Dear fellow trekker,
I am writing this month from Dade City, Florida, where I am staying with my oldest son and his wife while receiving daily treatments in Tampa for my Parkinson’s disease! They are my “support” family during this eight week sojourn of hopeful healing. (It would be impossible to do this “healing journey” without their support! So…I drive into suburban Tampa every morning and afternoon – quite a daily journey of 2 1/2 hours, both ways.)
I found (to sharpen my focus while I drive) a Roman Catholic radio station which gives daily news and perspective from a religious viewpoint. It keeps me “up” on the daily news, is inspirational, and most informative on how the Roman Catholic Church views the world (and the church) today. (Note: a new colleague I’ve met since being here, having been trained to become a priest, reminded me recently: “You know, Jim, the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Jesus Christ are not one and the same.” I naturally agreed, whole-heartedly.)
But the nature of “church” in the first century seems a far cry from Roman Catholic or Protestant churches of today. For example, the account of “the young man Eutychus falling three floors” tells a lot about the nature of the church in Paul’s day (Acts 20:7-12). It was comprised of trekkers, believers and followers of Jesus on their journey of eternal life. There were 1) individuals who 2) gathered together on a 3) Sunday night to 4) break bread (eat), and 5) receive encouragement and teaching. This was the first century church. It was defined by mutual love of Jesus and each other.
Luke, a physician, provides the eyewitness account of “we” did this/etc. William Barkley, British scholar, adds his explanation:
In the early Church there were two closely related things. There was what was called the Love Feast. To it all contributed, and it was a real meal. Often it must have been the only real meal that poor slaves got all week. It was a meal when the Christians sat down and ate in loving fellowship and in sharing with each other. During it or at the end of it the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was observed. It may well be that we have lost something of great value when we lost the happy fellowship and togetherness of the common meal of Christian fellowship. It marked as nothing else could the real homeliness, the real family spirit of the Church. We see that all this happened at night. That is probably so because it was only at night when the day’s work was done, that slaves could come to the Christian fellowship. And that also explains the case of Eutychus. It was dark. In the low upper room it was hot. The many lamps and many torches made the air stuffy and oppressive. Eutychus, no doubt, had done a hard day’s work before ever he came and his body was tired. He was sitting by a window to get the cool night air. Now the windows were not glass windows. They were either lattice or solid wood and opened like doors. They came right down almost to the floor and projected over the courtyard below.
The tired Eutychus, overpowered by the stuffy atmosphere, succumbed to sleep and fell to the courtyard below. We must not take it that Paul spoke, as it were, even on. There would be talk and discussion but Eutychus was exhausted. Down the outside stair a crowd would pour. When they found the lad senseless they would begin to shriek and scream in the uncontrolled eastern way; that is why Paul tells them to stop this fuss, for yet life was in the lad. From the next verses we learn that Paul did not go with the main company; no doubt he stayed behind to make sure that Eutychus was completely recovered from his fall. There is something very lovely about this simple picture. The whole impression is rather that of a family meeting together than of a modern congregation met in a church. Is it possible that we may have gained in what we call dignity in our church services but that we may have lost the sense of the congregation as a real family in God?
Trekkers are the church and still are “in” the church. In recent years I have stopped using the term “parachurch” (literally alongside the church, but not the church), as it is confusing and tends to obscure the complete understanding of the Church of Jesus Christ. I prefer the catholic (whole) definition modality and sodality. Modalities are gatherings of believers without regard to gender, age, etc. for fellowship, praise, prayer, teaching and exhortation…all in the spirit of peace, harmony and unity which Christ provides. Sodalities are elements within a local church or churches, set aside for particular tasks, such as feeding the poor, proclaiming the gospel to special groups, healing the sick, or in hospitals, etc. In my case, Officers Christian Fellowship during my military years, Young Life (before and after the military), and Military Community Youth Ministries/Club Beyond have each been a major place for growth, fellowship and evangelism for me and my family…all three are sodalities, doing the work of the church. (As an aside that I will not broach in depth, I have had pastors tell me over the years they were too involved with church work (read administration) they had little time left for the work of the church.)
The question comes to me often, “But Jim, what is a trekker?” Yes, he is a disciple; he follows Jesus. But he is actively on a journey/trek of faith, putting one foot in front of the other on a daily basis, knowing his destination is fixed (to see Jesus), but not living expecting the destination be reached today. For today, trekker is rejoicing that God made it for us to rejoice in Him…regardless of the slow, often uphill journey. While rejoicing in the Lord today, he prays without ceasing to the God of love and empowerment, always in the spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving (II Thessalonians 5:16-18).
Yes, trekker, the real church is anything but man-made; it is God’s creation through loving redemption… plain people like you and me. It is not an efficient bureaucracy. It is a mass of trekkers climbing the mountain of faith. We will meet at the top…where Jesus awaits!
Your fellow trekker,
Jim Meredith
