Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another. Hebrews 10:25.

Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another. Hebrews 10:25.
That small part of a verse from the Bible may speak to any of us in these days. So much of the habit of meeting together has been lost. We blame Covid for many things, and often rightly so. The last two and a half years have been tough whichever way we look at it. It has been tough beyond words for those who lost loved ones and we can never minimise the impact which that will have had on peoples lives. As we begin to emerge from whatever our experience of the period of restrictions has been, there is a nervousness about meeting together which was not there before.

We might reflect then on whether meeting together in important or necessary. Studies done about loneliness and isolation reflect that it certainly is. The writer to the Hebrews was talking of meeting together to worship God and emphasising the benefit of doing this collectively.
During the first strict lockdown for us, the option of meeting together for worshi[ or any social activity had to be taken away. Everyone adapted to that in various forms, church services were streamed or recorded, and worship was delivered in ways which hadn’t been used before. We all zoomed into meetings where we could see others faces and much more abut their lives too, kitchens, bedrooms, studies, children’s playrooms, flower arrangements and book collections. Because I love books, I can remember straining to see what books were on someone else’s shelves. That was all very interesting but after a time we became tired of Zoom and Teams and , dare I say it, of only social media communication. All of those platforms or modes of communication were and are invaluable in keeping in touch. Seeing relatives all over the world is great and we can be very thankful for the availability of these ways. However, the secondary damage of the pandemic’s effects is being seen for those who have had no access to this technology, no family t call round and no way of meeting together.
We, as human beings, are made for community and for relationship, and meeting together is like glue within whatever sphere of activity we need to be involved in. As one who likes my own company fine most of the time, but loving company too, I was shown during my recent two-week confinement with Covid, just how important our meeting with others really is. I caught up on phone calls to some folk whom I hadn’t had time to call in my busy times, however it was when family and neighbours brought necessities to the door that my mood was lifted. There were kind thoughts and gestures in the things which were brought to me, but it was seeing their faces and getting a chat from a distance ,or through the window, that was really worthwhile, it was the meeting together! Now in our island churches we are celebrating the fellowship that is so worthwhile and necessary for our spiritual, mental, and physical wellbeing. That is encouraged and recommended from a time so long ago when the writer to the Hebrews knew of its importance too. We all need our quiet times, our alone times, (ones own space can be therapeutic, healing, and necessary at times), but how good it is to be able to gather collectively again now.
The history of gathering together isn’t confined to the Bibles recommendation of doing so for worship. There are many references to our need to gather as Gods people and as a Christian community and I would certainly recommend doing that to anyone. We like to gather and worship, or to socialise in the comfort of a buildings these days, but it wasnt always so. My mother -in – law often spoke of the family walking to Carinish for the communion services where they all gathered on the hill just outside the wee church when the church’s capacity was inadequate, (she couldn‘t remember it raining at any of these times)! My father from the small island of Scarp in Harris remembered the meeting of that small island`s parliament where the men gathered to make decisions and plan the communal work for the day. One of the most memorable services of worship which I have ever been to was not long after we returned to Uist in 1995 when people from all the churches of North Uist , Benbecula and beyond gathered for a service in the open air on a glorious summer evening at Creag Hastin in North UIst. The setting was great, (flies and midges apart), the open- air worship was special, and the fellowship of meeting together, added a richness which made it truly memorable. This year, with the good hygiene practices still recommended, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another. Encourage one another!”