Monday, March 29, 2004

This Body we remember

I am not sure who all has been to our fotopage and happens to be reading this, but for those in the know we found a church here in Shanghai and it is a big deal for us. It can be difficult, as I have said before, to realise that we are in a communist country right now, and that only a short (by Canadian standards) journey away they are arresting our brothers and sisters and placing them in prison. Some of that fell away though when we went to church this Sunday. The service we went to was for foreign passport holders only and as we approached the gates to go into the church compound there were two policemen just a few meters down the road idly watching the people going in. I have no doubt that they will have in mind certain people who should not be going in. When we entered the sanctuary there was a heavy presence of the Spirit there. For all the charismatics out there I will clarify that there were no outward manifestations of His presence, but just a brooding joy and soveriegn sanctity. I wept. The sweetness came in the flood of realisations about what we were joining. There are people attending from all over the globe; Europe, Africa, North America, Australia, & Asia just from the introduction of the newcomers that Sunday. The Father's children were coming together in a sweet prophetic declaration to the spirit residing over this country, reminding him that from every tongue and tribe and nation God will gather a people unto Himself. There are also people from all different denominations there. We are there because of our need. Here we gather not because of some familiar format, but rather because we are in need. No one we talked to asked what church we are from and I cannot tell you how sweet that was. Again there is a prophetic declaration here for all who will hear it. The last thing I will say is that I really could not have cared less about the format. The chidren of God were gathering and I was there! Friends, we really need to get over ourselves and all this BS about churches, formats, styles and the endless tripe we puff ourselves up over. Like the song we sang that morning says," God loves people more than anything!!!" Maybe we should too.
During the nap I had before the service which started at 4pm I had a dream of having communion and thought perhaps it was a prophetic insight into what was awaiting us. When we didn't actually break bread I was going to dismiss it, but God said not to. Even before I could inquire why I shouldn't He said that this gathering of His body was communion. We shared the elements as we recieved the knowledge of our need. We remembered the breaking of the bread in the joy of the body of unity it won for us. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!!! This is the great rallying cry. There is no blog big enough to contain all His praise when even all the heavens are merely His signature.

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