Do you treasure Christian community?
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. 2 John 1:2
Gracious God,
Creator of Christian community,
help us to marvel at the good gift
of face-to-face fellowship
with other believers.
In recent years,
we learned how privileged we are
to be able to gather safely together
with the body of Christ.
After the season of social distancing,
it took some of us awhile
to get used to being together again,
and it can still be tempting
to “watch the livestream”
rather than to get up, get dressed, and get to church.
Oh, Lord, may it not be so!
Help us to understand
what imprisoned theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer understood
when he wrote, “visible community is grace.”*
Help us to see that face-to-face fellowship
is a foretaste of the day
when you will
“gather us in…
for you have redeemed us” (see Zechariah 10:8-9).
Help us to remember that
“we belong to one another
only through and in Jesus Christ.”
Help us to remember
that Jesus broke down the dividing wall of hostility
that we might be united,
as one community in Christ,
for all of eternity.
One day soon we will see Jesus face to face,
but until then,
may we enjoy your wonder-full gift
of face-to-face fellowship
with our dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
In Jesus’ uniting name. Amen.
Read Zechariah 10:8-12; 1 Thessalonians 3:10; Psalm 42:4; Ephesians 2:14-18.
*This prayer was inspired and informed by Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s great book, Life Together. First quote is from p. 28 and second from p. 33.
