Long live the fellowship!

"...A time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave Me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for My Father is with Me." -John 16:32

I'm late. I'm late. I know I'm late. I've recently started watching the Lord of the Rings for the very FIRST time. I know, I'm 10+ years late. I understand this. But better late than never right? And I thought I'd hate the series but I just finished the second one two nights ago with my friend and I loved it! I'm excited to see the third one and then to see the extended versions! Now how does this relate to John 16:32? Y'all may look at me like I'm dumb but in my quiet time this morning I connected the dots to the spiritual allegory with this verse to the movie. I know there are probably hundreds upon thousands of bibilcal scholars that have already done this but I'm going to write about it anyways.

**DISCLAIMER: If you have not seen the 1st or 2nd movie, I'm warning you, there are spoilers in this post**

In the first Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the Fellowship broke up. Now, I am a person who does not like being separated. When my best friends went off for college two years ago and I stayed at community college I did not take it too well. When my sisters all moved out I cried in my room. I don't like being separated. So it's safe to assume that I didn't like when the fellowship broke up. But then I realized about halfway through the second movie that the fellowship HAD to split up.

Each person had their own journey that they had to go on. Frodo had to destroy the ring alone. But he didn't travel alone, Sam went with him. That was their journey. For Aragorn, Legolas, and the Dwarf, they had to rescue Pip and Merry. But even that journey broke up. Pip and Merry had their own journey to go on. While Frodo, Sam and Gollum traveled to Mordar, Aragorn, Legolas and the Dwarf were fighting a war. Merry and Pip stumbled upon a war themselves with their new friends. Even though they were apart they still had one thing that bonded them together. That they were fighting to destroy evil. And instead of giving up like many of them could have done, they kept on fighting the good fight--separately.

Jesus was talking about the samething in John 16:32, "...a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered..." Jesus is telling the disciples that there will be a time when they will no longer travel side by side. That they will be alone. But then Jesus tells them of the hope they should hold onto along their journey."I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world!" -John 16:33 

Just as the fellowship are fighting separately to destroy evil, we as Christians are fighting for the greatest Army--God's Army. Everyone who has chosen to be a follower of Christ and the narrow path in the same war. Some may be further ahead or behind on the path, some may be in China, Europe, or America. Some may be in New York and some may be in California. But there are always believers where you live. We may have to part ways with believers that we've grown close with, but we all are still in need of encouragement and being connected with each other. Because even though we may feel alone on our journey, we're not. Christ bonds us together. And we remind ourselves each day that the fight is worth fighting and suffering for because Christ has already overcome the world and God has the ultimate victory in the end. We're on the winning side! There will be a time when we all gather as believers and then we'll be sent out, scattered to our homes, to keep peserving in the good fight. 

But take heart! Jesus is our ULTIMATE companion on our journey!    
Also, just because the Fellowship of the Ring broke up didn't mean they were traveling alone. They had companions. Just because we feel alone does not mean we are alone. God places people in our lives for companionship because He made us relational people. We need community!

As we journey along and we feel alone, remember the companion we have in Christ and the community of believers near and far. Paul traveled a lot in his missionary journies but he always had a companion. Paul gave Timothy this encouragement:



"Fight the good fight, finish the race, keep the faith." -2 Timothy 4:7