A month ago I had a conversation with a clerk in a store on Main Street. She told me she had had an argument with a pastor years ago and got so angry she never went back to church. She said, "Don't you think I can be just as good a Christian communing with God in the beauty of my backyard as I can be if I were going to church?" I took a deep breath and said, "No. I don't. I'm not at all sure that we can be God's people without putting ourselves in the midst of God's people. I need those other people to learn with, to give and receive help, and to be my extended family." She said, "Well I sure don't need them. I'm a private Christian."

Here in Matthew Jesus says faith is not a private matter. Jesus promised to be in our midst when two or three of us are gathered together, not when we are o…