When the early church gathered for worship, the focus was not a band or a sermon from a pastor. There was certainly singing voices and teaching Scriptures, but the climax was a celebratory meal of remembrance, an Agape Feast. The Eucharist was the reason they gathered, the center of their worship and the reason for their hope.

Then somewhere along the way, mainly in the past 50 years, a growing branch of the American evangelical church decided the Lord’s Supper could be relegated to a monthly or quarterly afterthought. No one was being heretical or insensitive, but the focus of our gathering was certainly changing. This was the tradition in which I was raised.

We have decided at New Life to bring it back to the center of our worship, to return our attention to the mystery of Christ’s body and blood. Starting this Sunday, and on most Sundays thereafter, communion will be the highlight of our gathering. We will gather to sing and I will still teach the Scriptures, but there will be a time in each gathering where we pause, pray and celebrate the sacred.

Some Sundays, we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper while we sing and on other Sundays we will respond to the teaching of the Scriptures by ending our gathering with communion. Regardless of when it happens, it will certainly be the underscore and the emphasis of our time together.

In a world where absolute truth and sound theology are under attack, I believe, for us at New Life, we are being centered again on a foundational stone and are returning to the mysteries that call us to a deeper place of worship. For us, communion is the bridge between a miraculous, resurrected past, a hopeful present and a prophetic future.

I just spent a couple of days in Montana at the home of Eugene Peterson, talking about church and our call as pastors. The conversation was filmed in his pastoral study overlooking Flathead Lake for our upcoming New Life Leadership Conference. Spending time with Pastor Eugene and his wife Jan was a real joy and I drove away from their home with several thoughts.

1. We need more spiritual grandfathers.

Pastor Eugene will be 80 later this year and most of his adult life has been spent in relative obscurity as pastor of a Presbyterian church he planted in suburban Baltimore. He is finishing the race really well and his wisdom and integrity are evident in his words and actions. We need to hear the stories of more men and women who have served so faithfully. We must seek them out, linger with them and hear about their struggles, their fears and their victories. The Abraham generation has a lot to teach those of us who are in the Isaac and Jacob stage of ministry.

2. Hospitality is powerful.

Pastor Eugene and Jan welcomed us into their home. They admitted that age and fatigue does not allow them to extend as much hospitality as days past, but they genuinely welcomed us. We ate meals at local restaurants and stayed overnight at a nearby B&B, but the time in their living room and on their back deck were powerful reminders that all of us need to open our homes more often to unhurried conversations.

3. We have more in common than not.

Pastor Eugene is from a different generation and his pastoral challenges were not always the same as ours today. He laughed when I asked him about worship bands, light shows, smoke machines and other potential distractions to our worship. What we do have in common is our love for the local church, a real desire to see people learn to listen and pray and a tenacity to teach the continuously articulate Scriptures. Some things transfer naturally from one generation to another.

We have a huge opportunity to bless our city and region this Friday and Saturday. Thanks to the tremendous generosity of an organization called Gleaning for the World, which is led by my friend Jonathan Falwell, we have four semi-trailers of relief supplies headed our way.  We will be getting bottled water, food, pet supplies, items for babies, blankets, some fresh produce, and personal toiletry items.

We will also be working closely with local relief groups, supplying them with anything they need. We are so thankful for local food banks and shelters who have done an amazing job the past week. We hope these incoming supplies will be a blessing to them, too.

We need help on Friday unloading these semi-trailers and help on Saturday from 9am to 4pm as we bless the thousands of people who have been scattered because of the evacuations. If you can help in any way on these two days, email Rina Thompson at rthompson@newlifechurch.org and let us know. Also, please help us spread the word about Saturday using your email contacts and by posting this on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement and a big thank you, again, to Gleaning for the World and Jonathan Falwell for their kindness.

First, I am so proud of the way our church has mobilized into our city to help during this fire storm. The offers continue to pour in by the hour for shelter, food, and donations. You are the church at its finest.

We have offered our campus to several local agencies, but right now, there is a lot of available space at local schools, especially since it is summer break. They have better shower and bath facilities, which makes sense for families who may need shelter for several days. We are more than ready to take in fire refugees, though.

We decided to go forward with Desperation, which starts Wednesday and ends Friday night. Most of them were already en route, when the fires turned suddenly toward our city. Our campus is safe from the flames and we will limit outside activities since the air quality is so poor. I also believe it will be powerful to have thousands of students here to pray for rain, plus our local hotels and restaurants will be blessed at a time when a lot of tourists are cancelling their trips to our city.

We will be working closely with many New Lifers who lost their homes last night and I will make you aware of any opportunities to serve them or our city. I am thankful there has been no loss of life and very few injuries. Our prayers are important now, more than ever. God is faithful to us even when circumstances are not what we had planned or imagined. Seems like someone spoke on this very subject at New Life last Sunday. Now we get to live it and believe it together.