Blessed Dialogue

As I have had the privilege of preaching throughout the District, I have come to realize that it is not "preaching" I miss so much as it is the dialogue that takes place when the preacher and the congregation have experienced life together between Sundays. Don't get me wrong, I still love to teach in these churches. I love to open God's Word, praying that those who listen and the one who teaches will be blessed as they come to realize more of who God is and what He has done. But I miss looking into the faces of people I know and love and realizing that God has brought us to this place to hear what He has to say. My understanding of God's providence tells me that this is happening even when I don't know the people in a local church. It is the same thing that happens when I find myself in a conversation with people I don't know or don't know well. We communicate and we learn. But what is missing is the common vocabulary that develops among friends. The way we can talk short hand about life and God because we have shared life together. The "inside jokes," as it were, that grow out of common experiences. As I settle into a new church, this will come. But for now, I connect with that which is common to all, and long for the specific connections that bind us together in this great, collective relationship with God.