Closing

You have walked through what it means to live life together in Christ.

The fellowship has Christ at its center. The Spirit of God is the bond between every member. Love forms the circumference. And the segments around the circle are the practices that mark a church alive in the Spirit. Worship together. Bear one another's burdens. Speak truth in love. Practice hospitality. Commit to membership. Live in light of the eternal communion you have been brought into.

You are not alone.

The people sitting around you on Sunday are not strangers with similar beliefs. They are your family in Christ. People as truly joined to you as you are joined to the Head of the body. Their joy is your joy. Their pain is your pain. Their faithfulness sharpens your faithfulness. Your faithfulness sharpens theirs.

This is the great miracle of the church.

Thomas Watson, the Puritan minister, said the church is Christ's greatest miracle. More wonderful than the creation of the heavens and the earth. The creation speaks of God's power. The church speaks of God's grace. In the church, the broken are made whole. The lonely are brought into family. The proud are humbled. The weak are honored. The lost are found.

This is your calling. To be part of that miracle.

Three things to take into this week.

First, work the Three Names from the assessment. Encourage one. Serve one. Bear one's burden. Make a real move toward each, this week or this month, not "eventually."

Second, examine your commitment to Mayflower. If you are not a member, ask the elders about taking that step. If you are a member but functionally absent (showing up only when convenient, holding back from the burdens of belonging), consider what repentance looks like. Membership is a covenant, not a registration.

Third, sit with the eternal weight of fellowship. The people God has placed in your church are people you will be with forever. Treat them like it.

The Core Value for this value at Mayflower: We share life as a family in Christ, bearing one another's burdens, speaking truth in love, and pursuing the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! (Psalm 133:1)

You have now completed the Pathmark series. Five courses. Five shapes. Five values that mark life at Mayflower.

Scripture. The Word that founds everything. Missions. The Word that sends us out. Discipleship. The Word that forms us in Christ. Worship. The Word that draws us before God. Fellowship. The Word that knits us together.

These are not five separate departments of the Christian life. They are five facets of one life. Lived under the Word. Carried out as sent ones. Shaped by discipleship. Offered up in worship. Shared in fellowship with the saints.

The path you walked through these courses is the path Mayflower walks every week. The path the church has walked for two thousand years. The path that ends, finally, at the throne of God, surrounded by a multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language.

Until that day, walk.

Come back to your church family on Sunday. Bring what you have learned. Live what you have read. Encourage someone. Serve someone. Bear someone's burden. Speak truth gently. Worship with reverence and joy. Receive the bread and the cup. Linger after the benediction.

The circle is waiting for you. And Christ is in the midst.