Eucharistic Meditation

Deuteronomy 6:7: You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

We don’t worship simply by putting a service on the calendar and showing up. We put the service on the calendar and show up so that we can do the work of worship, the chief work of the church.

In the same way, as Pastor Sumpter has said, discipleship is not accomplished by a program. Programs and plans are vehicles that enable discipleship to take place. Scheduled events put us in the same place at the same time so that we can pray and study and be accountable and so grow up together into maturity in Jesus Christ.

Growing as a disciple, and leading others to be disciples, involves more than showing up at a discipleship group. Israelite parents trained their children in the daily rhythms of life, in, with and under all the changing postures of a day’s work and rest.

This was Israel’s pattern, and it is ours, because it is the Lord’s pattern. God invites us to His house. He spread a meal before us, and He speaks His statutes and judgments and ordinances. He is our great Father and Brother who teaches us as He walks with us, stands with us, rises and lies down with us, above all when He comes near to sit enthroned with us at this table in His kingdom.