Re-capping the Weekend at The Gathering
This was an incredible weekend at The Gathering. It seems like each and every week, the excitement builds as people gather. I love to see people standing in the hallways, laughing and talking, and making plans to go out for coffee or lunch.
We’re seeing the passion of our mission in the conversations of our people. What’s our mission? Helping nonreligious people connect to God and each other. It is incredibly important, because most churches are focused toward religious people: toward the already convinced, toward those who are already Christians, or have a predisposition toward some traditional form.
I don’t know about you, but I believe there are an awful lot of people who have a real hunger for God, but a real disdain for religion. How many conversations have I had over the years with people who have been burned by religion? War stories abound on how abusive religion has become.
This past week at The Gathering I learned this: there is no substitute for gathering with incredibly happy people who love you and support you as you are, to discuss God – not as a theory or an idea, a theology or a doctrine, but as a person, an ever-present reality who is as relevant as our next breath, who is loving in a revolutionary way that re-defines what love is.
If you haven’t found a group of people to gather with on a weekly basis, to discover the greatness of God and the goodness of life and where you fit in, don’t give up the fight. It will be hard. The look will be difficult.
I am reminded each and every weekend that God created us to gather. As we gather together we are better than we ever are alone. What’s the option? Stay home, read the paper, drink a can of beer, be lonely, be aggravated, and get ready to do it all over again.
God knew what He was doing when He created the Sabbath. At The Gathering I am re-discovering the joy. Here it is Monday and I already can’t wait for this weekend. I know exactly what God wants me to say and I can’t wait to say it, knowing that God is going to show up and really amazing things are going to happen.
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