The Mystery of Gathering

The Old Farmer’s Almanac, founded in 1792, (internet home page August 23, 2019) says that Grandparents Day is celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor Day. Marian McQuade hoped to establish a national day that would honor grandparents, and in 1970 she began a campaign to do so. McQuade raised awareness about senior citizens throughout the 1970’s. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter declared the first Sunday after Labor Day to be National Grandparents Day. Each year, the (current) president issues a proclamation to keep the tradition going. Grandparents Day has both an official flower and song. The official flower is the forget-me-not, and the song is Johnny Prill’s “A Song for Grandma and Grandpa.” Both were chosen by the National Grandparents Day Council. Why isn't “Grandparents” personalized like Father’s and Mother’s Day?


I remember my grandparents as being God fearing, loving, and neighborly, industrious and good cooks. Being many miles apart, holiday gatherings were split between the grand homes, as to the digression of our parents, but it mattered not which we graced, we grandchildren were loved and cherished every minute. It didn’t matter the gathering point for me personally, because I always gained some sort of insight to life from my grandparents no one else seemed to possess. Grandparents are always thinking of their grandchildren – take a minute and let your grandparents know you’re thinking of them.


Godly grandparents are an uncommon commodity. They share the one thing that each new generation needs - advice learned through experience. When it comes to advice needed, godly grandparents need to remind their own children about the importance of raising up their child in the footsteps of Jesus. Children are desperate for good guidance.


The phenomenon is called “shikadamari” in Japanese. A loose translation would be, “deer gathering spot.” A large population of free-roaming deer live in and around the Japanese city of Nara, spending most of their time in the city park. Every summer evening at around 6:30, over 600 deer gather in the same spot for the same amount of time. The deer quietly come together, sit down for about an hour, then stand back up and disperse to different parts of the park. While onlookers are impressed by the display of consistency of the gathering of the deer, nobody has been able to explain the purpose (Zora News, August 20, 2019). It appears all God’s creatures thrive on community.


[Colossians 3:12-15] Someone outside of the Lord’s church might see Christians coming together on a regular basis at the same times, and for the same lengths of time, yet not understand the purpose for those gatherings. Members of the body of Christ understand that assembling together on a regular basis to worship God and learn more of His Word is not only commanded in Scripture, but is also vital for spiritual growth and survival. According to Hebrews 10:24-25, Christians are to come together on a regular basis in order to stir up love and good works and to encourage one another. Those things aren’t possible to accomplish if brothers and sisters in Christ don’t gather together on a regular basis. Colossians 3:16 instructs Christians to teach and admonish one another. That can’t happen if Christians don’t gather together on a regular basis. Acts 20:7 gives us the example of Christians gathering consistently on the first day of the week in order to break bread together. In Acts 15:30-31, we read about the congregation in Antioch coming together to listen to the reading of a letter written to them by the apostles, elders of Jerusalem. The Christians who heard the letter rejoiced because of the encouragement it brought. The consistent and regular gathering of Christians is no mystery at all. Peace.