Derek and Bonnie Clausen visit an assisted living home in Everett once a month to gather with brothers and sisters there. Bonnie plays the piano and leads them in hymns from their own spiral-bound hymnals. She even takes requests as the residents call out the page numbers of their favorite hymns. Derek and Bonnie share scriptures and testimonies of God’s grace from their own lives, and they offer to pray for each one individually as needed. I recently had the privilege of joining them and participating in worship with the residents.
When Derek and Bonnie first met, Derek was helping lead church services in a juvenile detention center. Now they serve at the assisted living home together as a team. Maybe you don’t realize right away what the residents of these two facilities have in common, but Derek and Bonnie do. God has given them a ministry of bringing fellowship to people who can’t come to a traditional church gathering on a Sunday, something that most of us take totally for granted.
Another aspect of church participation that we often take for granted is being able to choose what style or denomination of church we will join, what preaching we align with well, what music we prefer… As I sat there, I imagined what church life was like for each of them before they lived there. I wondered where they chose to attend a church gathering, the friends they had there, and how different it was from the church that the person sitting next to them now might have gathered with before. Maybe this one formerly gathered with charismatic brothers and sisters, and her friend sitting next to her was a Presbyterian. Today they are just glad to sing to their savior together and hear the Word of God read aloud.
What a convicting experience to witness these saints just thankful to gather at all. I am grateful for the many churches out there and that we can find someplace to worship where we feel most at home, but just for a minute imagine what it’s like when you don’t have a choice. It reminded me of when the church was brand new, and the first believers gathered with any other believers in close proximity who they could find. I pray that the next time we gather for worship, wherever we are, we will do so with a deep sense of gratitude and that we would always remember what a privilege it is just to worship together.