Wednesday, August 26, 2020
What We Miss About Church: Congregant Reflections
For our devotionals this month, we asked various congregants what they miss the most about being together. Join us for this series of reflections that remind us of what we miss and who we are called to be.
Scripture for the Day
1 Samuel 7:10-12
As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel; but the Lord thundered with a mighty voice that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion; and they were routed before Israel. And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and struck them down as far as beyond Beth-car. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah, and named it Ebenezer; for he said, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
I’ve always loved the hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” Part of the hymn talks about us raising our Ebenezer. Did I sing the lyric for years having no idea what it meant? Maybe. Our passage today ends with Samuel marking a spot as Ebenezer and noting, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
I have heard it said that First Presbyterian is not a blue church or a red church. It is a purple church. As a citizen of a divided nation, I miss the opportunity to worship and serve alongside people who are politically on the other side of the aisle from me. It feels increasingly important to join together and wrestle with what it means to be followers of Christ first and all other allegiances second.
Last weekend, I thought about First Presbyterian as I drove to my first in-person service in months. It was a socially distanced graveside service. Much to my surprise, I found great comfort in just being able to physically gather together and be a visual representation of support.
On my drive back to Atlanta, I thought about why coming together physically holds so much power. I believe gathering on Sunday can be both a remembering of how God has helped us and a looking forward to the ways in which God walks alongside us. I think the act of choosing to come together physically and be the church is an inherently hopeful one.
