"Blest be the tie that binds," so we sometimes sing. Well, there is such a tie. And it is blest.

In the primitive church that tie was very strong. The first Christians were an island community in a vast, hostile sea. Fellowship was precious, and there was strength in it.

A follower of Christ, meeting a stranger on the road, and not knowing if that stranger was a Christian or of some hostile camp, would often with his staff make the shape of a fish or a cross in the dust at his feet, watching for any reaction from the other. If the stranger registered no recognition of these secret signals, then the conversation moved in casual channels, and soon each person went on his way. But if that sign was identified, there was an embrace and a great rejoicing there on the road: a Christian had met a Christian!

O, how those people needed one another! How very much that fellowship meant to them! Should our fellowship with one another mean any less to us? In worship together we share the fellowship which is ours in Christ, and we give thanks to God for our fellows of this Faith whom he has given to us - with whom we can travel awhile, and of whose strength we can partake as they walk beside us in the way.