RE-Congregate! Correctly!

5/16/2020

This morning is a beautiful Spring morning on the mountaintop. Our days are numbered here in this house, since as I mentioned a couple of blogs back, we have sold this house and are only a few weeks away from moving (probably 3 more.) As I stepped out into the “florida” room, I noticed some bird sounds and listened for a mockingbird. Not forthcoming, however. But, in my beady little brain, the SIMH today was an oldie, “Listen to the Mockingbird,”—written by Alice Hawthorne, actually a nom de plume for one Septimus Winner —yes, that was his name; a very storied man who wrote under several different names. He was a distant relative of Nathaniel Hawthorne, and there was a real Alice Hawthorne who was a victim of the bombing at the Atlanta Olympic events in 1996. But Mr. Winner, who lead a very storied life, wrote this song in 1855, and its often repeated and recorded history yet goes on. (PS: If you are a civil war buff, Septimus Winner ought to be on your research list. Lincoln had him arrested for treason, but cooler heads prevailed.)

Tomorrow will be the first re-gathering of the grace group in Alexandria, AL since the epi-pan-demic-atritionists took over the country. I know, I know, I shouldn’t be so cynical! But, doesn’t it churn up just a little cynicism in you to think how long flu-type viruses have attacked Americans and none before warranted any of this? Just a little cynical? At any rate, thankfully, none of the Alexandria family of “grace believers” have had this strain attack them, noticeably, at least.

It’ll be great to see them again after several weeks of not having meetings. We’ll probably skip all the hugs and sit a bit apart, but it will still be enjoyable. Now if the preacher will actually do a good job, perhaps no one will be too angry—-lol.

Truly the most missed thing about the temporary halt in church and bible class gatherings is the fellowship. For bible study, we can do it by ourselves and/or with our household. Or, we can go online and get any sort of bible teaching by any sort of preacher/teacher we desire. But, the personal contact isn’t quite the same. Even with programs like Zoom where we can actually view and talk with each other; or FaceBook where viewers can write greetings or questions, it’s not the same as the “up close and personal” greetings, the occasional eye to eye contact and the “see you soon” goodby after a friendly chat. Just not quite the same.

We are a gregarious people. It’s true, some of us are more gregarious than others, but we all have a deep abiding need to be in company with another person or persons from time to time. When the bible speaks of this to the Hebrew church of the first century the Lord’s inspired words say, “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together…” That’s pretty plain and simple. And let me tell you, they had a much harder time doing that than we do. In fact, most American towns were built with churches placed strategically in an easy to walk to reach of neighborhoods. People would work six days, then begin their Sunday walk with greetings to each other as they walked, even to differing churches. Pretty civil thing to do, right? They had a longing for the greeting! Gregarious, we congregate!

In fact, when I engaged in the building of a church meeting house in Texas I learned about certain things the general public is unaware of in regard to local churches. For instance, few if any cities have zoning regulations about where churches must be built: you can put a church most anywhere with no regard to what the area consists of. (Try that with a tavern or night club, ha!) Also, there was no parking lot size requirements in the city coding, because most towns built in America’s great growth period —1820s to 1920s—had most people walking to church, or horse hitches Which were not a space issue. 

When I asked the city (New Braunfels, TX) what their parking space code was for churches, the man hesitated with a rather odd look on his face. So I said, “you know, like how many spaces for cars does a shopping center need, etc.” He said, “Oh, I know what you meant…”, then with a grimace on his face he said, “None, we don’t have a code.” That’s when I learned about the churches can be put anywhere, the idea is people will walk if it’s convenient and so forth.

Here’s another very gregarious act of a community nature: Church bells were not placed on most churches originally for decoration or uniqueness. They were as a service to the people. In small farming villages, they were rang incessantly if a tragedy struck or a house or business was afire. Also, when a baby was born, or a wedding or funeral was about to commence, there was a certain ring. 

Bells had another purpose in many small towns where limited funds came into play. If two or three congregations pooled their monies to build a church, often one group would meet at 9am, the next at noon, the third at 3pm. They would use a different bell to call their people together and a different bell at dismissal so as to not run into each other. I guess you’d call that “selective gregariousness,” I don’t know. Maybe that’s where the term “denomination” came from (just kidding.)

So, today we will congregate, but we most definitely will not denominate! To denominate is to name separately or separate for the purpose of not including others. (Added bonus today: denominations are not your friends, they are separatists—see the root word.)

Thanks for reading, the Elder