Once while sitting in a "seen it all before church service", I began to imagine something truly exciting. I had a mental picture of the congregation including a large palette of vivid oil paints. One member brought forward his contribution of sky blue and applied it to a large canvas. His inclination was toward exhortation. Another brought her colour, maroon, representing a fit piece of scripture. A third, a much older man sang a verse of an old hymn. His colour, forest green, and very appropriate for the leading of the morning. A young frail-featured man with a quiver to his jaw released charcoal gray, compassionate intercession for a family going through the knothole of severe illness. A fifth, a mother in her late thirties, bringing harvest orange and chestnut brown, for tongues and interpretation. A mechanic added the gold of prophecy to a challenging situation being faced by the assembly.
What was taking place before us, arranged by the Holy Spirit, was a beautiful corporate expression of art and worship and wisdom (involving all of the senses and attitudes of heart). This was the "togetherness" emphasized in the Acts of the Apostles, the "all in one accord". The forming picture on the canvas showed a small village at the base of an extravagant mountain, with crops and pastures and sheep on the slopes and with the suggestion of clean homes and healthy commerce, socializing and worship in the town. If this were to occur in our midst we would cease calling it "meeting or assembly or Holy Communion or Morning Prayer". We would call it instead "family" in the Lord Jesus. May it come to pass this side of Glory.
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