Rhythms of the Day: A Rhythm of Gathering in a Culture of Fragmentation

[00:00:00] I’m Toby. And we’re in a series called Rhythms of the Day, and we’re thinking about different rhythms that we have in our life or we can apply to our lives that will help us to be formed in light of Christ. We are being … The whole point of it is we’re being formed, whether we’re aware of it or not.

[00:00:18] Uh, the life around us, media, conversations, advertisements, social imagination, all around us form us into particular people. But as God’s people, we don’t wanna just become people who our culture are forming us into. We wanna be kingdom people. We- people who are formed by the kingdom, people who live in the kingdom of God.

[00:00:37] Last week we thought about hurry, how hurry is forming us, and how a regular rhythm of Sabbath might combat that to form us spiritually. And this week is f- uh, how fragmentation, a culture of fragmentation is forming us. How can the rhythm of Sunday gatherings help to form us, uh, in light of the kingdom of God?

[00:00:57] We’re, by the way, air con, huh, praise the Lord. But, um, we’re just, we’re, we’re trialing it out. So if you’re sweaty, let us know and we’ll figure it out next week. We’ll just, we’ll, we’ll just keep, uh, fine-tuning it until we get it perfect, and then it will be summer.

[00:01:16] Let me pray Father, your, your word is is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, and I pray that you would, this morning continue to conform us into the image of your Son. And I pray that you would speak through me and, and help me as I try and communicate what I’ve put together this week, and help us all to build one another up in, in love.

[00:01:42] And I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen. In the prayer app Lectio 365 it’s a, it’s an app that three times a day there are beautifully written prayers and scripture readings and maybe a story from Christian history. And in the morning prayer, before they begin, there’s always the same little phrase.

[00:02:02] It says, “I pause now to recenter my scattered senses upon the presence of God.”

[00:02:11] Our lives are fragmented. And what I mean by that is we have so many different areas of our lives, and very few are connected with o- with the others. Our vocation, our communities, our relaxation spaces, our distant family, rarely do those things overlap. And then we have sports groups, and schools, and kids’ sports groups, and extracurricular, and bands, and gigs, and businesses, and church, and Sunday gatherings, and there’s all these different fragments, and rarely is there a common center between all of them.

[00:02:52] There sometimes is. There some- well, there sometimes is a, a, a center for a few of them, but never entirely. In the Biblical narrative, there was a common center when everything revolved around one thing, and everyone had that one thing in common, and fragmentation was not in swing. In Genesis one and two, God placed humanity’s life around a center.

[00:03:18] In a physical sense, He placed, uh, two trees in the center of the garden. And they were– they, they represented life and death, and a decision of obedience. But then in a relational sense, God was the center. God was the center for everyone. I mean, there were only two people, but He was the center for everyone.

[00:03:38] He created it with purpose and meaning, and humans to be to be made in His image to reflect who He is to the world, and reflect glory back to Him. So when that was lost in Genesis three, the rest of Scripture is the story of trying to get God back in the center, trying to centralize again. And and so now we, we have– we probably have experiences, uh, of revolving around a similar center, some different fragments kinda centering in.

[00:04:06] I like going to, um, when you go to, like, little villages and you see, uh, that there’s a small church building in this village of, like, a hundred houses, and there’s a, there’s a community center, and, and everybody kinda did things in that one space. That’s so s- There, there are, there are experiences of, of common centers, but so much less so now.

[00:04:29] The Western world in particular now has lost its common center. So it’s, it’s a very normal thing, very normal thing for us to have so many fragments of life. Which is really hard. It’s really hard. They all come from different areas, and all of these different areas are trying to become central. They’re all vying for our attention.

[00:04:51] They’re all trying to become different central parts of our lives, and then the felt result is that we’re scattered. We just feel scattered Pulled in all different directions. So many different areas of our lives, very few are connected. The vocations, the communities, relaxation spaces, distant family, sports groups, schools, kids sports groups, extracurricular, bands, gigs, businesses, church groups, Sunday gatherings, all of it.

[00:05:17] That’s fragmentation, and we feel scattered because of it Now where does this come from? Well, it comes from, partly from the fall, and then more recently from hundreds of years of slowly de-centering. But historians would point to a few things. They would point to the Industrial Revolution, which created the opportunity to work away from home and away from family uh, fragmenting the average vocation.

[00:05:47] And then with modernity, with its easy travel and its cost of living and having to live even further away from jobs, it creates more fragments. Our communities are no longer centralized, our sports, our parent groups, families. So we’re all met with many, many fragments to life. And those two things linked together, the Industrial Revolution and modernity, then when that meets the digital age, it just becomes really complicated.

[00:06:13] This is the… This is, this is what we live in. With technology, especially with the phone, it complicates things on a deeper level. Because not only are we scattered, but then we carry all those scatterings in our pocket So we can carry our work or our community groups that are fragmented from our homes and our kids’ schools in our pockets.

[00:06:34] And, and when… And none of these things are bad necessarily, but it presents a problem that when one thing is trying to become central, when you’re at your home and that’s trying to become central, at the same time, all these community groups and your work are also trying to become central because they’re in your pockets vibrating saying, “Prioritize me.

[00:06:55] Prioritize me When everything is asking to become central, our lives become scattered, and that’s fragmentation. That’s the world we live in. Now, does that form us into the image of God? Does that form us to become l- to live like people of God? Does a fragmented life with activities and responsibilities and notifications and desires all calling us to make that one thing a central piece of our life, does that form us into the people of God?

[00:07:30] Because it is forming us. It is forming us, which is why we can finally get a day off and still feel pulled in six different directions, and it’s why we can sit at the dinner table and an- answering a text about Monday’s meeting, and it’s why we can be at our kid’s football game whilst answering work emails or making important phone calls, and it’s why we can gather at church and not recognize the importance of it because it just becomes one of the many fragments of our lives that are all competing for each other I wanna make three things really clear just at the top.

[00:08:07] Firstly, I’m not gonna argue that among the fragments we should prioritize Sunday gatherings because that is just, th- well, that’s just silly because that’s j- e- every fragment is trying to do that Every fragment is saying, “Choose me. Prioritize me.” And if I say, “Choose Sunday gatherings, prioritize Sunday gatherings,” it does nothing Secondly, this has got nothing to do with condemnation.

[00:08:33] Like, I’m not condemning anyone about coming to the gathering or not coming to the gathering or whatever. We’re trying to show that we know that it’s hard, and that’s a cultural thing. So it’s not it’s not even necessarily a result of our bad planning. It’s actually just a cultural thing, that we live in a culture of fragmentation, and it naturally ends up being put in the mix of all the scatterings.

[00:08:59] So it’s nothing to do with condemnation. And then thirdly, we’re concerned about formation. That’s what we’re concerned about. We wanna see people become more like Jesus, and I think that these rhythms that we’re looking at, these six rhythms and more, I just put six in, are will really help us to lean into Jesus.

[00:09:17] Okay? Those three things in the back of our minds as we go through this. How can the Sunday gathering then, which might feel like another fragment, help to form us in light of the Kingdom of God? Three, three points to look at: unique role, a key recentering, and bigger than I. And then we’ll look at some practical aspects of it.

[00:09:42] So a unique role. Megan Hill, uh, Megan Hill is a, she’s a writer for The Gospel Coalition and an author. She, she wrote a book called Sabbath Rest, and in that book, she talks about the Sunday gathering. And she starts by quoting a, um… Shouldn’t step on this, but can’t help it. She starts by quoting a Puritan pastor, David Clarkson, and then expands on what he says.

[00:10:07] So she says this: “David Clarkson wrote, ‘The most wonderful things that are now done on earth are wrought in the public ordinances, though the commonness and spiritualness of them makes them seem less wonderful.'” And then Megan Hill says, “In other words, what goes on in your church on Sunday may not look like much, but it’s the most significant thing happening anywhere in the world.”

[00:10:36] Big claim, Meg But then she says why. She says w- why she believes that Sunday gatherings are unique, and she backs it up with scripture. She says, “When God’s people gather for worship, the Lord promises His presence, proclaims His word, receives our prayers and praises, makes us holy, converts sinners, and seals us to Himself in baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

[00:11:05] Seen through the lens of Scripture, church worship is the pinnacle of every week. Truly, a day in the Lord’s courts is better than 1,000 elsewhere.” No other fragment of our lives achieves that. Sunday gatherings are unique. And I don’t think we draw much attention to how unique Sunday gatherings are a lot of the time.

[00:11:31] But the writer of Hebrews does in Hebrews 10. Um, in Hebrews 10, whi- which we read earlier, Emily read it for us, the writer reminds the readers of what Jesus has done. Verse 19 to 21. Hebrews 10:19-21: “Therefore, brothers and sisters since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, and a new and living way opened for us through the curtain that is his body, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God…”

[00:12:03] Dot dot. Th- that, Hebrews is quite quite hard to understand sometimes. He’s essentially saying, “Since we have relationship with God, since we now can draw near to God and be close with Him because of what Jesus has done, since that’s true for us, then we should live in a particular way.” And then he says three things off the back of that, verse 22 onwards.

[00:12:27] He says three things. Because of what Jesus has done for us, well, let us draw near to God. Let us hold fast, that’s verse 22, and then let us hold fast to the hope, verse 23, and let us spur one another on, verse 24 And then in verse 25 he answers a predicted questions, how? How can we do that? And the answer is twofold.

[00:12:52] There’s a negative and a positive. The negative, he says we can do that by not neglecting to meet together The way that you live out your natural response of what Jesus has done for you is by not neglecting to meet together The language of meeting together as well in Hebrews 10 is, um, is more in a corporate sense.

[00:13:14] It’s not just hanging out, and it’s not necessarily gospel community type things either. Um, it’s episkopē, which is synagogue, right? It’s the, it’s a corporate gathering of God’s people. Meeting together regularly has a unique role, a unique role that responds to our salvation, saying, “Since we have this through Jesus, let us live this way, not neglecting to meet together.”

[00:13:39] That’s the negative. And then there’s a positive. So not neglecting to meet together, but instead, and you’d think that he’d say, “Meeting together.” But he doesn’t say that. The writer says, “Not neglecting to meet together, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.” So the writer ties up meeting together or not neglecting to meet together with encouraging one another, and I really like that.

[00:14:11] I re- like, I really like that because I think it’s so encourage– Just the act of meeting together is so encouraging, that yes we encourage people with the gospel of Jesus and, and the testimonies of faith, and we point each other to Jesus. But also, even just by turning up, that is so encouraging When parents see that other parents have managed to make the effort to gather together.

[00:14:34] When we see that people who have had a full-on week are regularly there, that’s encouraging. When the voices of praise are louder, when the amens after prayers are unified, when all the morning tea is gone. When you see that someone, when you see someone being prayed for after the gathering, when you overhear stories of grace, it’s en- it’s, it’s encouraging.

[00:14:56] They all help us to see that a regular rhythm of gathering together, and of not neglecting that, has a unique role in our lives, even when we’re tired, even with kids, even when we have an exam that afternoon, or a big meeting the next day, or it’s someone’s birthday. Even when six other things are … and they’re good things, but they’re calling for our attention, and they’re trying to become central in our lives, gathering together has a unique role

[00:15:24] And in all of that, in all of what Megan Hill said and what the writer of Hebrews says, it portrays the kingdom that we belong to, which Jack was saying earlier as well, portrays the kingdom of what we belong, that we belong to. Our Sunday gatherings are unique because they are a tiny taste of the fullness of the kingdom to come Where we will be with God’s people, and we’ll sing endless praise t- with one another, and we’re face to face with God Himself.

[00:15:49] It’s like a hark back to the garden where humankind reflected Him. So the church reflects the eternal assembly of the kingdom. No other fragment in our lives has this role. Sunday gathering of God’s people has a unique and significantly important role. As Megan Hill says, “It is the most significant thing happening anywhere in the world.”

[00:16:12] It responds to salvation, it encourages the saints, and it pictures the kingdom

[00:16:18] So it’s a unique role. It’s also, um, a key recentering. So Sunday gatherings are a key recentering. In Luke 10:38-42 Jesus goes to Mary and Martha’s house. Mary and Martha are friends of, friends of Jesus. They come into a few other stories as well. And the, the … What happens is Jesus is there, he’s sitting with his, with his disciples, and Mary is sitting at Jesus’s feet.

[00:16:45] And the culture of the time was such that women would usually occupy the back rooms of the house and the kitchen And the men would oc- occupy the front rooms of the house, and especially the disciples would sit at the rabbi’s feet. Sitting at the feet is a, um, is more of a learning position, a learning posture.

[00:17:07] And Martha notices that her sister is in the front room with the men, sitting at Jesus’ feet, and Martha’s thinking she shouldn’t be, she shouldn’t be doing that. She shouldn’t be doing that because culturally that’s wrong, but also there is a lot to do. She’s… and she’s left it all to Martha, which is what Martha then says to Jesus.

[00:17:30] She goes to Jesus, and she says, “Lord, don’t you care?”

[00:17:35] Don’t you care that my sister has left me? That I’ve got to do all the work by myself? That she’s not doing what she should be doing? Don’t you care? And then she says to Jesus, “Tell her to help me

[00:17:48] What’s Martha’s problem here? Because it’s not just that she needs help. Because Jesus then if that was the case, Jesus could have just gone, “Hey, Peter, stand up. Go into the back rooms. You know, breaking cultural things anyway. Go into the back room. Go and help.” But he doesn’t do that, and he doesn’t get Mary to go up and help her either.

[00:18:10] The problem isn’t that she just needed help

[00:18:13] Jesus says, Jesus diagnoses the problem. His response is Martha, you are worried and upset about many things” There are so many things that are causing you trouble or anxiety. It’s the same word in Philippians 4. What Mary is doing or not doing, it’s causing you trouble. It’s making you worried.

[00:18:39] May- maybe, maybe more, maybe how will the house be clean? How will I meet the needs of these people? How will they eat? And it all sounds a bit like fragmentation And it’s relatable. I think it’s so relatable. We’re anxious and troubled about many things. How will I get this project done? How will I be healthy?

[00:18:57] Work will be so stressful. People will think less of me. And then Jesus speaks the truth. Only a few things are needed, or indeed only one And Mary has chosen what is better. The one sitting, not preoccupied by the other fragments. Yes, she has chosen the counter-cultural option. A woman in the front room with the men, sitting like a disciple.

[00:19:25] But she’s also choosing to learn from Jesus, to centralize him To centralize his teachings and his people, and all the other fragments that might be important seem to be immuried or swept away into thin air. Wouldn’t it be better if it all just blew away, as Mike Wazowski once said? Come on, laugh at that.

[00:19:47] Don’t make that set feel like- … I’m actually quoting Mike Wazowski. Martha isn’t an outlier. She’s not rebellious. Martha is occupied with the fragments that are, like, embedded into her culture And for us, maybe we’re trying to juggle careers, and children, and aging parents, and school activities, and phones, and bills, and endless notifications. And for Martha, maybe it’s serving guests, and making sure dinner’s ready, or making beds, or whatever that was.

[00:20:15] But the point is that they’re sneaking, each of these fragments are trying to become central. And Jesus is saying, “Well, those things, they’re making you anxious. They’re making you scattered. They’re making you worried, troubled. And one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen it, and it is centralizing upon God.

[00:20:37] Just come and be my disciple. Don’t worry about it Come be formed by the truth of my love, and the grace of my word, and the praise of my name. Come and marvel in the greatness of the King. And don’t let the other fragments distract you; the emails, communities, sports groups, extracurricular, bands, gigs, businesses.

[00:20:58] Are they gonna distract us from being formed into who Jesus has saved us to be?

[00:21:03] ‘ cause they are forming us

[00:21:05] I wish I knew Martha’s response. We don’t know Martha’s response, but I hope that she put down the tray of food and sat next to her sister. And I hope that we do the same Now, all of that being said, Sunday gatherings are not the only means of sitting at Jesus’ feet. Don’t hear me say that.

[00:21:25] But they are a rhythm that can help us to do that they can help us to recenter on what really matters. As we come to gather together, we’re, we’re reminded who God is. We’re reminded of what He’s done for us to draw close. We’re reminded of all that He has designed in our relationships with each other.

[00:21:45] And in this little group of godly men and women portray the kingdom and God’s character to the world and to each other. As we come and sing and pray and listen and read and encourage, we center and recenter on what really matters. And sometimes it won’t feel like that. Sometimes it will feel like a burden.

[00:22:04] Sometimes it’ll be really hard to put down the tray of food. But it does recenter us for the fragmented week ahead Finally, the third, the third point, just before we get onto some practical aspects of it, is it’s bigger than I, which is also what Jack was talking about. You should have just done preach, Jack, I reckon.

[00:22:24] Part of the problem with being in a fragmented culture is that fragmentation has grown up and well matured in a culture of individualism, and we’ll get to the culture of individualism next week. But I can’t leave it today because we, we have it so drilled into us that to, just to think about ourselves when it comes to Sunday gatherings.

[00:22:47] Scripture never talks about it in that way. So the, the word that’s usually translated as church, ecclesia, in the New Testament, is it literally means assembly. By definition, it is a gathering of people, not person. And the word in Hebrews ten as well is, is a collective. And in Hebrews ten, there’s a connection between gathering and encouragement, and that, that means it doesn’t have– It’s not to do with me.

[00:23:13] And the Sunday gathering is a family gathering. Now, there are individual benefits. Harvard recently did a study on the, the individual benefits of Sunday gathering, and I haven’t read it all. I skimmed a book that Rebecca McLaughlin wrote on the study that Harvard did. The book is called I think something like, How Church Can Literally Save Your Life.

[00:23:39] And it’s talking about the, the benefits, the psychological benefits and the, the health benefits and the spiritual benefits. Uh, it’s like seventy pages long. So there are individual benefits, but also it’s bigger than I. Coming to worship God in a corporate assembly is not just for me. It’s also not just for us.

[00:23:57] It’s about the glory of God and about honoring Him and using the gifts that He’s given us to build the body So Sunday gatherings are a lot bigger than just I Now, how do we do this? Let’s think about some practical things. I’ve had to cut a lot from this. I’m hoping to I’ll– maybe I’ll tack some stuff on the end of the study again if I get to it tomorrow.

[00:24:21] But five things. One, it takes choice and sacrifice. There are times when, uh, when Sunday gatherings are very convenient, and that’s just the best. Aren’t they best when you just come, and it all just works well, and it’s really convenient, and it’s great? But that’s not every week. But if we’re convi-convinced of the importance of the gathering, then we need to make a conscious choice, and that will often look like sacrificing other fragments.

[00:24:50] This is why we use the– we’re using the word rhythm as well because we do this with other regular rhythms in our life. Eating well or exercise or even just work or getting up early in, in order to get to work on time. Like all of these, the natural rhythms we have, well, they’re not natural.

[00:25:06] We’ve applied them. They’re just rhythms that we’ve applied, and the better rhythm you have, the easier it becomes. So it takes choice and sacrifice. Secondly, um, serving. I think we should serve. There, there are huge benefits to serving. If Sunday gathering is a key place that reflects the kingdom of heaven, then it should look like servanthood.

[00:25:25] And I also believe that serving helps us to belong. Uh, it helps us to get here and be here. The reality is none of this would happen if we didn’t se- Well, maybe it would, but it would not look like this. It’s incredible. I love this church. I love how much you guys serve us and serve each other and serve God in the midst of it.

[00:25:51] That being said, there are absolutely times to take a break from serving. Absolutely times to step back, and that is completely understandable. We’re human with limits. Very understandable. Thirdly, show up with kids. Parenting with kids is hard. The, the- As opposed to parenting without kids. Yeah, it’s harder, I suppose.

[00:26:14] They… Maybe I meant to say parenting with young kids. Parenting, but parenting with… I haven’t experienced parenting with not young kids. Yeah. Anyway, they experience fragmentation as well, young kids do. And it’s, it’s our job as parents to help them to see the uniqueness of Sunday gatherings and everything that I’ve just talked about.

[00:26:35] Help them to know what to expect, and make it easier for them. Remind them, r- remind each other in the car on the way why we’re gathering and how we love each other through our behavior and listening and serving. And there’s so many, like, practical things you can do here. You can make it special. Make a special…

[00:26:52] I know the Arundels have started making special breakfasts on Sunday mornings. That’s great. Sit with them. Call them into what you’re doing. Serve together. Sing together. Uh, I, I love when Torin was playing drum with you the other week. That was really cool. And Mitch called me the other week and said, “Hey, can Indie serve on kids?”

[00:27:10] I’m like, “Yes, that’s amazing.” She- maybe she’s down there serving with kids. She’s not today, but thank her when you see her if… she’s been serving on, um, in the pre-K group. So if you have a kid in there, thank Indie as well. I love that. It helps them to belong, and we can create more spaces for that to happen as well.

[00:27:29] And keep praying for a kids worker too just on that note. But show up with kids. Fourthly, think about how often you’re away. Think ahead of time, how many Sundays do, do I want to be there? Knowing the significance of Sunday gatherings, how often do I want to be, be there? And then plan with that in mind, knowing the impact of formation.

[00:27:50] Holidays, sickness, it’s all gonna happen. I mean, even when you’re on holiday, gather. We w- when we were in Tasmania, we we were just in the middle of nowhere, and I sent a message to Dave and to Cam saying, “Hey, do you know of any churches in Tassie?” Like, trying to find them. They’re all too far away.

[00:28:07] We drove half an hour to this high Anglican church. They have four people, and then we showed up with another f- there’s us four, and then one other visitor as well. And it wasn’t special. But it was, it was good. It was good to gather. It was good to recenter. And then fifthly, make the most of it.

[00:28:26] Seize every opportunity to commune with Christ. Open your Bible and follow along with the scripture readings. Actively listen to the preaching, taking notes if it helps. Say amen to the prayers, either silently or out loud. Sing your heart out. Offer your praise and faith to God. Bring your true selves and your feelings and express those to God in prayer or to others, even if it’s, “Lord, don’t you care?”

[00:28:52] And rejoice and weep because God is present. We’ve been saved by Him. None of this, none of the structure of Sunday gatherings saves us. None of it. The work is done completely and wholly through Jesus and His death and resurrection, and we have His Spirit conforming us into the image of His Son.

[00:29:10] But Sundays are a rhythm to allow Him to form us, in contrast to how the world is forming us Lectio 365 taps into the culture of today’s fragments saying, “As I begin, I pause to recenter my scattered senses upon the presence of God.” Because we live in a time and a place that is scattering every part of us.

[00:29:33] Every fragment calls for our attention, and it’s slowly forming us. When we get a day off, we’re pulled in six different directions. When we sit at the table, we’re texting about Monday’s meetings. When we … At our kid’s game, maybe we’re making important phone calls, and Sundays so easily slip into being another fragment.

[00:29:50] Of course, they do. It’s natural So let’s remember that Sundays have a unique role like no other fragment. They’re a key recentering to sit at Jesus’ feet, and they’re bigger than I. They’re about His people, His kingdom, and His glory. And as we gather and, and w- we’re reminded of who God is and all that He’s done for us to draw close, and all that He’s designed in our relationships with each other, and we come, and we sing, and we pray, and we listen, and we read, and we encourage, and we recenter on what really matters.

[00:30:25] And sometimes it won’t feel like that. Sometimes it’ll feel like a burden, but it can be a rhythm that will allow God to form us by the truth of His love, and the grace of His Word, and the praise of His name as we come and marvel at the greatness of our King. Amen.