I don’t recall ever dining at a proper restaurant growing up, but the occasional fish and chips from the local Portuguese corner café was a tantalizing treat that would fill the car with that nose-tingling aroma of vinegar and fried potato that lingered for days. 😊

Pastors were not well-paid, and four growing children took every resource my parents could muster. Although my mom was not an imaginative cook, everything was fresh, and nothing went to waste. Once a week, usually on a Monday morning (his day off after the weekend’s preaching), my dad would go off to the huge, bustling market in Johannesburg and come home laden with crates, bags and ‘pockets’, always proud of his haul. Bargain fruit? Great! Bargain cabbage? Not so great! The season dictated the menu, and there was no choice. “Please pass me the salt”, “You just HAVE to taste this!” “Be careful…the gravy is hot!” Simple, homely phrases like this still speak to me of what it means to sit at table with friends and family. We share, we laugh, we tell stories. Eat or go hungry was a fact of life, and we children only understood later that the best food on that table was the fellowship of shared experience, even if it was sometimes a shudder of dislike. 😊

Is this why Scripture tells us not to neglect getting together with fellow believers? When we to sit side-by-side in a gathering place, listening to the Word of God, we experience the profound fellowship of feasting together at HIS lovingly prepared table, in season and out of season, sometimes in desert places. We chew on the Living Bread and our spirits are nourished, although I never cease to wonder at how one message can speak to such varied needs!  

Perhaps like me, you have experienced the nudge of the Spirit during a gathering, that nudge that says, “That person needs prayer…” Perhaps also like me, you were shy, or nervous to approach, in case you ‘heard’ wrong. In my experience, a simple, “I believe the Lord is telling me to pray for you today…may I?” can bring longed-for hope and healing, the powerful encouragement that God sees them – yes! – but so do you. Hebrews 10:24,25(NIRV)  puts it like this: “And let us not give up meeting together. Some are in the habit of doing this. Instead, let us encourage one another with words of hope. Let us do this even more as you see Christ’s return approaching.”

There was a time years ago when many churches re-discovered the power of ‘body’ or ‘open’ ministry, as it was called. “When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification” took on fresh meaning, and we were encouraged to prepare our hearts before meeting, to be ready and expect the Holy Spirit to flow through us in ministry to someone, in some way.

I have a sneaking feeling that truth only becomes real in us when we pass it on,  and we only grasp faith when we put our fear aside to pray for one another.

I’m preaching to myself…

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