A catholic priest in a large and sprawling suburban parish began his Sunday worship by saying, ‘First let’s all introduce ourselves to one another. Turn to those who are seated near you and tell them who you are and find out who they are, for it would be a great shame to gather and not meet one another.’
There was pandemonium as the congregation greeted one another. When their greeting was subsiding, the priest said to them, ‘Of course, it would be an even greater shame for us to gather and not meet God!’
An encounter with the living God, or a weekly social event?
What does it really mean to come together as the Lord’s people, and gather around the Lord’s table?
I want us to look at one of the earliest accounts of the church at worship on Sunday, outside of Acts or what Paul writes in his letters.
It’s from the First Apology of Justin Martyr, (one of the first Christian apologists), and it’s a portrait of the church in about AD 90 – only about 60 years after the death of Christ!
(Article from book read about how a church in AD90 met- from William Willimon, ’Pastor’)
And so not very different from what we read in Acts 2 – it was only 30 years later – and we see 8 specific areas of a service which still really continue today.
1. The Church Gathers.
One of the earliest descriptions of the church is ekklesia. A group of people gathered together – an assembly of believers – but never a building or meeting place, always people.
It has the sense of being ‘called out’, of being ‘separate’. There’s a difference between the church and the world so we gather together.
Acts 2:44 & 46 – All the believers were together, and every day they continued to meet.
There’s something special in gathering together. It’s a time of renewal and refreshing as we seek God together, with like minded people.
You know the old analogy of the piece of coal taken from the fire, and if it’s left out too long it will go cold.
Heb 10:25, ‘Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching’.
2. The Church Listens.
A major part of the early churches gatherings was the reading of Scripture, to teach, rebuke, correct and train in righteousness, as 2 Timothy 3:16 says.
Early church meetings were decidedly services of The Word, and this took prime importance in any time the believers were together.
And this reading of the Word was followed by the teaching.
3. The Church Learns
Acts 2:42, ‘They DEVOTED themselves to the apostles teaching.
Devoted means to be persistent, constantly dedicated, showing commitment and loyalty especially over a long period of time.
That’s not to say the long period of time is all in one go, as you might think with some of our sermons…but perhaps over weeks, months or years.
As Justin writes the ‘president’, person giving the talk/sermon, ‘admonishes and invites the people to practice these examples of virtue.’
The job of any preacher or teacher is to bring the passages written 2000 or more years ago to life in their century. To contemporise and contextualise the passage for our understanding today.
What does that passage mean for me today and how do I live it out? That’s the question it’s my job to answer!
Notice as well the verse immediately before Acts 2:42, 2:41: ‘Those who accepted his message were baptised and about 3000 were added to their number that day.’
Acts 2:42 is in fact talking about those new converts who devoted themselves to the apostles teaching.
There was immediate, regular follow up care of the new Christians because they recognised the need for growth.
People if you’re not in regular times of reading or listening God’s word and what that means for you today, you will not grow as God wants you to.
A new born baby not fed the right food will not grow as it should.
I’m reminded of the words from the chorus Breathe: ‘this is my daily bread, your very word, spoken to me’.
Friends, God’s word is food for your soul. Don’t go hungry!
4. The Church Prays
Acts 2:42, ‘They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and TO PRAYER’.
Interceding to God for each other – that is the needs of the church as individuals within it, for the church as a body of Christ across the world and for those outside of the church both known personally and those unknown to us.
The listening to and learning from God’s Word moves the church toward a responsive speaking to God in prayer. The church shares in Christ’s high priestly ministry of intercession to God for the world.
John 17 is a complete chapter of Jesus praying for his disciples and future believers. And there’s an element of the relationship of believers to God through Jesus, and the working together, in and through Him to make Him known to the world.
Much of the prayer life of the early church was founded on the teaching about prayer in the Old Testament, obviously as they didn’t have the New Testament yet!
But Jesus contribution to the Christian understanding of prayer was his intimacy with God, calling him ‘Father’.
But also inviting his disciples to share this intimacy with Him.
Romans 8:15, ‘And by Him we cry, Abba, Father’.
And this new understanding of God as father would have been made even more real by their experience of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Praying for others is an important part of a church’s ministry and witness, that’s why we had the prayer-mug initiative last year!
5. The Church Offers.
In Justin Martyr’s description it is the bread and wine (with water) that is offered back to God. The items that are then blessed and used in the Eucharist.
In Acts 2:45 they sold their possessions and bought their money to the apostles who distributed it later.
For many still today it means bringing an offering of food – perhaps in those countries where many make a living from farming and their income is provisions, so they give provisions.
For us in the west we can bring money, time, sometimes specific items for use buy the Church. But what is important is that we do bring something.
And our belief is that it is the first-fruits of our labour that we return to God.
EX 23:19 "Bring the best of the first-fruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God.’
It’s all about giving back to God from the bounty of gifts that he has given us. Once we understand that what we have is a gift from Him in the first place, we become less protective over what we have, less worried about giving it away.
Then we’re getting into the realm of the Table part of the service.
People had brought their gifts which are then given thanks for.
6. The Church Gives Thanks.
There’s an element of giving thanks for all God’s gifts to us but also it seems there is a specific linking to the bread and wine.
Acts 2:42, ‘They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.’
I never really liked the word Eucharist until I read what it meant, and it’s as simple as ‘Giving Thanks’.
In partaking in the Eucharist we are ‘giving thanks’ for what God has done.
In both the Acts reading and the Matthew reading, as well as Justin Martyr’s pattern, the Eucharist is very much part of everything else. It was integral to a gathering of Christians and obviously held a remembering, thanksgiving, fellowship importance to it as well as a spiritual importance.
I wonder if we’ve separated it too much today, from everything else we do as a church.
Communion is to be the pinnacle of worship, a time to celebrate the victory and reconciliation, to be thankful for all God gives and shows us.
It’s a proclamation of Christ’s death, the reasons for it and the benefits of it.
It’s a time to refocus our lives and commit again to try and live the way in which we have just been taught.
Communion is so many things, but it is so often just tagged on the end of a service when perhaps it should be the centre of it.
David Wenham writes, ‘The Lord’s supper is a brilliantly acted parable that communicates the love of God demonstrated on the cross to us in a way that involves us and challenges us.’
It confronts us again with the awe inspiring event of the crucifixion.
It calls us to identify with the dying Jesus on the cross and enter into a renewed fellowship with Him.
It gives us Spiritual Food. Not literally as some believe that the bread and wine actually, physically turn into the body and blood of Jesus!
I do believe though that God can use physical elements, like Wenham says as in a Parable like way, to give us something Spiritual.
We see it in the waters of Baptism often, that there is something spiritual happening there tool.
And so I believe it is HOLY Communion, and there is a Spiritual element to it that connects us again to Him each time we gather together to partake.
And there’s also a sense of unity, in that He gave it to all believers to be able to gather together and join in something together.
So then, having gathered, listened, hopefully learned, prayed, brought our offerings…
Let us Give thanks together as we share in this Table spread before us.
Thanksgiving Prayer
As we come to the table, let’s sing together: Beautiful Saviour (All My Days I will sing this song of Gladness)
At The Table
And after the thanksgiving, comes the next part of the service…number 7 out of the 8!
7. The Church remembers together
And so we share together in this meal, remembering all of the times Jesus ate and drank with sinners, enacting the Kingdom of God through the shared gracious meal, the church eats and drinks with Jesus as a sign of God’s in-breaking Kingdom.
‘This is my Body; Broken For you, do this in remembrance of me’.
(Eat together)
Distribute bread as we sing Be Still
‘This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’.
Distribute Wine
Prayer for those on Day 24 - David
Prayer for those in need – Steve
But we’ve only looked at 7 areas of the service, there’s still 1 left.
8. The Church Scatters
We don’t gather, listen, learn, pray and get fed simply to keep that nourishment within the church. We’re strengthened and enlivened in order that we might scatter into the world as salt and light, bearers of a message of hope.
There’s no point in coming to church on a Sunday if you’re not going into the world on Monday!
There’s no point keeping ourselves to ourselves and never having any non-Christian friends.
If you’re not in regular contact with non-Christians, you’re not doing your job properly! How can we be a good light if we never venture into the darkness from time to time.
How can we be good salt if we’ve nothing to flavour.
If our lives were a car journey, 10.30 and 6.30 on a Sunday (or in fact whatever time or day it is Christians gather – God didn’t choose those times), but whenever, those times of gathering together can be seen as the fuel that keeps us going for the next leg of the journey.
So be filled this morning, be filled this evening, and get travelling.
Matt 28:19, ‘Therefore GO (not sit still), GO and make disciples of all nations’.
