Greetings,
As the Sabbath draws near, we begin to anticipate the “assembling of ourselves together.” Fellowship is shown to us as being an important aspect of being a part of the Body – the Church. The Body is a family or community of believers who are all working to “come out of her” – to live apart from the many false ways of thinking and ideas that permeate our daily environment. We all need each other and cannot operate successfully in isolation, as the Body analogy used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 demonstrates. This way of life is not easy and the encouragement we can give and receive from each other is important. The apostle Paul told the members of the congregation in Rome to, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to that which is good.” (Romans 12:9). As we grow in the knowledge of what is evil we realize that our understanding of evil is largely not shared by the world around us. In fact, our understanding of evil is severely challenged at all levels. It is strengthening to have fellowship with others who share our perspective.
Many of us have families that are not in the Church and we may or may not have good relationships with them. It can be difficult to talk about the important issues of life because they don’t necessarily see things in the same way. We need to be able to regularly talk about our understanding with those of like mind so we can strengthen each other and perhaps get another view to help us moderate our thinking. Our world has changed so quickly that generational differences are very real. The roots of today’s social issues go back to previous generations and this is where we can be especially helpful to each other. Older members can objectively identify from their era the roots of social ills so that younger people can have a clearer understanding of the foundation of their own world. In his survey of American 18 to 23 year olds, University of Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith observed, “They are simply mirroring back to the older adult world, to mainstream society and culture, what has been modeled for them and what they have been taught.” Smith continues to point out that if there is a problem with the morality of young people, it is a “problem of mainstream American culture and institutions” Lost in Transition. Fellowship amongst like-minded young and old within the framework of the Body will help bond the generations instead of fragmenting them. It also helps provide mature understanding of causes relative to society today.
Paul continued in his letter to the Romans, “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another” (verse 10). Clinging to what is good means to be “welded together” or “attached” to that which is morally beneficial. We are to have warm affection toward those who similarly are attached to a morally beneficial way of life. We need each other.
Sabbath services will originate from the Bay Area this week.
Warm Regards,
Brian Orchard
