Zion has moved, and during a break in the set up of our new location I was sitting at a table enjoying a hot drink and the company of the Zion team when Ps Phil mentioned Hebrews 12:22.
“But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,”
Hebrews 12:22 NIV
You can see that the verse talks about coming to Zion, and while it is heavily focussed on arriving at the city of the living God, my eyes, my heart focused on the ‘joyful assembly’.
I want to be a part of that group. I want Zion to be a part of that joyful assembly. Imagine that. Imagine God and his angels looking down, seeing a sparkling light, knowing it’s you, that it’s us, and saying ‘look at that joyful assembly’. Now imagine locals, both believers and non-believers, walking past our new location, or just hearing word of Zion and them saying ‘Oh, we know them, they are such a joyful assembly’ granted they probably wouldn’t say it in those words, but I’m sure you see what I am getting at.
I think it is fair to say that joy can be elusive, even the desire to be around people can be a little difficult to come by at times, and yet, you cannot be a joyful assembly on your own.
I want to suggest that on the days when we have joy that we carry an excess of that joy with us, enough joy to share. I want to encourage that when you have a testimony of a thing God has done in your life, big or small, that you share it with the people around you.
When joy is shared it grows. When we share joy, we search for joy, and when we search for joy, we find it.
If we can gather as God’s people, then share and celebrate what he is done in our lives and the lives of those around us, how can we be anything but a joyful assembly?
So, again, my challenge for everyone, whether they are a part of our Zion Family or not, is to be a joyful assembly. Connect with people. Join a local church community. Share the big and little joys in your life. Learn what your testimony is and share it. Make a joyful noise, so that globally followers of God will be known as the most joyful in this world. And when that happens there is no doubt that people will ask ‘why’ and we can point to God.