Welcome! Happy Thanksgiving Week!  This week is my (Megan’s) favorite.  I get to introduce you to my dear friend, Alaina!  When we decided to write on gathering, I couldn’t think of anyone better to share with you.  She really knows how to love her community, and point them back to Jesus. With all that is up in the air right now with traveling and gathering restrictions, the pandemic, and everything else, we know that the holidays may be feeling really different.  Whether everything feels the same or you find yourself in a place of mourning or rejoicing,  I pray that you will be reminded of the presence of God with you and that you will be drawn in by the comfort only He can provide.

 

 

I’m 33 years old. When I was 31, I started dating Kyle, and 8 months later I married him. Before that, I was pretty single — Like hadn’t gone on a date in over a year and people were highly encouraging to join e-Harmony kind of single. But here’s the thing, even though I was dateless for a while, I learned the art of doing life with people that kept my mind (mostly) off what I didn’t have.  What was one of my secrets, you ask? Sharing a meal with others. Sometimes I’d even reason that communion, Jesus style, was intended to be a whole meal.  So it didn’t matter how busy I was, I loved pausing long enough to enjoy dinner with someone else across the table from me. 

There was something about being with another person face to face and hearing them say what was going on that allowed me to be fully present with them. It gave me permission to be in their world and them in mine for that time. Sharing a meal brought us together. There was a sense of unity in our breaking of the bread. It almost felt like, for that time, we were family, even if we weren’t. All those conversations allowed me to hear at a deeper level what was going on past the quick, “How are you?” exchanges.

In a lot of ways I can see how God shaped those talks to grow me as His daughter, so I would be about His business. As I would step into the lives of those around me, I’d get a better idea of how to live out what the Bible says about loving my neighbor. It gave me a chance to exercise my faith; to pray with people who were hurting; to listen to those who were mourning, and to rejoice with those who were celebrating. It also gave me a chance, more than once, to say, “I’m sorry,” or “I forgive you.” Gathering together wasn’t about the perfect Instagram post to show off later, it was about doing life with people, even when it got messy. Getting close to people can show all our imperfections, but it also shows so much more of the beauty the  life God gave us has to offer. 

And then 2020 came, and we all experienced the pandemic of Covid-19.  Where staying home was mandated, and gathering was prohibited. What was only going to be 2 weeks of slowing down turned into a whole year getting turned upside down as schools adjusted, concerts and sports were canceled, and churches shut the doors of their buildings for the first time in the history of my lifetime and yours. Gatherings weren’t allowed. Even families’ social distanced to keep each other safe, and slow down the spread of the virus.

Screens were the only way we connected as spring started to come into season, but then people started getting creative. Why? Because they realized, gathering together is a key ingredient when you are intentional about living like Jesus did. People started going for walks – no matter the weather.  They dropped off meals. They were showing up to talk to their friends and family on the lawn. Or talking to their neighbors from their porch. 

Churches changed up how they worshiped Jesus & looked for ways to be intentional about serving one another.

 John 13:34-35 reads:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Have you ever noticed, people don’t accidentally love someone? They have to deliberately plan to put someone else before their own wants. You can’t love other people if you’re doing life alone. In fact, you can’t live out the Bible if you are doing life alone.  

2020 is coming to end and the coming holidays are going to look different than the traditions we are used to, but we still have a choice for how we handle them. 

We have a choice to look for ways to love others, and make room for it in schedules – even if it’s different. 

A choice to go slow with our day so we can be intentional with those God has put in our life. 

A choice to respect how others feel safe, and accommodate them.  You can show them some Jesus-love in person or from afar. 

Yes, gathering is going to look different, but if we don’t prioritize it, we lose the chance to live out the example of the Rescuer that the world desperately needs right now, Jesus Christ.  He is the reason our hope is never lost, no matter the current affairs. Jesus is the reason we can sit across the table and share a meal, even if it’s outside and we’re 6 feet apart.  We’re just looking for a chance to live out the love Jesus first showed us so many years ago; the love that changed the world, and it continues to change mine.