Lately I began reading the early church fathers. These were the guys that started writing just as the new Testament wrapped up. Today I stumbled upon an interesting read from the Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians.
Let no man deceive himself: if any one be not within the altar, he is deprived of the bread of God. For if the prayer of one or two possesses(34) such power, how much more that of the bishop and the whole Church! He, therefore, that does not assemble with the Church, has even(35) by this manifested his pride, and condemned himself. (chapter 5)These words were written by a disciple of the Apostle John. He likely knew Peter and Paul. What I found fascinating is that by second generation of the church people needed to be reminded of the importance of the gathering. Ignatius uses the term "altar" to refer to the church gathering. I assume that Ignatius challenged his readers because people weren't taking their church involvement seriously. It's important to note that there was no church as we think of it at that time. It was all home gatherings (think small groups). He actually says the person who skips the group was:
1. Missing out on the power of a praying community
2. People who don't join together at the "altar" are prideful
3. Skip church and you condemn yourself
Those were pretty strong words. Written by Ignatius on his way to Rome to be martyred in the Colleseum. It's funny that all these years later we have to be reminded to be part of a spiritual community. And all these years later faithful followers of Christ humble themselves and experience the power of Jesus through one another.
