THURSDAY - September 3

Read. Acts 20:1-12
When the riot was over, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, said good-bye, and left for the province of Macedonia. 2 He traveled through that region with a message of encouragement. When he came to Greece, 3 he stayed for three months. Because the Jews hatched a plot against Paul as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided instead to return through Macedonia. 4 He was accompanied by Sopater, Pyrrhus’ son from Beroea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. 5 They went on ahead and waited for us in Troas. 6 We sailed from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread and met them five days later in Troas, where we stayed for a week.

Reflect.  In v.7-12 we get one of the first pictures of what an early Christian service was like. William Barclay, in his Daily Study Bible Series vividly describes how this might have looked: 

• • “It talks twice about breaking of bread. In the early Church there were two closely related things. One was what was called the Love Feast. To it all contributed and it was a real meal, often the only proper meal that poor slaves got all week. Here, Christians ate in loving fellowship with each other. The other was the Lord’s Supper which was observed during or immediately after the Love Feast. … [This common meal] marked as nothing else could the family spirit of the Church.”
  • “All this happened at night. This is probably because it was only at night, when the day’s work was done, that slaves could come to the Christian fellowship. This explains the case of Eutychus. It was dark. In the low upper room it was hot. The many lamps made the air oppressive. Eutychus, no doubt, had done a hard day’s work before he came and his body was tired. He was sitting by a window to get the cool night air. The windows were not made of glass. They were either lattice or solid wood and opened like doors, coming right down almost to the floor and projecting over the courtyard below. … We must not take it that Paul spoke on and on; there would be talk and discussion.”
  • “There is something very lovely about this simple picture. The impression is that of a family meeting together rather than of a modern church service.”
• In light of our current circumstances where a “modern church service” looks very different, and will, likely, look very different for quite some time, what can we learn from this picture? If we have to rethink our worship gatherings due to a pandemic, how might this picture of a “family meeting” serve as a help or a guide? Does this early picture of a church service give you any kind of hope about the future of church meetings during our current days of challenge? 

Pray. Pray for you church and your faith community.

COMMUNITY PRAYER LIST

Doug. Bobby. Collier. Glenn. Adam.  Mary.  Clyde.  Linda. Betty Carolyn. Jeff. Albert. Richard. Lois. Ross. Tiny. Donald. Bill. Barbara. Andreas. Helen. Bonnie Brenner. Baker Family. Robert McKenzie Family. Kibler family. Carolyn Harlow. Jeremy. Jeff Green. Lyric. Earl Graves. Mickey Huff. Huff & Welch families. Helen Leigh. Paul Huffman. Schools, Teachers, Staff, Parents, Students. Church regathering plans. Layman family. Charlene Withrow. John. Brandon Casteel. Dirk Orr family. Smith family. Crowder family. Lillard family. Family of Floyd Eaton. Thompson family. The coming birth of Titus. Family of Eddie Rynes.