I am a person who is most comfortable meeting God alone. I love my quiet time. I love my spiritual reading. I even love solitary walks where I recognize him in his creation.
When I ponder the ascension and the powerful effect it had on mankind, at first, I am alarmed. This mystery pushes me out of my comfort zone. Where someone else may be more challenged by persecution or by the call to suffer alone, I struggle with the idea that the Holy Spirit most often makes himself present in a group.
The disciples were all gathered together when the tongues of fire descended, and the Holy Spirit rested upon them. He didn’t meet each one individually. He met them corporately, in a group.
And the beautiful passage about wonders and signs? They were together — together in ministry, together in the temple, together in the celebration of the Eucharist, together in homes and around tables, together in prayer and in praise. Their joys were more joyful together; their griefs were more grace-filled together. The early church did life together: They lived and served and prayed with one another intentionally and regularly. Luke doesn’t just tell us that they worshipped together. He makes it abundantly clear the Spirit was made manifest amid gatherings of two or more.
We are called to community. The Holy Spirit exists in community with the Father and the Son. The Trinity is for us the perfect community. When Jesus offered his holy sacrifice at the Last Supper, he commanded his disciples to continue the practice of breaking bread together in order to remember him and to proclaim his death and resurrection until he returned. (1 Cor 11:23-26). He promised them the Holy Spirit and he also promised it would be better than when he was present with them in the flesh. He said, “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor (the Holy Spirit) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (Jn 16:7). Christ can be more intimately united to us through the Spirit than Jesus was with the disciples. He wants communion for us — Communion in the sacramental sense and communion with one another. It’s a mandate, really. When two or more gather, he is there (Mt 18:20). So, gather frequently.
The early church developed rhythms of being together in Jesus and with Jesus that we see in our liturgical practices today. But they didn’t limit themselves to a once-a-week encounter with one another or with Our Lord. They made a lifestyle out of coming together. With the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Lord meets the needs of all of us through each other. He gives one person an abundance of one thing to fill what is lacking in someone else.
This arrangement works well when we are in harmony with one another in the church. When each believer acts in service to another, the church thrives. The church intentionally living together lives in the glory of God — everyone in awe of his goodness. God grew this joy through the ministry of each member to one another in genuine community.
Of course, their numbers grew. Who wouldn’t want to belong to a group such as this? The Holy Spirit was the force behind the growth of the church then. He still is. His means to grow? Now, as then, the instruments of growth are those four critical elements: apostolic teaching, local fellowship, frequent celebration of the Eucharist and fervent prayer. All four are most fertile when we gather.
When we first moved to Connecticut, I worried about the church. I’d been warned that the Northeast was a desolate Christian wasteland. I shouldn’t have wasted a moment worrying. Here, I know what it is to be welcomed into a community of believers, a community that knows it is outnumbered, that the local land is missionary territory. But they also know how precious each of its members is to each other. They take care. They take care to encourage and to uphold one another, to treat the community like the precious source of love and life it is. It’s a beautiful thing to see the Holy Spirit at work, to witness how this small band of people who have persevered when so many others left can now meet and fully fill a church that is all too often empty. They bring the vitality of the early church to life again. Against the odds, against the culture, and very much for one another.
I have long been devoted to quiet time with the Lord. I love Eucharistic adoration alone. Now, I am learning what the Holy Spirit can do in my life when I am as devoted to local fellowship as I am to solitary pursuit of holiness. It’s astonishing, really.
I wonder what he would do in yours.
Foss, whose website is takeupandread.org, writes from Connecticut.
