The Solemn Assembly

There are times that as a disciple life can seem like a moment straight from the pages of God’s word. Moments like these happen when we see someone converted through the power of the gospel, or an answered prayer that remind us of how our creator is intimately connected with every detail of our life. These moments are faith building. They draw us near to the Almighty and closer to the fellowship of believers, and they remind us that we are truly part of God’s eternal kingdom. On Jan 12th 2008, The Greater Long Beach Church of Christ experienced one of these moments on a corporate level as we gathered for the “Solemn Assembly,” a day of worship, scripture reading, sacrifice, confession, repentance, and prayer.
For 40 days leading up to the Solemn Assembly the entire congregation had been studying out repentance on both a corporate and personal level throughout the bible. We searched our hearts for where we had held back or pulled away from God’s call in our life. It was an emotional upheaval and confrontation of our sin, as we allowed God’s word to once again cut our hearts with His truth. When we finally gathered for the assembly our hearts were soft and eager to be reconciled to our Lord and to the commitment we made at our baptisms.
After several hours of worship together and confession in small groups, the evangelist, Joel, and his wife Julie went before the church to publically confess their sin and vow their repentance. Joel then left the podium open to whom ever felt compelled to confess. Not a minute later there was a line formed and members began to confess their sin before the church. One after another, disciples of all ages spiritually went up and in tears of remorse confessed their lack of commitment to God, or unloving heart toward others, or fear, or impurity, or bitterness, or whatever they had need to repent of before the Lord. The disciples became so eager to confess that after two hours the elder had to turn people away, because the building location of the assembly was only rented for a certain time frame and we had already gone an hour over the agreement.
With cleansed and refreshed hearts we gathered a few hours later to share communion together and have a feast. The rest of the night was spent in rejoicing and dancing as we all joyfully embraced the family we are a part of, each one of us feeling more intimately connected to one another than ever before, reminded of the words of john, that “... if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
This was one of those moments. It was a first time experience for any of the disciples here in Long Beach. It was a time just as in the days of Asa, in 2 Chronicles 15, when all Judah repented and gathered together to take an oath to seek the Lord wholeheartedly. Just as they did, in their repentance, we too rejoiced and found “rest on every side.” The overflow of confession continued beyond that day, as the disciples continued to go before the church to confess at the midweeks that followed. The Greater Long Beach ministry is already seeing the fruit of repentance, as more disciples invest in their ministries and relationships. Many people in recent weeks have studied the bible, and we are seeing God open up the flood gates of those who need to be saved. For those who were visiting and have seen the disciples confession and repentance, it has been a testimony to the sincerity our relationship with God and his grace. We know that God is working to receive glory through his church and we believe that in the months to come our repentance will produce more than we could ask or imagine!

(Written by Elias Delault)