abraham's bosom

2008-01-09T22:45:00.000-07:00

last/ first first/last

2008-01-09T22:38:00.000-07:00

beloved,
this will be our last post.
this blog was intended to give voice
to the brothers and sisters
of our little church.

in the past six months this forum has
failed to draw attention or inspire
the imagination of our congregation.

this blog has failed to achieve its
vision of engaging in the post modern
cyber world of fellowship and discourse.

this was an un-needed and un-supported ministry,
and now it is time for it to go away.

to the ones who have participated,
i thank you.

to whoever might read these posts in the future,
may God bless you, and peace and grace be upon you.
shabbat shalom

abba...father

2008-01-09T22:35:00.000-07:00

my apologies

2008-01-09T22:33:00.000-07:00

An open letter of apology from The Gathering Community Church to the most loved children of the one and only King:

The Gathering is a church of change, of examination, and expression.
With this intent we seek the presence and blessing of the Holy Spirit as
we examine the intended bride of Christ, the church body.

2,000 years ago, when Jesus came to earth proclaiming the arrival of the
kingdom of God, offering restitution and shalom for the people of God, he instructed us that the two primary principals of the kingdom were: " Hear thou oh Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord, is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength. And, love your neighbor as yourself."

Recognizing that from the time of Christ's death, thru out the past two millennium, the message of Christ has somehow been corrupted, perverted, and used to further political and financial purposes, to the disadvantage of the church and the disenfranchisement of the individual, and, seeking the greatest gifts of the kingdom of God, forgiveness, and restitution, we at our church would like to apologize, to yourself and each other.

To the Loved Ones:
For any acts, any words, any ideas that we may have expressed that
has caused you pain and separation from God, we apologize.
If we have, thru neglect or ignorance, caused you to feel unloved, unworthy, or unvalued, please forgive us.
If we failed to stand up for you, stood by while you were in need and did nothing, please forgive us.
If we have done anything to cause you to doubt the message of Christ, or taken away the great treasure that He has meant for you, please talk to us, give us the chance to make restitution.
You are a valued and beloved gift to each of us from God, and if in the course of our humanness, we disenfranchised you, we want to make it up to you. We apologize and beg the chance to love you.
As we go about our lives, we err, we sin, we make mistakes. Perhaps one of our greatest mistakes was not realizing, or even, not caring, about our actions towards you. We do not wish to make excuses, we wish to apologize. We wish to ask you to forgive us. We want you to know that nowhere in the teachings of Christ are we called upon to judge anyone, and if you have been judged or condemned for who or what you are, these are the mistakes of men, and not the directive of the God who loves you dearly.
Please, forgive us, and be welcomed. Our church is His church, and His church is your church.

To our Lord Jesus, the savior, the divine and compassionate one, who gave his life so that we may live, was rejected and beaten, nailed to a cross of wood and hung out to dry like a rag doll of our shame; we beg you, forgive us.
For the harm we have caused to the least is a stripe deep and red, a nail sharp and deep, a blow that we have inflicted upon you as you took the brunt of our humanness upon yourself. For the things that have been done to you in the name of the church that have put distance between you and the ones you have been calling to and reaching for, please forgive us. Please send the holy spirit down, and in-dwelt, upon each and everyone of us, that we may learn again how to live to love, and express our love to you by loving all, together.
we ask these things in the name of the blessed, slaughtered lamb.
amen

get behind me

2008-01-09T22:28:00.000-07:00

torah! torah! torah!

2008-01-09T22:26:00.001-07:00

the gathering mens group
will be reconvening on saturdays,
beginning january 12th, at 9am
at andrea kristina's coffee house.

join us as we explore the roots of our
Christian faith, digging into the torah, the books of moses.

following the traditional hebrew approach, we will be dividing
the books into segments, or parshas. each parsha covers the span
of a few chapters, which takes about 15 minutes to read, followed
by discussion and fellowship.

the first parsha is titled bereishit (genesis)
and covers the creation story from genesis 1:1 -6:8

bring an open mind and a sense of humor, and let's see
what we can discover together.

place of the skull

2007-11-18T23:00:00.000-07:00

nobody follow Jesus (so why should you?)

2007-11-18T22:50:00.000-07:00

i am obsessed. i can't control myself. although i am mired in sin, not simply falling, but plummeting, like flaming pieces of space debris, far from the glory of God, i get up each day, say my prayers, search for my cross and set out into the world to discover my wonderful new daily failures.
to ease the pain of the realization of my own petty shamefulness, i cram my mind with cultural distractions. some fill me with joy, knowledge, and hope. others just serve as a diversion and keep me from more important things, like turning off the computer and playing with my children, or taking the time to show my wife how wonderful i think she is, and how i would be truly lost without her.
i watch the noomas and read the beautiful books of bell. i download mp3's of shane claiborne and marvel at his "irresistible revolution", fantasizing about living in a community like his "simple ways" collection in philly. i cruise the ooze and get giddy on ginkworld, always looking for a fix. a distraction. a reaffirmation that i am not crazy, and that Jesus is coming out of the tomb that our appropriative empire has encased him in, and walks among us with a desperate look of want and desire, eager to connect, and anxious to forgive.
during these periods of societal denial, i have come across the writings of one keith giles. his essays and articles over the past few years in various non secular e-zines have constantly caught my eye, engaged my imagination, and allowed me to feel not quite so alone on this voyage toward salvation.
keith has collected his writings from his e-newsletter "the subversive underground", next wave magazine, the ooze, and a few other joints he haunts, and put them into book form. so what's the big deal? well, yes, he is selling them on line thru lulu.com, a wonderful site for the self published, but he has done something truly interesting and vested with Kingdom sensibility, he has posted the pdfs. for free download to any who might not be able to afford the few bucks to reward him for his labor of love.
i, being one of those perpetually tight fisted, and terminally broke, individuals, thrilled to the very seat of my office chair, taxed my feeble dial up connection and spent eight hours downloading his two books, "Nobody Follows Jesus (so why should you)" and "The Gospel, For Here Or To Go".
the results were immediately disappointing. the pdfs opened in quick time format, and would only show the table of contents to the two books. i felt punked, had. frustrated, but not defeated. i went to keith's website and emailed him personally explaining to him my turmoil and asking if he would consider emailing a pdf to me in adobe. much to my delight, he responded promptly and emailed me a pdf of "Nobody Follows Jesus (so why should you)", and i have spent the past week savoring it like a fine bordeaux.
for those of you unfamiliar with keith giles, he is a licensed and ordained pastor, teacher, preacher, writer, singer, and progenitor of the home church movement via his home based orange county california church "the mission".
what i found in the body of this text was an amazing and sensitive intellect, drowning in the sea of the corporately corrupt, politically inundated and commercially plagued modern church of america. each page describes his navigation to the shore, where he picks up his cross and follows the Son in ritual observation, leaving cyber pit-cairns of perception, and finally nailing them to himself like a post modern marty luther.
for anyone who leaves a church wondering where God is, and just why we are hiding him, i recommend you purchase or down load this book, and use it as a union oil map to discover your own cross. the really cool thing is that the trail has been blazed, all we have to do is pick up and follow.
here is the link to keith's place. check it out. it's good for you:
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/

that which is hidden...

2007-10-11T09:54:00.000-06:00

body aches

2007-10-11T09:36:00.000-06:00

kind of out in the desert right now.
wondering about the nature of church.
not the world wide body, or macrocosm of church,
just our church in particular.
why do we do it?
what is the purpose?
why do we come together
and loosely assemble,
show up late,
leave early,
and feel that somehow in the course
of this experience that we
have glorified God?
or that we somehow have "fed ourselves"?
are we there to learn?
to teach?
to guide?
or are we there to simply
follow Christ's important instructions to the apostles
when they asked about the future:
"watch"?
what is worship?
what is the level of participation required of the individual?
is the church the doorway to the kingdom?
why do people leave a church?
what are we supposed to take away from it?
what are we supposed to bring to it?
should the church be relying on one voice or vision
to guide and lead?
we, as people of this world, possessing corporal form, are often told
to listen to our body. what are these aches and pains? what
is the body trying to tell us.
if Christ is the head, and we are the body, who does the listening?
who feels the pain? who is responsible for the care of this?
is it all left to God? "let's see what God is going to do..."
what is the responsibility of the individual?
should the individual voices and concerns be a part of worship?
in a choir every voice works together to form a chord.
there are solos. but the effect is that of a unified body
working together to praise.
here is a link to a wonderful article in Christianity Today.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2007/003/17.43.html

when the body pulls itself together on sundays, is it just your ears and rears
that are working together?

what about the rest of you?

2007-10-03T08:50:00.000-06:00

a parable by sonny west

2007-10-03T08:44:00.000-06:00

There was a certain man who would take his friend with him
as they went out to play the game of life. The friend had no assets
with which to play. From the beginning the man would finance
his friend's game and try to advise him regarding how the game
was played from his own experiences, however the friend preferred
to play the game in his own way. This resulted in the following
circumstances.

When the friend had a winning streak he immediately forgot about
the man who financed his good fortune and spent the proceeds as he
saw fit and continued to play the game using his own counsel.
The man did not ask for anything back from his friend as a repayment
as his happiness for his friend's good fortune was payment enough.
He wished the very best for his friend.

Because of this friend's inability to conduct his affairs or his use
of poor judgment, he frequently found himself at the point
of losing everything. During these times he would return to the
more experienced man for more chips, cold and hungry and
in dire straits. The man had sympathy for his friend and at times
like these the friend would pretend to listen to the man's coaching.
The friend would say how gratetul he was for more help, saying that
in the future he would change his ways and make better choices
as the man had suggested.

Should the giver continue giving under these circumstances?
How long should the giver give without demanding a change?
Is the experienced man helping his friend or actually doing him an injustice?
Who is this friend?

2007-09-09T21:38:00.000-06:00

bread for the dogs

2007-09-09T21:29:00.000-06:00

beginning on sunday, october 7th, the gathering community church will be presenting the gospel of mark in a monologue format. a new chapter will be performed every week by chas.pike, followed by teachings from dr. mike hattabaugh.
show times are 9:00 am and 10:30 am sundays, at piedra vista high school. here is the tentative episode list:

the Mark of God (or bread for the dogs)

episode 1-and the show begins

episode 2-this oughta get a rise out of you

episode 3-could i get a hand here? (jesus straightens things out)

episode 4-the love boat

episode 5-break on thru to the other side

episode 6-thomas wolfe was right ("you can't go home again")

episode 7-a little spit and it's good as new

episode 8-pinching loaves

episode 9-whoever is not against us is for us (special guest appearances from mo
and eli!)

episode 10-first-last/last-first

episode 11-enter the king (donkey show)

episode 12- not far from the kingdom of God

episode 13-the abomination that causes desolation

episode 14-the last supper (or "just for that, judas, no dessert!)

episode 15-the king of the jews

episode 16-under the big tent ( like a rolling stone)

reach for the sky

2007-08-07T14:42:00.001-06:00

the rock, the door, the good shepherd, the...thief?

2007-08-07T14:39:00.000-06:00

the book of mark, chapter 3 verse 27"

"in fact no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his
possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. then he
can rob his house"

Q 1: who is the strong man?
Q 2: who is the thief?
Q 3: what is the strong man's house?
Q 4: what are the strongman's possessions?

are the answers to these questions located in:

1 thessalonians 5:2
and
revelations 20:2
?

what are your answers?

home:" the place you go where they have to let you in"

2007-07-20T09:04:00.000-06:00

vacation.
time for looking up family.
the people we used to live with,
the old folks at home.

been traveling yet this summer?
right now i find myself in the midsts of the byways
that bisect this beautiful country of ours.
looking at the map, i marvel at the mother road,
the long, long, life link of black tar and promises that
once cut across the body of america like an artery.
route 66. i also remember that there are 66 chapters in
the book of life. ah, co-winky-dinks.

i have been thinking about the travels of Christ.
how he crisscrossed the region of galilee,
carrying the fate of mankind on his back,
ever in search of a place to lay his head.
the bible tells us little about Christ catching
some winks.

in the book of mark we get some
post cards about where he spends a few nights,
but the only time he cops some z's
is in the front of a boat in a raging storm.

a lot has been made about the homelessness of Christ.

today i am remembering that his father was homeless on this earth also.
sacking out in tents, traveling like a nomad.
solomon built him a palace, which was nice for a while,
until he built one for every other god under the sun.

homelessness...
where is your home?
your turn.

clean un clean

2007-07-09T10:48:00.000-06:00

destiny spawn

2007-07-09T10:37:00.000-06:00

things i have been thinking about this week;
once again the bride.
the nature of the church.
today it unfolds like this,
the good book constantly refers to the church as the bride.
in john's revelation he describes the wedding of the lamb.
Jesus, himself, in his warnings to the bar zebedees and bar jonahs,
tells them that when they hear of wars, or rumors of wars, of famines and earthquakes,
that these are but birth pains.
so my question for you today is,
if Christ is the groom, and the church is the bride,
what is the eminent and impending off spring
of this union?
your turn...

proof reader

2007-06-25T11:47:00.000-06:00

acrostic...tic...tic.....

2007-06-25T11:06:00.000-06:00

word.
again.
like from the lips of the creator.
or enoch's fist.
john's quill.
on the thigh of the savior as he
returns triumphant,
many crowns upon his head.

paul tells us that all of scripture is
divinely inspired, and that we can learn
and be inspired by all of it.

i am wondering today about acrostics.
acrostics are those little tricks the scribes
used to reveal messages in text.
by enlarging the first letter in the words
at the beginning of certain stanzas,
they present to us certain themes.
be it the alphabet, or the name of
the nameless one himself.

the book of esther is an amazing tale
about an amazing woman. the book
is also famous for being the only book
that does not mention God.
however, manuscripts of this tome have
revealed the name of God not once, but twice,
in acrostics.

do acrostics reveal divine intention?
or merely the translators imagination?
if the word is so symbolic,
if the creator of the alphabet was special enough
to walk with God,
do we have to place any special emphasis on
acrostics?

are they mere coincidence,
or divine pit-cairns
placed for the purpose of revelation?

probably the most apparent acrostic is Psalm 119.
each stanza beginning with a letter of the hebrew alphabet.
translations have changed the nature of the language,
but for this particular acrostic, the hebrew letters are
left above the stanza. why?

there are two other acrostics that i wish to discuss.
in fact, for most of us, we would have no way of knowing
that they were acrostics. many bibles do not
tell us they are, so we are left bereft of the chance to
judge the passages by their poetic or revelatory significance.

the first
is proverbs 31:10-31.
solomon describes a "virtuous woman".

let me start my queries about this passage by telling you what led me
to explore it.

i was thinking about the church.
Christ's bride.
i wondered if anything in the old testament
might reveal something about the nature of
Christ's bride, and the purpose of the church.

i went to "the virtuous woman" and read,
wondering if this could be considered a metaphor
for the church. then, thinking it rather ironic
that solomon, who had over 900 wives, was
writing on the prefect wife, i went online to research this proverb.
it was on the internet that i discovered that this proverb was an acrostic.
then i had to wonder if acrostics were mere poetic artifice,
or if there was any deeper significance?
could the holy spirit be revealing something about the Bride
in this proverb?

the next one
is ecclesiastes 12

both this chapter
and the afore mentioned chapter
31 of proverbs are the last chapter in their
respective books.

in ecclesiastes 12 i am looking at 7-11.

7:Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was:
and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.

some say that this about all men returning to dust, from which they were made.
i wonder if it reveals anything about the arrival of "the second adam"?

11: The words of the wise are as goads, as nails fastened by the masters
of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.

are the masters of assemblies the elohoim, the trinity, who
at the beginning created all things?
does the nail represent the cross?
is Christ the one shepherd?
do acrostics reveal or indicate
anything of deeper significance in the text?

your turn...

salted with fire

2007-06-21T11:03:00.000-06:00

hot enough for you?

2007-06-21T10:41:00.000-06:00

satan has always been a crafty one.
ingenious about the way he always gets things done.
last night while we were sleeping,
a fire broke out and burned down
"the simple life" complex
in philly.

"the simple life"
is a faith based community group
that moved into the kensington street area of
the philadelphia ghetto,
and set about creating a community built upon
the principals established in Acts,
emulating the church of the first century.
they reclaimed abandoned buildings
fed the poor,
planted community gardens
created a homework center
for the neighborhood children so
that they could escape the confines
of their cultural slavery.

last night my two daughters and i returned from
helping the wonderful folks at the gathering community church
bag up rice and beans for the poor border families
along both sides of the rio grande, down near fabens, texas.
i am so proud of our little church
for supporting this ministry.
we are such a rich country
and there are so many people
starving to death every minute of every day.

where is the jubilee?

where is the redistribution?

i am relieved that our church feels the importance of
Christ's edict to feed the poor.

what occurs to me about the simple life situation
is that they too are a border community.
only the lines and barriers that separate them
from the majority of america are not geographical,
but economical.
we have border communities all around us,
separated and distanced by invisible barriers of
mammon.

this is a link to the simple life website,
where you can see the fire,
feel the heat,
see satan in action,
and take arms against him.

http://www.thesimpleway.org/

word up.

2007-06-14T22:02:00.000-06:00

isaiah 55:8-11 (in enoch's footsteps)

2007-06-14T15:21:00.000-06:00

the word.

what an amazing and powerful thing the word is.

once upon a time the word was a noise or series of noises that a couple of humans made that they
agreed represented something.
perhaps it was a growl or grunt that they had heard an animal make, and they used this sound to represent the animal.

someplace, somewhere, verbal communication began to develop, and it served as a tool for uniting man. i know in genesis 1:3 God spoke the universe into creation. this act in itself demonstrates the power of the word, or at least the significance of it in the eye of God. in genesis 2:19, God delights in presenting the various animals that he has populated the world with to adam, and seeing what adam will name them. This, i reckon, shows us that from the very beginning of the human experience man has had the need to communicate. to be verbal. also, that God took delight in observing the act of man verbalizing.

and why not?
does not the concept of word itself express the very nature of divinity?
what is a word?
a noise that represents.
it is the way that we express thought, ideology, feelings, and,
our basic humanness.

the concept of word in itself is a fascinating thing. it is basically just a noise. language is a series of noises that we use to give us commonality. to unite or divide us, based on our ability to formulate thought and concept, and then communicate them to others who grapple with that series of noises and either are turned on or off to the intention.

when john states that in the beginning was the word, this is a concept so heavy that it boggles the mind.

when did these noises begin to take on meaning?
when enough people agreed that the noises represented animals or objects, they began to add ancillary noises to link the animals and objects with actions:
run. hot. cold. danger.
from there things kind of steam rolled.

at one point man, in his mastery of language, felt that this communicational skill so elevated him, that perhaps he was indeed God himself. that this was his planet, and that a tower should be built, using this system of communication and agreements, to glorify his Godliness. God recognized the pitfalls of this right off the bat, and saw that this system was going to become a real problem for man. that this use of the amazing word was not going to bring man closer to him, but further away, and so he did the logical thing, he confused the language and spread man out on the earth far enough that they would have to rediscover the process.

i read somewhere about a cat named enoch.
he was the seventh in the line of decention from adam.
the son of jared,
father of methuselah,
great grand pappy to noah.
the legend has it that adam handed down the language that God gave him to enoch, and enoch created a series of symbols that represented the words and thus created the first written language. the jews and islam both revere enoch, and he is considered the father of astrology, writing, and several other things.

God really dug enoch.
in Gen 5;22 we are told that enoch walked with God.
he was God's hiking buddy.
God dug enoch so much that in genesis 5:24, he took him.
enoch was not.
he was with God.

this has a certain amount of significance because the lineage in the bible is pretty clear about who died when, and how old they were at the time. enoch did not die, at first he was, then he was not.

This man put the word into a series of symbols, changed it, liberated it so that
it was no longer just a noise made with the mouth.
this changed the way man thought forever.

and about thought;
how would we think if we had no words?
communication would be difficult at best,
but thought itself,
how would it define itself?

is word a thought?
a perception?
a concept?
an idea?
a thing?
a series of symbols?
a noise made with the mouth?
is word the very nature of the God experience?

your turn...

2007-06-09T16:03:00.000-06:00

Jesus, he's what's for supper

2007-06-09T15:58:00.000-06:00

#1
mark 6:34-44
34When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

35By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. 36Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."

37But he answered, "You give them something to eat."
      They said to him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?"

38"How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see."
      When they found out, they said, "Five—and two fish."

39Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42They all ate and were satisfied, 43and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

#2
john 21:13-17
Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14

This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

15When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
"Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"
      "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you."
      Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."

16Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"
      He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
      Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."

17 The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"
      Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love
me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.

#3
luke 22:19-20

19And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."

20In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you..."

#4
john 2:1-10

1On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, 2and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine was gone,

Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
4"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come."

5His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
6Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.[a]
7Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."
They did so, 9and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."

part of a parable
Matthew 22

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
1Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2"The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

4"Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'

5"But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

8"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' 10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests..."

the statement:
I have been examining the nature of the last supper and the practice of communion. knowing that Jesus was not one to hang on legalism, but came to fulfill and ultimately free us from the law, i have to ask myself how the passover seder went from being a meal of lamb to snack of little crackers and a tiny cup of grape juice.
three of the four synoptic gospels have Christ enjoying the passover with his disciples. i believe the importance of this is
that it is meant to be the last passover. the passover in the old testament is a picture of Christ. in the new testament, Christ, the lamb of God, arrives, is crucified, and his blood covers the sin of mankind and man is forgiven.
in the old testament books of moses, Jehovah commands to mo that the passover be observed yearly, and the calendar he sets up begins on the day of the passover.

Q1:
in the new testament, when jesus breaks the bread and passes the cup, and says "do this in remembrance of me", was he instructing them to begin observing a new legalistic ritual, or, rather, was he instructing them to each take what Jesus had given them and FEED THE POOR? and include them in the feast?

Q2:
i know from his epistle to the corinthians that paul has his own
take on the lord's supper. of the four synoptic gospels,
three mention "the lord's supper", the fourth, written by the
eyewitness, john, bears no mention of it at all. is communion
an act initiated by Jesus, or is it a creation of the church?

two more quotes, and then it is your turn:

hebrews 13:9
9Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them. 10We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat

hebrews 13:15
15Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

2007-06-08T13:18:00.000-06:00

going out and coming in

2007-06-08T13:06:00.000-06:00

in his marvelous eye witness account of the miracle that is Jesus, the apostle john begins his revelation with this simple statement:

john 1:1
"in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God."

matthew the tax collector offers up this statement about the Lord:

matthew 18:20
"where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there
among them."

it is in this spirit that this blog is formed, with the understanding that God is the Word, and that by exploring the nature and meaning of the Word, we invite it to dwell within us. that by reading and discussing the Word, we liberate it from the page, and embed it in our hearts where God intended it to dwell as a living, breathing entity.

This blog has grown out of an email exchange between the elders of the gathering church and a neophyte christian. the participants ranged in age and experience and have included a pastor, a bible translator, a retired military man,
a few school teachers, and a waiter.

the aim is to discuss ideology, test doctrine, and explore the written Word of God in a bold and reverent fashion, celebrating the way the Lord chooses to reveal himself to us, as a group, and as individuals. please feel free to add to the discussion, or introduce ideas of your own, as the spirit moves you.

please note that the opinions expressed belong to the individuals who contribute them,
and do not represent the gathering church as a whole.

WELCOME!

2007-06-07T23:55:00.000-06:00