A Gathered People/ Blue Like Jazz 2

Greetings! I hope everyone has had a great week so far.
In A Gathered People the next chapter looks at Christian worship assemblies in the early church.
At first we look at Practicing The Kingdom of God in Luke- Acts. In Luke's Gospel we read about Jesus preaching and teaching. In Acts we read about the disciples preaching and teaching those same things. In Acts 2:42 we read how the first Christians were "devoted ... to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers". They were deeply engaged into there preaching and teaching! Acts 2:43-47 tells what the nature of their teaching and fellowship was. They had fellowship in community. They were, in every since of the word, "together". So much so that there was no needy persons among them (Acts 2:45). And when extreme needs arouse some of them sold properties or houses to help alleviate those needs. Truly remarkable!
Breaking of bread was the central theme of Jesus' ministry in Luke's Gospel. It started with John the Baptist's ministry (Luke 7:33-34) and continued through the Last Supper and meal at Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). In the Gospel of Luke we see the Word and Table in Jesus' ministry. Briefly quoting from the authors' "The ministry of Jesus practiced the kingdom of God and the early church followed that model. ... Practicing the kingdom is following Jesus in proclamation and action, in word and deed". Then we see the Word and Table in the Early Church. What Jesus did in Luke the early church does in Acts. In Acts 2:42-47 the early church was "praising God". This theme continues all throughout Acts. The apostles' teaching (word) and fellowship (table and prayers) is always part of the life of the community of the new believers.
The next section in this chapter is The Corinthian Assemblies. First we look at the assembly in Corinth. This church assembled. They assembled to hear Paul's letters read aloud. The word for church is ekklesia and is used frequently in 1 Corinthians (1:2; 4:17; 6:4 and others)."The church is an assembly, a gathered people - baptized believers, filled with the Holy Spirit...". Also "Assembly constitutes the body as visible reality". The next section is The Communing Table in Corinth. This was one of the many problems with the church there. Evidently they met at a home of a well-to-do member. These houses could accommodate 40-60 people. The rich would get there early and those who were slaves or middle class workers would get there later. The problem arouse when they would observe the Lord's Supper. The rich would start whenever they wanted to and would eat and drink so much that there was nothing left for those who couldn't be there when everyone else got there. This was something Paul would spend no small amount of time harping on. This was an extreme problem that needed to be corrected before it tore the church there apart. The next part here is The Edifying Word in Corinth. Here Paul addresses another problem: order in the assembly. Each person there has something they want to say. One person feels "moved" to sing a song. Some one else wants to read a scripture. And another person feels "moved" to speak in tongues (with no one to interpret it). For one thing, Paul says that everything should be done to edify the whole body (14:14-15, 19). If it doesn't then keep it quit. There must be order. God is not a God of disunity, but of order. There was a problem of members of the church valuing certain spiritual gifts over others. Obviously they liked speaking in tongues pretty well. But Paul tells them that it's better to interpret than it is to speak a tongue. But everything should be done to edify the whole body, not just build up one's own self (chapter 12). All things should be done in love (chapter 13).
In conclusion of this chapter, the assembly should be saturated in prayer and fellowship, in word and deed.
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Now on to Blue Like Jazz. This is the third chapter: Magic: The Problem With Romeo.
I would guess that every good magician knows that all magic is an allusion. Which I also would guess would take some of the joy out of doing magic.
Then he talks about the play Romeo and Juliet. He seemed to be saying that it was like a magic act. The two of them fall in love, when it was socially unacceptable for them to do so. At the end though they both kill themselves.
Than near the end of this chapter he talks about the different parts of writing a story: setting, conflict, climax, and resolution. And closes with this profound statement: "Perhaps, I thought, Christian spirituality really was the difference between illusion and magic.