Why we assemble

Hebrews 10:19-25
Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh),and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.

And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds,not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Today's lesson from Paul's letter to the Hebrews reminds us why the people of God gather together as they prepare to (and recuperate from) trodding the path through the world. It is a path that wanders through the reality of a world that is writhing in pain and injustice...not only the pain wrought by human hands, but also the pain of of random and disasterous events.

We all know that this world is a place where awful things happen...many of us have experienced first hand a day or a year when our personal lives have been torn apart by death or illness or tragic and sudden loss.

Yet, as we hear today during our time together at CRLC, God breaks into and through all events and draws us from pain and sorrow into the safety and the wholeness of His Love. One of the reasons we gather as a congregation is to remind each other of that reality. On any given Sunday, the people sitting next to you in the pew may be experiencing their own personal version of tragedy.... you may or may not be aware of the details. Consider the possibility that your presence, your voice in prayer or song, or the warm glance you offer them as you pass the peace MAY ALL represent the light of God's Love for which they yearn.

Never, ever, underestimate the power we have as the assembly of the faithful in prayer. We cling to and claim to the promise in Christ that His Love will always have "the last say!"