A Christian Worldview from Silicon Valley

In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul is finishing a section on spiritual gifts and their use in the church when he writes: “When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.”

There are many lessons to be learned in that simple sentence, but one idea I infer from it was that the early church — or at least the church in Corinth, which Paul had a lot to do with — shared with and learned from each other when they assembled. Most of today’s churches, including ours, are much more practitioners of assembling and being led by full time pastors/teachers, people I sometimes jokingly call “professional Christians.”

Being one of those people, I’m clearly not opposed to that. Those who have particular gifts, especially gifts of teaching, ought to use them for the building up of the body of Christ (see Ephesians 4.11ff). But we should remember that the gifts we normally see used on Sunday are not the only gifts, and that even those who do have those gifts in abundance do not have them exclusively.

And so it was, with all that in mind, that we had a “One Another” service at PACC yesterday. We sang to God and to one another, we shared our struggles and joys with one another, we prayed for one another, we served communion to one another and passed the offering basket to one another, and we taught one another. Everyone who was there participated actively in at least one way, and most participated actively in multiple ways.

Perhaps when we post this e-mail on our PACC blog, people will comment on how they felt about that particular service, but I get to tell you now. I loved it.

It was an encouragement to me to hear the lessons that people shared, whether from a personal experience, from scripture, or from a God-honoring insight. It was heart-warming for me to observe a number of small groups of Christians sharing with each other and praying for each other. It was humbling to watch parents serve communion to their children, husbands serve their wives, wives serve their husbands, and friends serve their friends. Every part of the service touched me in a positive way.

So thank you, church, those of you who were able to be there, for being the church, for building up the body of Christ and for loving one another. The tender moments, the funny moments, the thoughtful moments, the moments of celebration, all worked together for the glory of God. And he must have been pleased.