fellowship

Happy Thanksgiving! Today should be a day of church and fellowship; that’s what John would have said, anyway.

Reading 2 John this morning I was struck by how John ended this letter, in verse 12: “I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.”

For John, face to face was best. Physical presence was necessary if you wanted complete joy. John was a great letter writer, and I assume he got letters as well, but that couldn’t begin to substitute for the happiness of getting back together. And he addresses this letter to “the lady chosen by God and her children” – the bride of Christ, the church, and it’s members – and signs it “the children of your sister, chosen by God” – a sister church. To him, complete joy came from fellowship with the family of God.

That’s a great reminder for today. We could choose to stay home and watch the parade on TV. We could choose to hole up and watch TV. We could hook up with friends and family on Facebook, safely separated by distance and a tiny screen, able to disconnect any time we want.

But the joy of Thanksgiving comes from everything we share with each other. Our fellow brothers and sisters and cousins, all the children of Christ’s dear ladies, know the same gratitude we do, thankfulness that can only come from finally being free, or at least in the process of becoming free, of all the bad outcomes of our bad choices. Our families know our history, almost every detail of it, and have been there through it all. We need to be together today; we have so much to share, so much to say to each other, and we need to do it face to face.

So I hope your worship is wonderful, and the food is plentiful, and you get to be with people you like and there are lots of laughs and maybe some tears. I hope the people you spend your day with are people you can pray with. If not, you’re probably doing a good thing but it won’t be fellowship the way God meant it to be.