Monday, April 9, 2012

06 House Of God Forever

06 House Of God Forever

This is a Jon Foreman song done by the group that will lead our worship on 4/15 - page cxvi

House

"Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."  Psalm 23:6

This past Sunday morning - as we filled up on a great breakfast that we had each contributed to, as I listened to the beautiful noise of conversations out on our courtyard of green grass, as the music began to fill our neighborhood, and as I watched the children running around the property - this is the body of Christ gathered together! I thought about the children, and how this experience of "church" would shape their views of the Lord, His people, and what gathering together is meant to be. It got me thinking about Psalm 23 and what it means to "dwell in the house of the Lord forever." I like how it is linked with "all the days of my life" for His Kingdom - His house is not just someday but it is here and now - out on the church lawn, in our homes, sitting together in a restaurant - wherever we might be.

First - the Scriptures tell us that we are His temple - so wherever I am - I am a dwelling place of a Holy God. Second - we are described as being "in Christ" - so I am always breathing, speaking, working, playing ... living, within the sphere of His life - it is the "environment" within which I exist. Lastly, as in Ephesians 2:19 - we are together 'God's household". Gathered together we experience the wonder of being "in His house"! So when we gather to sing, to discuss, to play, to eat!!, to watch our kids play, to hear the Word of God, to clean up a neighbor's yard - we are in fact enjoying being in "the house of the Lord forever. So - take every opportunity to be with one another for in doing so we experience the Lord's House!

By the way - if you live in Tucson - a great chance to "be together" is this coming Sunday night, April 15th. We will gather at 6pm  - to eat of course - a BBQ out on the lawn followed by an evening of Hymns and Communion 7pm. We have special out of state guests coming to lead our worship - you can check them out at http://www.pagecxvi.com/