{"id":16277,"date":"2026-09-14T12:42:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T17:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/?p=16277"},"modified":"2026-09-15T12:44:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T17:44:04","slug":"real-fellowship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/16277\/real-fellowship\/","title":{"rendered":"Real fellowship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning Pastor John,<\/span><\/p>\n

I woke up thinking about the line in Brother Gary\u2019s song about shaking the pastor\u2019s hand. It struck me yesterday when I heard it, and it brought back a memory of the Catholic church I grew up in.<\/span><\/p>\n

In every service, there was a scheduled time to turn to the person in front of you, beside you, or behind you, take their hand, and recite, \u201cPeace be with you,\u201d and they would say the same or reply: \u201cAnd also with you.\u201d\u00a0 Most of the time, the people attending never spoke to each other.\u00a0 We silently filed into a pew, moved when the schedule dictated, and left as quietly as we came in.\u00a0 You might see a few talk in the parking lot afterward, but the majority did not speak to each other.\u00a0 When I heard that verse, I thought about the attempt to schedule fellowship \u2014 even using the results of fellowship as part of the ceremony.<\/span><\/p>\n

With real fellowship, peace really does go with you.\u00a0 Peace and joy go with you.\u00a0 Being with the right spirits produces that fruit.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve ever felt off or heavy and then been near those who are led in the Spirit \u2014 those full, happy, and in their spot \u2014 it is like medicine.\u00a0 You can\u2019t help but leave full, happy, and at peace.\u00a0 It puts you in your spot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We weren\u2019t even allowed to speak to the priest at our church without an appointment.\u00a0 He came in as part of a ceremony with two boys walking with\u00a0him and left the same way.\u00a0 The ones who acted too human were considered less holy than the ones who didn\u2019t interact.<\/span><\/p>\n

Look what Jesus has done for me!\u00a0 That was all I knew about God \u2014 an untouchable, ceremonial God with no real peace or joy or life.\u00a0 No real life.\u00a0 But in my heart, I always wanted God to be like a Father.\u00a0 I wanted to be the apple of His eye and for Him to be able to fix anything.\u00a0 It brings tears to my eyes to think that God planted that desire in my heart, because that is the real God.\u00a0 He is everything my heart wanted Him to be and more.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is pretty wonderful to even know that real fellowship produces a fruit.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to eat on that today.<\/span><\/p>\n

Love,<\/span><\/p>\n

Beth<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good morning Pastor John, I woke up thinking about the line in Brother Gary\u2019s song about shaking the pastor\u2019s hand. It struck me yesterday when I heard it, and it brought back a memory of the Catholic church I grew up in. In every service, there was a scheduled time to turn to the person […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-netmail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16277"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16277"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16278,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16277\/revisions\/16278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}