot chocolate after the children's Christmas program, or because there was a potluck after church. Even then, we have a tendency to whine about it, because it doesn't fulfill our wants. Yet, we steer away from the idea of intentional fellowship, coming together as believers, with a mindful heart that Jesus is ever present.
I like to think of fellowship as the large 12 cup coffee maker. That coffee pot was designed for fellowship. It was meant to serve more than just self. On the other hand we have the keurig coffee maker. The single serve cup that sometimes comes with special flavors. I like how Kelly Minter describes our declining attitudes towards fellowship: "We have Keuriged community right out of fellowship." Unfortunately her analysis is correct. Society's attitude towards self serving has trickled down into the Christian community. We grab our personal mugs and brew for ourselves instead of brewing for the whole.
When God designed fellowship, true meaningful fellowship, He designed it with elements that would make us vulnerable and mindful or our relationships with one another and with Him.
1. Prayer. Praying by ourselves is essential for our spiritual growth, don't get me wrong. However, so is praying, out loud, with a group of people. Have you ever tried to pray when you are mad at someone? You can't do it can you? It's impossible! Why? Because when we try to pray as community or as an individual we cannot commune with God if strife exists between us and another. Where sin and darkness exists there can be no light. (1 John 1:6-7). Before we can have fellowship, we must be right with one another.
2. Baptism. I'll explain this briefly. This is an outward sign of our salvation. I like to think of it as our physical confession as Jesus as our savior. We celebrate this as a community of believers. I am convinced that we cannot be baptized alone and our physical confession remain true. The physical confession of baptism must be witnessed.
3. Singing. For some odd reason we are terrified of singing on our own. When we think of singing songs of praise we will do whatever it takes to divert attention from our voices. We might use electric guitars, screens, and smoke machines. We might turn the volume up on the sound system. We may even whisper or lip sync if we think the person next to us might not like our singing voices. Singing is terrifying. Yet songs of praise and worship are important to fellowship. Try this: the next time you are with your friends either in the car or in your home, or in the park, sing a hymn. Sing a couple of hymns. As one of my mentors told me: "If you can't sing, sing louder." If God cared about the quality of our singing, all of us would have Grammy winning vocal chords.
4.Eating. I like food. Honestly, who doesn't like food? Yet, when it comes to eating, every single of one of us suddenly forgets how to. Think back to your first dinner party. You were nervous. You hummed at hawed over the salad: "Do I cut the crouton or do I spear it with my fork? Do I cut the lettuce?" Then there were the drinks: "Do I sip it? Would they be made if I drank the whole glass? What if spill it? Do they have straws? I think I need a straw." Or we avoid them. When I talk to fellow believers we hit both sides of the potluck coin. Some have nothing but glowing reports of the delicious food always served at their monthly potlucks. Others shirk back in terror and describe the bland, cold, stale, tatertot casseroles lined up on the counter in tin containers under shoty fluorescent lights. If you come from the latter, and you tend to avoid potlucks because of the bad memories or awful food, let me tell you something. Get over it. Be the one who makes the awesome food. Make a delicious dish or two and share them, then eat and commune with your fellow believers.
5. Studying and teaching the scriptures. This last one is critical. While studying the scriptures on our own is necessary for our personal spiritual growth, so is studying them together. It is so easy to download a sermon on a podcast or complete a Bible Study book on our own, but we will only grow so much on our own. Babies don't learn to walk by themselves. They learn to walk under the guidance of their mother's; someone who has learned to walk. As believers we need to meet together at church to hear a sermon, to talk during Sunday School, and to come together for Bible Study and small groups. We learn and grow as community. We learn from each other.
Each one of us brings something to the body of Christ that the other members cannot (1 Corinthians 12). When we meet as a body of believers, mindful the presence of God, then we each provide something essential for the body to grow. In turn our spiritual lives grow. This is the twelve cup coffee maker kind of fellowship. So, let us be mindful and intentional about our fellowship. Let us put away the keurig with its single- serving cups, and serve one another with the twelve cup. Let us come together to share and to worship.
For day thirteen of the October Style Challenge, I wore a black floral lace elbow tee and paired it with a floral and plaid mixed print scarf. I offset all of the black with purple to match the plaid in the scarf and on my head wrap. I finished off my ensemble with a dark wash, patch work denim skirt, and a pair of brown booties.
Black Lace Tee: Maurice's
Plum Purple Tee: The Skirt Outlet
Mixed Print Scarf: Maurice's
Denim Skirt: Style J
Brown Booties: Famous Footwear
Plum Head Wrap: Garlands of Grace
(my little cat, Abby, photo bombed my scarf pictures. She was just too cute not to include.)
I like to think of fellowship as the large 12 cup coffee maker. That coffee pot was designed for fellowship. It was meant to serve more than just self. On the other hand we have the keurig coffee maker. The single serve cup that sometimes comes with special flavors. I like how Kelly Minter describes our declining attitudes towards fellowship: "We have Keuriged community right out of fellowship." Unfortunately her analysis is correct. Society's attitude towards self serving has trickled down into the Christian community. We grab our personal mugs and brew for ourselves instead of brewing for the whole.
When God designed fellowship, true meaningful fellowship, He designed it with elements that would make us vulnerable and mindful or our relationships with one another and with Him.
1. Prayer. Praying by ourselves is essential for our spiritual growth, don't get me wrong. However, so is praying, out loud, with a group of people. Have you ever tried to pray when you are mad at someone? You can't do it can you? It's impossible! Why? Because when we try to pray as community or as an individual we cannot commune with God if strife exists between us and another. Where sin and darkness exists there can be no light. (1 John 1:6-7). Before we can have fellowship, we must be right with one another.
2. Baptism. I'll explain this briefly. This is an outward sign of our salvation. I like to think of it as our physical confession as Jesus as our savior. We celebrate this as a community of believers. I am convinced that we cannot be baptized alone and our physical confession remain true. The physical confession of baptism must be witnessed.
3. Singing. For some odd reason we are terrified of singing on our own. When we think of singing songs of praise we will do whatever it takes to divert attention from our voices. We might use electric guitars, screens, and smoke machines. We might turn the volume up on the sound system. We may even whisper or lip sync if we think the person next to us might not like our singing voices. Singing is terrifying. Yet songs of praise and worship are important to fellowship. Try this: the next time you are with your friends either in the car or in your home, or in the park, sing a hymn. Sing a couple of hymns. As one of my mentors told me: "If you can't sing, sing louder." If God cared about the quality of our singing, all of us would have Grammy winning vocal chords.
4.Eating. I like food. Honestly, who doesn't like food? Yet, when it comes to eating, every single of one of us suddenly forgets how to. Think back to your first dinner party. You were nervous. You hummed at hawed over the salad: "Do I cut the crouton or do I spear it with my fork? Do I cut the lettuce?" Then there were the drinks: "Do I sip it? Would they be made if I drank the whole glass? What if spill it? Do they have straws? I think I need a straw." Or we avoid them. When I talk to fellow believers we hit both sides of the potluck coin. Some have nothing but glowing reports of the delicious food always served at their monthly potlucks. Others shirk back in terror and describe the bland, cold, stale, tatertot casseroles lined up on the counter in tin containers under shoty fluorescent lights. If you come from the latter, and you tend to avoid potlucks because of the bad memories or awful food, let me tell you something. Get over it. Be the one who makes the awesome food. Make a delicious dish or two and share them, then eat and commune with your fellow believers.
5. Studying and teaching the scriptures. This last one is critical. While studying the scriptures on our own is necessary for our personal spiritual growth, so is studying them together. It is so easy to download a sermon on a podcast or complete a Bible Study book on our own, but we will only grow so much on our own. Babies don't learn to walk by themselves. They learn to walk under the guidance of their mother's; someone who has learned to walk. As believers we need to meet together at church to hear a sermon, to talk during Sunday School, and to come together for Bible Study and small groups. We learn and grow as community. We learn from each other.
Each one of us brings something to the body of Christ that the other members cannot (1 Corinthians 12). When we meet as a body of believers, mindful the presence of God, then we each provide something essential for the body to grow. In turn our spiritual lives grow. This is the twelve cup coffee maker kind of fellowship. So, let us be mindful and intentional about our fellowship. Let us put away the keurig with its single- serving cups, and serve one another with the twelve cup. Let us come together to share and to worship.
For day thirteen of the October Style Challenge, I wore a black floral lace elbow tee and paired it with a floral and plaid mixed print scarf. I offset all of the black with purple to match the plaid in the scarf and on my head wrap. I finished off my ensemble with a dark wash, patch work denim skirt, and a pair of brown booties.
Black Lace Tee: Maurice's
Plum Purple Tee: The Skirt Outlet
Mixed Print Scarf: Maurice's
Denim Skirt: Style J
Brown Booties: Famous Footwear
Plum Head Wrap: Garlands of Grace
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