Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. (Matthew 4:23)
For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them. (Matthew 18:20)
I
may go back to looking at the wells mentioned in the Bible, but I searched for the word in the New Testament on a whim. It’s used a lot, but only in John 4
(the woman at the well) does it refer to a place where one gets water. The only
mentions of a pool are in John (Bethesda and Siloam.) So, while the heroes of
the Old Testament met and formed treaties near springs and wells, in the New
Testament, the synagogue seems to have taken their place. Synagogues are mentioned
67 times in the gospels and Acts. Things don’t really change in the epistles,
but the word does. Instead of synagogue, they refer to the church.
This
is not to say that a person can’t meet God anywhere. But it seems as if God accommodates
our cultural thinking, in the sense that He meets us where we look for Him,
where people expect to meet people. My idea of building a “spring” of sorts in
my yard isn’t a bad idea, but going to where others are seeking Him (Church) is
better because in seeking Him together, we’re more likely to find Him, as Jesus
points out in the second passage above. As a parallel, you’re more likely to
find books in a library than in a restaurant. It just makes sense.
And
it fits with what God seems to be saying to me. One of the things I like about
where I live in Florida is the sense of community. As I try to figure out what
produces that sense, one of the conclusions I’m reaching is that one of the factors is the fact that we have
places to meet. There are a few community centers in Erie, but they seem to be
a long way from my house. There are clubs one can join, but they cost money and
seem to focus on drinking. For me, the logical meeting place is a church. If I
want a community, I need to go where there is a community that I want to be part
of.
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