"Church" as Feast

"Let us think of one another and how we can encourage each other to love and do good deeds. And let us not hold aloof from our church meetings, as some do. Let us do all we can to help one another’s faith, and this the more earnestly as we see the final day drawing ever nearer." Hebrews 10:24,25

These two verses are an often-used series of admonitions to keep us serious about our church-attendance, but I wonder if we've ever really realized what kind of "church" is being described here. In the original Greek, let's look at the verbs and nouns used to describe how we're meant to be approaching our shared experience of the Body:

• "let us think (of one another)" - κατανοῶμεν - “to observe well, to understand, to learn," ie. to become a student of our fellow-believers
• "encourage each other" - παροξυσμὸν – “to provoke, to excite,” even “to exasperate” (the English word ‘paroxysm’ comes from this word), ie. we are meant to really push each other!
• "not hold aloof" - ἐγκαταλείποντες – “to abandon, to leave in the lurch, to leave behind," ie. our not taking part in the Body is an enormous issue for our brothers and sisters
• "church meetings" - ἐπισυναγωγὴν – “the gathering together” (in the writings of Ptolemy it meant “the table,” as in a feasting place), ie. our coming together has a familial, banqueting sort of importance
• "help one another" - παρακαλοῦντες – “exhort, encourage, excite,” “call [each other] as witnesses," ie. our relationships are all about our interconnected growth in Jesus
• "and this the more earnestly" - καὶ τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον – “and so much very, exceedingly," ie. all the above is meant to be over and above anything the world has ever seen
  
  

A constant thread of conversation that you hear in the Church these days is regarding so-called Millennials and their seeming disinterest in regular attendance at a church. But Jenny and I love Millennials, though, because we see in their hearts and passions a true opportunity for great revival of the Church. 

But here's the secret: Millennials aren't losing interest in church because it asks or shows or costs too much; they are losing interest because it asks and shows and costs too little. My observation is that the Christian Millennials we know want it to cost more, to cost them everything. They want to "observe" and study each other, to "provoke" each other's belief, to "gather together" to feast upon Jesus, to call each other as expert "witnesses" of the real thing, "so much very, exceedingly."

Are you and I ready to be equal to that sort of Church for them?