What an interesting day; skiing with twelve men, some of them strangers others known to me because we have been part of the same church for four years. More than that, the ability in the group ranges from absolute beginner to expert, from the ‘I-can-get-down-hills-it’s-just-that-I-am-on-my-bottom’ club to the the ‘ski-so-fast-the-snow-melts behind-me’ brigade.
As usual, though, everyone wants it to work, and we naturally spit into three groups who skied together in the morning, and then a larger group messed around on the slopes in the afternoon.
It does make me realise, though, that what passes for fellowship in the church, very often is nothing of the kind. You’re always going to get to know people better when you come away with them, but I find that I basically know those in the group with whom I have worked in different roles in the church. Just sitting alongside people in the pews and shaking hands in the peace is not fellowship.
I wonder: do we expect to have fellowship with too many people? Have we lost the wisdom of being deeply rooted and deeply content with the gift of fellowship with a few? I’ve been thinking more about contentment, but maybe I’ll come back to that another day. I wonder if we would be more content, more peaceful, more joyful, more at peace if we learned to be close to a few rather than wanting the thrill and stimulation of everything that everyone has to offer. Jesus, after all basically invested in twelve men didn’t He?
Twelve men… now there’s a thought. It doesn’t say they ever went skiing, though does it??
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