The
word for today is “mutual.” Before the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us had a
casual attitude toward attending worship with others. But now that the Lord has
fulfilled our longing to get together with our fellow members, we have a deeper
appreciation of the blessing of worshipping together with others.
In
today’s reading of Romans 1:7-12, we find that Paul expresses his eager hope to
meet in person with the believers in Rome. Our own experience confirms Paul’s
insisght that mutual encouragement is one of the most precious
blessings of joining with others in worship, study, and fellowship.
Today’s passage takes us
back to the beginning of the Epistle to the Romans. To begin his letter, St.
Paul introduces himself as a servant of Christ and an Apostle. Then he
addresses the faithful in Rome with the most cordial greeting, “Grace and Peace
to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:1). He then
writes that he thanks God that their faith is known throughout the world, and says
that he constantly prays for them.
Paul’s
Desire to Meet the Romans in Person
After that greeting, St.
Paul comes to the point. It is his earnest desire to visit the congregation in
Rome. From this introduction to his letter, we find that St Paul has never
visited Rome, and the faithful in Rome do not seem to know much about him. However,
St. Paul wants to preach the Gospel to them and so produce the fruit of the
proclamation of Christ in the capital city of the Empire.
St. Paul writes that the
purpose of his visit is “that I may be encouraged together with you by
the mutual faith of both you and me” (Romans 1:12). Note that
the faith of both Paul and the Romans is mutual. It is a shared
faith that binds them together as one in Christ, even though they have not met
face-to-face.
Accordingly, we
understand that Paul yearns to meet with the Roman church in person, not so
that they can create this unity in Christ, but so that they can realize it. Like
St. Paul, in the Covid pandemic, we experienced what we miss when we cannot gather
together others in the Body of Christ. Yet the apostle assures us that even in
times of separation from each other, we are still one in Christ. Yet when we
come together in person, the faith that we share is magnified.
For
Reflection
Recall that the Lord has
promised, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there
in the midst of them” (OSB Matthew 18:20).” However, at His Ascension, He
pledged, “Lo, I am with you always, even to
the end of the age (OSB Matthew 28:20). Wherever we go, the Lord
is with us. So why does He say that when believers gather, He is in their midst?
Then too, remember that
the Lord said, “I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning
anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven” (OSB
Matthew 18:19). Does this mean that the
Lord does not answer the prayers that we ask privately?
The answer to these questions is the same.
When believers meet together and their spirits are united in Christ, there is a common
sharing of the Holy Spirit, and the “energies” of the Spirit are multiplied
in the shared interaction between those gathered.
Thus, the Risen Christ most often appeared to the disciples when they
were gathered together. And the Holy Spirit was given when “all the believers
were gathered together in one place” (OSB Acts 2:1). If we neglect to assemble
together, we lose that multiplier effect. We deprive others as well as
ourselves of the encouragement of the Holy Spirit that our fellowship gives
(Hebrews 10:25).
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