What does fellowship mean?

Friends of God,

I’ve been thinking about what it means to be called together.

When we are drowned in the overwhelming seas of the love of God, we find ourselves in a new and particular relation to a few of our fellows. The relation is so surprising and so rich that we despair of finding a word glorious enough and weighty enough to name it. The word Fellowship is discovered, but the word is pale and thin in comparison with the rich volume and luminous bulk and warmth of the experience it would designate.

~ Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion

13-08-01.isingWhat does it mean to be in fellowship with one another? What does it mean to be members together of the One Body which is Christ Jesus? Woah. Big questions, but Kelly offers me some new (at least to me) language to begin to wrap my mind and my experience of the holy in community.

The word “fellowship” is a familiar word to most of us. We have a fellowship hall. We may even sing “Leaning On The Everlasting Arms” and shout the words, “What a fellowship! What a joy divine!” but how do we experience it here together at First Baptist Church in Palo Alto, CA?

Kelly helps me out here. First, there’s really no word that begins to describe what it is to know God in one another. There’s simply not. No language is adequate. The “glory” of it, the “weight” of it is too much, but we use this word “fellowship” in the hopes that it will at least point us in the right direction. Does it do that work for you?

I’d love to know what you think. Send me an e-mail ([email protected]), Facebook me, or you can call me, too. I think I still remember how to use a telephone. And I love a letter.

What word do you use to describe the kind of community we intend to have here at First Baptist? Are these more than friends? Family? Fellowship? The Holy City? The Body?

As we move forward as a congregation, being able to share what it means to be fellowship, the Body, with one another will increasingly important. I think I may be right when I say that we have been called together, called into one another’s lives in this place and this time. But the only way I can be sure I’m right is to hear from you. Reach out. Let me know what you think.

Peace and All Good Things,
Pastor Tripp Hudgins

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We are a progressive Baptist Church affiliated with the American Baptist Churches, USA. We have been in Palo Alto since 1893. We celebrate our Baptist heritage. We affirm the historic Baptist tenets of: Bible Freedom, Soul Freedom, Church Freedom, Religious Freedom

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