Most of us know the story of Hannah who asked God for a son and promised to give him back.  She certainly made an amazing vow and an astounding sacrifice I can scarcely understand.  But do we consider her many examples in prayer?
            Hannah was the second wife of a man of Ephraim, a Levite (1 Chron 6:33-38) named Elkanah.  The story reminds me a bit of Leah and Rachel, except that Hannah  and Peninnah were not sisters, and Hannah, the favored wife, was far more righteous and God-fearing than Rachel, who stole her father’s household gods (Gen 31:19) and nagged Jacob to death about her inability to conceive as if it were his fault (Gen 30:1,2).  Going to God was Rachel’s last resort, after first badgering Jacob, then offering her handmaid (Gen 30:3) and finally using mandrakes (Gen 30:14), the aphrodisiac of the day.  You should take a few minutes sometime and read the meanings of her children’s names (by her handmaid) if you want a flavor of her mindset, and compare them with the names of Leah’s children.  Then of course, there was Joseph.  When God answered her prayer for her own child, she named him, “Give me another one.”  Look at the marvelous contrast of Hannah, who after asking for a child and receiving him, gave him up to God, with no promise that she would ever have another.
            Hannah shows us what prayer is supposed to be—not some halfhearted muttering of ritual phrases, but a “pouring out of the soul” 1 Sam 1:15.  She prayed so fervently that Eli, watching her, thought she was drunk.  As she told Eli, “Out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation have I spoken” v 16.  Her prayer life was such that her relationship with Jehovah gave her the confidence to tell him exactly how she felt, in the plainest of speech, evidently.  You do not speak to someone that way unless you have spent plenty of time with him and know him intimately.  Are we that close to God?
            She also teaches us what prayer should do for us.  Look at the contrast between v 10 and v 18.  Before her prayer “she was in bitterness of soul…and wept sore.”  Afterward, she “went her way and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.” 
            Of course, Hannah had the reassurances of a priest and judge that God would give her what she had prayed for, but don’t we have the assurance of the Holy Spirit through the word He gave that God listens and answers our prayers?  Shouldn’t we exhibit some measure of ease after our prayers?      In whom do we have our faith?  If the doctors say it is hopeless, do we pray anyway?  Do we carry our umbrellas, even though the weatherman says, “No rain in sight?”  Do we pray on and on and on, even when it seems that what we ask will never come to pass?  God does not run by a timetable like we do.  Hannah had the faith that says, “It’s in God’s hands now,” and she was able to get on with her life.  Life does go on, no matter which answer we get, and God expects us to continue to serve Him with a “thy will be done” attitude.
          “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much,” James tells us in 5:16.  Hannah shows us it works for righteous women as well.  Can people tell by our lives that we believe it?
 
Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.  From the end of the earth will I call unto you, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.  For you have been a refuge to me, a strong tower from the enemy.  I will dwell in your tabernacle forever.  I will take refuge in the covert of your wings.  Psa 61:1-4
 
Dene Ward

Keith and I teach a class called Preparation for Marriage and Parenting.  Below are a few comments we throw in during these classes that are not in the lesson book we compiled, but which probably ought to be.  For what they are worth…
 
            Headship is not about getting to do whatever you want to do.  It is about carefully considering the needs of the entire family and doing what is best for them, whether it is what you want to do or not.
            Any woman who has difficulties with subjection has difficulties with being a Christian.  Submission is what being a disciple of Christ is all about.
            A man who makes subjection difficult for his wife might as well get himself sized for a millstone.
            There are many different ways to handle problems in a marriage.  The first and most important thing you should do is make up your minds that you will make it through this.  Never keep a divorce lawyer on your speed dial.
            It doesn’t matter whether you understand women or not.  It doesn’t matter whether you understand men or not.  What matters is understanding that your spouse does not think like you do.
            If you ladies are going to use your hormones as an excuse for bad behavior, then you should allow your husband to use male hormones as an excuse for his.
            Marriage is a high maintenance relationship.  As soon as you start neglecting it, it will go downhill.
            Spouses who do not communicate well and on a regular basis will soon be total strangers.
            Letting her talk is useless if you don’t listen.
            Your children are not your own.  They are merely souls God has given into your care, and He expects them to be returned in good shape.
            You are teaching your children whether you intend to or not.  What textbook are you using?  Look in the mirror.
            Make no mistake about it—you are waging a war with your toddlers, which you should win before they reach school age.  Any time you “give in,” you have lost a battle and retaking that territory will take twice as long at twice the cost to your relationship with your child.
            Too many parents don’t train their children, their children train them.
            A father who won’t change dirty diapers probably won’t be much use to his children when the messes of life afflict them either.
            If you tell your child, “If you do that again, I am going to _________ you,” and then don’t ______them when they do it again, you have lied to your child.
            Don’t tell me that a child is too young to comprehend punishment before the age of 2.  My child is smarter than any puppy dog I ever saw.  So is yours.
            Raising kids is hard work.  Our society and its children are suffering from parents who were either too lazy or too selfish to do the job right.
 
            Gleaning in the field sometimes gives you choice produce that was simply overlooked.  Other times there is a reason it was left there.  So this morning choose from the list and take what is most helpful.
 
Except Jehovah build the house they labor in vain that build it…Lo, children are a heritage of Jehovah, and the fruit of the womb is his reward.  As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of youth.  Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be put to shame when they speak with their enemies in the gate, Psalm 127:1, 3-5.
           
Dene Ward

I certainly do not mean to be judgmental, but when people actually say it out loud, when they write it on Facebook posts, isn’t it a matter of “by your words you will be condemned” (Matt 12:37)?

            Listen to the things people say about why they worship where they worship, or what makes that place appealing to them.
            “I love the singing there.”
            “The preacher is so easy for me to listen to.”
            “I feel so good when I leave.”
            “Everyone is so friendly and loving to me.”
            “They came to visit me while I was in the hospital.”

            Okay, so maybe a few of them are not terrible reasons, but do you see a common denominator in them all?  It’s all about me and how I feel.
Why is it you never hear things like this?
            “I go because my God expects me to be a part of a group worship and accountable to a group of brethren and godly elders.” 
            “I go so I can provoke others to love and good works as the Bible says.”
            “I go to study God’s Word and this group actually studies the Bible instead of some synod’s pamphlet.”     
         “The sermons often step on my toes, but I want to be challenged to improve as a disciple of Christ.”

Can you see a completely different center of attention in those?  In fact, if the second list can be said to center on the object of our worship, what does that say about the object of worship in the first list?

I hear items from the first list often, but from the second seldom, if ever.  So here is my question:  If a person cannot find any items from the first list in a church, does that excuse him from the assembled worship in his area?  Of course not.

So why do we act like we are sacrificing something if the only place available has a preacher with poor speaking ability, no one who can carry a tune, and isn’t particularly outgoing?  If that is my idea of sacrificing for my Lord, I’d better hope our country never builds a modern Coliseum. 

Sometimes serving God is not a lot of fun.  Sometimes it isn’t very exciting.  Sometimes it is a lot of work with little appreciation.  Sometimes we will be ignored.  Sometimes we will be criticized.  Sometimes we will be the object of scorn and sometimes these things will come at the hands of our own brethren.  If I can’t take a boring sermon and off-key singing, what makes me think I can handle real persecution? 

If I would be ashamed for my first century martyred brethren to hear my griping about the church, why do I think it is acceptable for anyone to hear it?  Does it glorify God?  Does it magnify His church and His people?  No, I imagine it sends everyone else running from instead of running to “the pillar and ground of the truth,” the church for which “he gave himself up,” the manifestation of His “manifold wisdom” (1 Tim 3:15; Eph 5:25; 3:10).

And if somehow we could call it some sort of trial or persecution to worship with a group that is not exactly the ideal, what would the proper attitude be?  Certainly not griping about it, but rather “rejoicing that we are counted worthy to suffer,” (Acts 5:41).  Why, maybe we should actually go out and look for those places to worship! 

And if I did choose one of those places to hang my hat, would it really become any better with someone like me in it?  Make no mistake.  It isn’t about whether the kingdom of God, specifically the one I attend, is worthy of me and my commendation, it’s about whether I can ever be worthy of it.
 
For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory, 1Thess 2:11-12.
 
Dene Ward
 

Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sov’reign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm* as I?

Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!

Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker died,
For man the creature’s sin.

Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt my eyes to tears.

But drops of grief can ne’er repay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give myself away,
’Tis all that I can do.
           
            This post is not so much about what the song lyrics mean as it is about teaching us to pay attention to what we are singing.
            Read the lyrics above, if you have not already.  Some of them may be unfamiliar because they are routinely left out of hymnals.  Songs of Faith and Praise is particularly bad about choosing three verses whether their order makes sense or not.  Sometimes they will choose four, but why makes no more sense to me than just choosing three.  In the case of this song, it really fouls up the meaning of at least one verse.  Can you find it?
            Look at the fifth verse.  It begins with "But" which means that verse is reliant upon something that came before.  Yet the fourth verse is one that is routinely left out of many hymnals.  "But drops of grief" refers back to "melt my eyes to tears."  Each verse gradually leads you to the answer to the question in the first two lines of verse one, "Did my savior die for me?"  Then it speaks of the reactions that answer should provoke in us:  mortification, gratitude, grief, and, finally, total surrender.  Now the song makes sense.
            But then I hope you have also noticed the complete disparity between the music of the verses and the music of the chorus.  Isaac Watts wrote the lyrics in 1701, using the Scottish tune "Martyrdom."  The above lyrics were the entire song.  In 1885 Ralph Hudson added the words and tune of what is considered the chorus or refrain:  "At the Cross."  It was written in a "campmeeting style" which some people believe means it was added to more than one tune.  It is indeed a completely different style than the verse melody, a bit more raucous and knee-slapping, and it completely interrupts the flow of the verse lyrics, which may well account for few people noticing the problem with the verse 5 "but" having no antecedent that makes sense.
            As a musician and writer, I would like to suggest that all five verses be sung, with the refrain sung at the end, if at all.  It would make more sense both lyrically and musically.  And, as mentioned earlier, this sort of thing is a good test of how much attention we pay to what we sing.  The answer to the title question, in this case at least, "Do You Know What You Are Singing?" might well be, "No, we don't."
 
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life (Rom 5:6-10).

*Yes, "worm" is the correct word.  Some hymnals have pandered to modern desire for self-esteem and changed it to "one."  We need to realize just exactly how low and utterly irredeemable we were, and the unthinkable sacrifice of a God becoming like us and living and dying like we do, though he never deserved it.
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

It seems to be popular to make comments about the old church of Christ attitudes as though the last generation knew little of grace and faith and focused only on obedience, exact obedience.  I have made a few of those comments myself and can point to sermon outlines from 35 years ago where I endeavored to change such attitudes. However, when the comments become disparaging and self-serving (look how much better I am), then perhaps it is time to consider.
 
They grew up in tough economic times, faced tough spiritual battles to be allowed to exercise their faith in the way God commanded, and they did not express emotions as readily as today’s generations. They did not talk a lot about God’s grace for that was God’s business. Their business was to obey God.
 
That they did understand that obedience must proceed from faithful trust and was founded on God’s grace can best be understood by the songs they sang:
 
“True hearted whole hearted, faithful and loyal…..
“My faith looks up to thee……
“Looking to thee from day to day, trusting thy grace along the way….Sure of thy soul redeeming love….
“Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
“I know whom I have believed….
“He will give me grace and glory…where he leads me I will follow, I’ll go with him, with him all the way
“Faith is the victory….
“Is thy heart right with God?
“To Christ be loyal and be true in noble service prove your faith and your fidelity, the fervor of your love
“What a friend we have in Jesus….
“Purer in heart O God….
Take time to be holy….
“Only in thee….trusting, I’m cleansed from ev’ry stain, thou art my only plea….
 
And it was in those days and by one of those men that “Lord I believe” was written.
 
And, the list could go on and on.
 
 Because some treated service like a checklist and may not have expressed as much heart as some do today, please do not mark them all as empty. In fact, if a checklist religion was the spiritual ceiling for some, “who art thou that judges the servant of another?” (Rom 14).  More people should fear minding God’s business about God’s servants!
 
And, if all the expression of heart and trust and faith and grace today makes one careless toward obedience, then how is that one any better before God?
 
These were our parents and grandparents, our spiritual fathers in the faith.  Most knew more about the grace of God than many today who spout fancy words, but they just tended to their own business of serving faithfully.
 
But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness (Rom 6:17-18).
 
 
Keith Ward
 

Keith says I have a personality disorder—I think my name is Francis and I was born in Assisi.  Can I help it if the hawk insisted on having a conversation with me this morning?
            I haven’t been out for awhile due to one thing and another, but he must remember me from all the times I went out while he was a baby and spoke to him up in his nest.  So whenever I am outside and he is anywhere nearby, he gives me a shout, and I say hello. 
            I had my trekking poles so I could give Chloe a little bit of exercise.  She is a bit like her mistress, prone to gaining weight at the slightest sniff of food, forget about actually eating it, and she needed a walk.  After our first greeting across the fence from one another, the hawk flew behind me and caught up, still staying in the trees on the other side of the boundary, but a little closer this time.
            I told him he should come on over.  If he wanted to stay safe, we had plenty of trees, plenty of food—he should have known that anyway.  His parents had sat on the tomato fence in our garden, diving for mice, squirrels, rabbits, and other goodies that they took to him for supper every night.  I kept walking and again he flew to catch up, but once again landed on the other side of the fence.
            When we reached the point where the path cut inward to the center of our property, I told him it was time for him to make his decision.  “Come on,” I told him.  “You’ve been here before.  You grew up here.  You know it’s a good place and a safe place.  If you stay over there, who is going to look after you?”
            I waited a minute then turned and headed down the path toward the drive.  His wings flapped behind me like a big rug flapping on a clothesline in the wind.  I turned, only to see he was headed away, deeper into the woods. 
            I suspect I will still hear from him once in awhile and even see him again.  At least until that time when something nabs him and he stops showing up.  It’s a pity.  He would last longer if he stayed close by, but now some neighbor may shoot him just for fun, or he may stray into some other hawk’s territory and lose the fight for it.  That’s what happens when you turn your back because all you can see is restrictions instead of safety, and when all you want to see of the other side of the fence is freedom instead of danger.  Sooner or later, one way or the other, it will be too late to come back.
 
In the fear of Jehovah is strong confidence; and his children shall have a place of refuge. The fear of Jehovah is a fountain of life, that one may depart from the snares of death. Prv 14:26,27.
 
Dene Ward

One of our favorite parts of camping has always been the food!  Every night we cook over a wood fire—burgers, chops, steaks--everything tastes like it came from a five star gourmet restaurant when you have oak and hickory burning under them.

Keith starts the fire about a half hour before we need it, stacking one inch square split pieces of wood in an open crisscross pattern.  The flame is often three feet high and roaring.  Do you think that is when we cook?  No, not unless you want scorched raw meat.  The fire must burn down to the point that the flames are gone and all that is left are red coals.  Now it’s time to cook.  That inch or two of quiet embers is far hotter than a three foot high roar.
He opens the folding grill over them to burn it clean, and places the meat of the night six to ten inches above the heat, sometimes over to the side if, as is the case with chicken, we need to make sure it gets done all the way through before the outside chars. 

Children look at the two fires and it seems totally counterintuitive to them.  Surely the bright high flames make the hotter fire and the softly glowing embers the coolest.  Then they hold their hands out and discover their mistake.

Babes in the Lord can make the same mistake about the faith of others.  Surely the loud showy faith is the real one.  Surely the person who shouts amen and holds up his hands is more passionate about his love of God than the member who sits and quietly listens or bows his head.  I have lost count of the number of young people I have heard say they admired someone’s faith when it was the former type and not the latter.  The loud faith may well be just as sincere as the quiet, but if that’s all you look for, you will miss some of the best advice, the best encouragement, and the best examples of resilient faith in a life of trial that ever sat in front of you—or behind you, or even right next to you on the pew.

You are smart to look for help and encouragement in another’s faith.  Just be smart about the signs you judge it by.  Loud might just as easily be hot air as roaring fire.
 
Take away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your viols. But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Amos 5:23-24
 
Dene Ward

If you are familiar with the prophets, you know they often told stories and then made spiritual application.  We can read from Jewish histories that the rabbis did the same thing.  It was a standard teaching method.  In fact, some of the stories had the same elements, just as many jokes begin, “A rabbi, a priest, and a lawyer…”  I have read in at least one source that the rich man and the poor beggar were staple characters in teaching stories all across the mid-east, even as far west as Egypt, one reason we should be careful about calling Luke 16 a “true story.”  Jesus was known as a rabbi because he used some of the same methods.
            I have known people who insisted that preachers and teachers should not “tell stories.”  The Bible has plenty, they say, so use them.  While in the past I agreed more than I disagreed, I have come to a change of mind.  Yes, Jesus used some of the events from the Old Testament in his teaching, but far more often he used the events of every day life in stories we call parables.  So I tell stories too.
            Some people ask me how in the world I come up with the applications to all my stories.  The answer to that is another reason I tell them.  Some of them come easily but often I have to think for awhile to find a spiritual application.  Guess what I am not doing while my mind is busy with spiritual things?  Guess what does not happen while I search the scriptures trying to find pertinent passages?  Far better to spend your time searching for applications to the events in your life than to brood over them, becoming depressed and bitter.  Far better to see a way to improve yourself than to blame others as if the whole world were out to get you and you are the only one these things happen to. 
            Life is the training ground for an eternal existence.  If I cannot become spiritual enough to handle things here, how will I ever become suitable for a spiritual existence with a Spirit Deity?  That is our goal, but the way some of us lead our lives, never learning from them, I wonder if we know it, or even care. 
            Try today to make some spiritual applications from the things that happen to you.  Think about your past and the many times you could have learned a lesson if your eyes and ears had been open to them.  It is really not that difficult.  If I can do it, anyone can.
 
And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why do you speak to them in parables? And he answered and said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but whosoever has not, from him shall be taken away even that which he has. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And unto them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, By hearing you shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; And seeing you shall see, and shall in no wise perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, And I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and saw them not; and to hear the things which you hear, and heard them not, Matt 13:10-17.
 
Dene Ward

We did Lamaze just like all the other young couples when we had our boys.  But things did not work out quite like they were supposed to.  Something in the structure of my hips kept my babies from turning over facedown.  They were head down, not breach, but face up is a similar problem.  "Sunny side up," the OB nurses called it, so their little necks could not bend far enough to make that last curve and the first delivery was far more traumatic than it should have been.  Eventually the old country doctor we had in the cornfields of Illinois just yanked Lucas out with "high forceps."  By the time Nathan was born we were in a larger city and the doctor there, when confronted with the same problem, refused to do something so "barbaric."  "We don't do that here," he told me.  But I was fully dilated and ready to deliver so we had an emergency C-section. 
            Either way meant I did not have that first little cuddle with a newborn.  I was still under anesthesia with Nathan, and Lucas had been stuck in the birth canal so long his heartbeat was slowing and he needed extra care.  Finally about 4 hours after Lucas was born, I sat up gingerly on the side of the bed and they brought my newborn and placed him in my arms.  Of course he was precious and I loved him instantly, but the first thing I saw were his eyes.  They looked exactly like mine and I nearly cried.
            If you have been with me awhile, you know the eye saga.  I have so many rare conditions based primarily on the size and shape of my eyes that I have been told it's a wonder I got past 20 without losing my vision entirely.  And there he was, with exactly the same almond shaped eyes.  My eye doctor at the time insisted I take him in at six months and he examined him as well as you can a baby that size.  When he smiled and said, "He's just fine," I wanted to laugh and cry and do a jig all at the same time.  He may look like me, but down inside the workings of those eyeballs, he is not the same at all.  Praise God!
            But here is something we should all wonder:  what other things has my child inherited from me?  Not sin, of course.  We won't even argue that today.  But all of us have seen children grow up to act just like their parents.  Sometimes they take a tiny little flaw and take it to its logical and much larger end.  "How can you act that way?" parents will often say, and then cringe in horror as their children tell them.  We may have an unwritten line we will never cross.  They see the line for what it is—hypocrisy—and march right over it.
            It's fun to see ourselves in old photos of our parents, or even our ancestors from way back.  Every photo of my father as a child shows him crossing his feet, even in a high chair.  I did it as well, in every picture my mother had of me.  Lucas did not, but Nathan did, and now both of my grandsons, Nathan's sons, have done it.  But there are far more important things to look for, some we want to see and some we don't.  Look at your children and grandchildren today.  Watch them, train them.  That's what God expects of us.  He wants us all laughing, crying, and doing a jig on judgment day when we see those precious souls inherit a home in Heaven, despite their ancestors' flaws, including ours.
 
Give ear, O my people, to my law: Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of Jehovah, And his strength, and his wondrous works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which he commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children; That the generation to come might know them, even the children that should be born; Who should arise and tell them to their children, That they might set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep his commandments, (Ps 78:1-7).
 
Dene Ward

I learned hospitality from my parents, and it was not because we had a large home with extra guest rooms and plenty of money to prepare lavish meals.  The first house I remember as a child was a two bedroom, one (tiny) bath house. We had an eat-in kitchen, not because it had plenty of room for a table and chairs but because that was the only place to eat, on a narrow ledge against the wall that we called a bar, three down one side and one person at the end, right in the doorway.  What I learned about hospitality in that little place was that our meager means had nothing to do with whether or not we offered it.
            I remember my mother talking about another young couple in the same congregation who understood the word exactly as they did.  After a Sunday evening service, my mother would look at the woman and say, "Well, I have a dozen eggs."  The woman would look back at her and say, "I have a loaf of bread."  Then that couple would come to our house and we would all eat scrambled eggs and toast.  And nothing else, because that is all we had.  Yet they did this again and again and their relationship became closer and closer because of it.
            I can imagine that some are thinking, "How awful!  I would never invite someone over for scrambled eggs and toast and nothing else."  And that means they do not understand the reason for all those hospitality commands in the New Testament.  As those two young couples learned:  it's not about fancy meals and beautiful accommodations—it's about being together.
            And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved (Acts 2:46-47).  One of the reasons the early church grew and became as close as blood relatives was that they were together as much as possible, not just in their worship, but also in the homes, "day by day."
            I presented this once at a women's gathering and it was immediately objected to.  "That's not what we do these days," a woman said, meaning it is no longer a pleasant little custom to stop by and see one another in the evenings during the week, or even have someone over for an impromptu Sunday evening supper.  Well, guess what?  It wasn't a custom in the Roman Empire either.  Why do you think those commands are scattered through so many books in the New Testament?  Those people had to learn to do it, and they did because that is what they were told to do, and what they ultimately discovered would make the church what God intended it to be, and it did.
            Many years ago we had a dismal week that left us near to despair in our work with a particular congregation.  A couple there took it upon themselves to drop by to cheer us up.  Because of my mother's influence, I simply had to offer them something.  I had baked ginger cookies (we couldn't afford chocolate chips) the day before to put in the boys' cookie jar, and Keith is a master popcorn popper, the old-fashioned way, on the stove-top with bacon drippings.  That is what we offered them—ginger cookies and popcorn, and we sat there stuffing our faces while the gloom melted from our hearts like sun on the morning fog--for at least a little while.  That is what hospitality among brethren is all about.
            This week, find someone with a loaf of bread and offer them some scrambled eggs to go along with it.  It may not be haute cuisine ("high cooking"), but it will certainly lift your spirits higher, and who knows what other good may come of it?  After all, it was God's idea in the first place.
 
Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality (Rom 12:13).
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling (1Pet 4:8-9).
One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us (Acts 16:14-15).
 
Dene Ward