A story is told of a man who left church and decided that he would “fellowship” alone. The church and its members had too many issues and he felt he was better off alone. No messy relationships, no misunderstandings, no pesky, loud ‘sisters’. And so he stopped attending church.
The pastor soon noticed his absence and decided to visit him n his home. He went over and found a nice fire in the fire place. They sat not saying a word to one another. They watched the embers and enjoyed the warmth. The pastor walked up to the fire place and removed one piece of wood from the center of the ire and put it aside on its own. Then he returned to his seat and they continued to watch the fire. With time the single piece of wood stopped burning even as the rest of the fire blazed. The Pastor again stood walked to the fire and returned the piece of wood to the rest of the fire. .within no time, it was blazing.
After some time, without saying a single word, the Pastor stood to leave. As the man saw him off, there were tears in his eyes and he said, “That is the single most powerful sermon you have ever preached to me!”
This story may speak of different ones of us going through crowded life yet being alone. In this fast paced society that is life, we go through the emotions everyday searching for that sense of connectedness that we desire but that has become increasingly elusive. We are busy, indeed effective: a young successful woman turning to self help books on how to manage tasks of everyday life, a first time daddy feeling unprepared to raise a child but has no idea where to turn to for perspective.
In another ear and context, these people and you and I would have drawn from a wealth of resources of a community of the extended family and friends that would give us insights and ideas in these different aspects of life.
Belonging to a community especially in the pursuit of God provides the impetus we need to keep burning for our connectedness enables us to feed into one another’s strengths and resources. Our small groups-The Ekklesias allow us in this era of ‘busyness’ to find a family and connect in order to seek hard after God.
By Pastor Cathleen Rotich
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