Luke 15:20 English Standard Version (ESV) And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

When I came to New Covenant Church I found myself at one point crying for the first time in my life declaring “I am the prodigal son.”

I was welcomed in and accepted as if they knew me. At the time I did not know it but they had been praying for me because my boss, their elder, had placed me on their prayer chain.

The core of that church had gone to college together. They met together in a gathering called “The Well” at the University of Texas. Out of “The Well” came a group of teachers who were very gifted. Those teachers and a Doctor of Divinity would cycle through services over the years and provide some of the best teaching I have ever heard.

This was what I missed by just reading my bible at home alone.

Proverbs 4:4-5 English Standard Version (ESV)

⁴ he taught me and said to me,
“Let your heart hold fast my words;
    keep my commandments, and live.
⁵ Get wisdom; get insight;
    do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

I began getting it. I was not meant to be alone in my reading of God’s Word. I had not learned how to study God’s Word while I was alone. I could not teach myself how to study God’s Word. I needed to understand what being a disciple meant.

1 Thessalonians 5:12 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹² We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,

Reading God’s Word alone does not offer correction in wrong thinking. We need to have our theology tested for soundness. We need to subject ourselves to others that are worthy of respect.

Ephesians 1:3-10 English Standard Version (ESV)

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

That is a general description of a church or more precisely The Church.

As I related yesterday, I didn’t know that from experience, only in Word. Experience of being in the body of Christ, which is the church, complicates matters because it is made up of flawed needy people. It is uncomfortable to think of ourselves in those terms. Since becoming comforted by the Comforter, joining a local body of believers feels like that is putting our comfort at risk. There is risk in nearly everything we do in life because we are vulnerable people who do not want to be vulnerable. Past pains make it even riskier to open ourselves up to exposure of our inner most doubts and fears.

I found myself being pulled by some unseen force to find a group of believers. My boss at the time was instrumental in showing me grace and was the elder at a local church. I trusted him and accepted an invitation to come and see what they were all about.

On trembling legs I walked into that church.