“So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.”

— Acts 2:41

Have you ever preached a sermon so powerful that 3,000 people were baptized and joined your congregation in a single day?

Yeah… me neither.

Sometimes we treat Acts like a manual for how the church is supposed to work. You just let me know when your congregation is ready to hold all things in common or when you are planning to preach Ananias and Sapphira as part of your stewardship series. I will bring the popcorn.

Even if Acts is not a blueprint, it does give us a window into how the writer of Luke and Acts understands the Christian life. The people hear the word of God, and it changes them. They are baptized, and then they devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers. That is the picture.

So what does life in the church actually look like?

It looks like discipleship and fellowship. It looks like sharing the table. It looks like prayer.

And, by the way, you will recognize that pattern. It is right there in the fourfold pattern of worship in the United Methodist Hymnal.

I am not here to tell you that you are doing worship wrong if you are not following that pattern exactly, though a small part of me is tempted. But I do want to ask about our life together.

How are we making space for this kind of community? Where are we gathering to learn together? To share meals together? To pray together? Even in small and simple ways?

I am writing this first draft just a week after our time together at Clergy Convocation. By the time you are reading it, it has been several weeks.

So let me ask you honestly:

How are you now? Do you miss your clergy siblings? Would it refresh your soul to pray with a few of them again? To share a meal? To study together? Are you carrying more than you were meant to carry alone?

If so, can I encourage you to reach out. Call a colleague. Set up lunch. Send a message and say, “Hey, I need some people.” Call me, if you want.

Because this life of faith, this life in Christ, was never meant to be lived in isolation.