Hebrews 10:19-25

“And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…”  vss. 24-25a

As far as the writer is concerned the community of believers is in a position to live long and prosper. Their faith has brought them into the Divine Presence and they can live without fear, both cleansed and forgiven. Everything had been taken care of, which is precisely the position that we are in. And then he pointed to one of the basic truths of existence, life is communal! It’s in community that we are at our best and our first challenge there is to provoke one another to love and good deeds. But even as he wrote this the writer hinted that there was a problem in that early Christian community. His exhortation wasn’t going to work unless people were willing to meet together regularly, and some weren’t showing up! We know what that’s like. It’s one of the biggest challenges of our transient and mobile population. In most of our faith communities people just aren’t showing up! It seems like only a few believers have any interest in coming together for regular worship. There are a myriad of excuses. Sometimes it’s the preacher, occasionally the music, but most often it’s because they’ve found something better to do with their time. The problem is that when folks don’t show up, the whole community suffers, and the loving and good works can grind to a halt.

Thought from the Day: Why are most believers occasional worshipers?