This pink dress is made out of a cotton bed sheet, thrifted for around $4. The background is a dusty rose color with little three-flowered blossom in cream. The bodice pattern is the same one as in my green embroidered dress. The skirt is a half-circle skirt cut to 1.5X my waist and gathered, a nice segue into the post.
The Bible mentions gathering together quite a bit. Now, of course, it's not talking about bunching fabric to fit a smaller area, but rather the gathering of people. Sometimes the gathering is for large feasts, such as the pilgrimages to Jerusalem three times a year. Though sometimes, a smaller gathering is enough to warrant Biblical writing. Jesus talks about a smaller type of gathering here:
"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst." (Matthew 18:20 TLV)
Jesus is sharing here that it doesn't take a whole nation at a temple to draw God to them. Instead, two or three people, gathered in Jesus' name, are accompanied by the presence of God.
Just that itself is a fascinating concept. Some practices of Judaism require at least ten Jews to be present for spiritual ceremonies. Jesus shows here that it only takes two or three, not even to mention situations of one-on-one communion with God.
The verse marvelously improves from a bit of context. Jesus opens the small section in verse 18 by explaining the authority that believers have due to His name. Whatever a believer declares bound or loosed on Earth, will be bound or loosed in Heaven. In the next verse, Jesus explains how the gathering of even two believers has enough authority to declare something on Earth and then God hears and heeds them in Heaven. The individual authority for each believer brought about by the name of Jesus is so incredibly powerful that small groups can move mountains that whole congregations could not in their own power.
We are generals in the Kingdom, we have immense spiritual authority given to us by the name of Jesus and His victory on the cross. When we gather together, our combined forces can radically change situations on Earth and in Heaven. Can you see now why the adversary sows strife and conflict within the ranks of the Kingdom? Mighty warriors, gather together and call on Heaven itself; God will answer you. We have been given the authority and power to bind heavenly powers and shake the foundations of the earth.