Togetherness of the Church

Thought-provoking statement for us today...

Edward Schweizer, in his description of early Christian worship, writes:

The togetherness of the church and its services is not that of a theater audience, where one or several paid actors act on the stage while everybody else is looking on. Each one takes part with his special gift ... . the body of Christ is not a body of soldiers in which one sees at best the neck of the preceding man ... it is a body consisting of members living in their mutual addressing, asking, challenging, comforting, sharing of Christ and His gifts ("The Service of Worship," Neotestamentica [Zwingli: Zurich, 1963] pp. 335-336).