We are running an eight session course in the Circuit based on Andrew Roberts' excellent book.
I promised I would blog each session so here is session 1 from last week and session 2 from this;
Holy Habits –
Session 1: Introduction
7.30pm –
Opening Prayers using a different evening liturgy each week
7.40pm –
Thinking about habits – what bad habits do we have/have we had? What are good
habits in our lives?
7.45pm –
Thinking about the first encounter we had with church, or when church “made
sense for us as an adult” – what stood out in that encounter? Now think about
10 important vital cannot do without things we need as part of church life – in
groups – 20 minutes
8.05pm –
Plenary (10 minutes)
8.15pm Read
together Acts 2: 42 – 47 and compare our lists.
The ten
habits are: biblical teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer, giving,
service, eating together, gladness and generosity, worship and the making of
more disciples.
A community of faith has to be intentional.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in “Life Together” advocates the practising of a number of
the holy habits including prayer, biblical teaching and eating together. But
more than that it is the quality of shared life within the Christian community
that is key for him. “The practices are to form a people that by its life
communicates the Gospel.” Contrast with
e-mails the Superintendent had to deal with on Saturday from planet church
elsewhere. Bonhoeffer identifies five ministries that are essential within
intentional community:
1. Holding ones tongue
2. Meekness
3. Listening
4. Helpfulness
5. Bearing with other’s individuality,
weaknesses and oddities
The
challenge though of maintaining commonality of purpose. Take heart from what
happens after Acts chapter 2 very quickly! Read page 96.
We are a
place where holy habits are practiced – a holy habitat. How effectively and fully is our church a
visible sign and prophetic symbol of the radical grace of God? One thought in
your group re today. 10 minutes
8.45pm - the
need to keep practising them! How many of you play a musical instrument? You
need to keep practising. I didn’t practice despite being told “get in that room
and practice.” The importance of habitual God time. Relationships take work –
we will make mistakes but we hang in there until we get it right. And we need
to do them especially when life is tough. Read bit on Terry Waite: what habits
have sustained you in a difficult period?
James Dunn:
“The portrayal may be somewhat idealised but anyone who is familiar with
movements of enthusiastic spiritual
renewal will recognise authentic notes: the enthusiasm of the members of the
renewal group, with a sense of overflowing joy, desire to come together
frequently, eating together and worshipping and including the readiness for
unreserved commitment to one another in a shared common life.”
A member of
a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped
going.
After a few
weeks, the pastor decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening. The pastor
found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire.
Guessing the
reason for his pastor's visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a big chair
near the fireplace and waited. The pastor made himself comfortable but said
nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the play of the flames around
the burning logs.
After some
minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning
ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in
his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet fascination.
As the one
lone ember's flame diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was
no more. Soon it was cold and "dead as a doornail."
Not a word
had been spoken since the initial greeting.
Just before
the pastor was ready to leave, he picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it
back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow once more with the
light and warmth of the burning coals around it.
As the
pastor reached the door to leave, his host said, "Thank you so much for
your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next
Sunday."
9pm: Group
work – read Micah 6: 6 – 8
What do you
notice in this passage?
What will
you do/what might we do in the light of what you have read and noticed? Do
you/we need to change our habits?
Return back
to Acts 2: 42 – 47
What words
do you notice before any of the holy habits are shared by Luke? What difference
do they make to our Christian life today?
Holy Habits –
Session 2: Bible Reading and Fellowship
7.30pm:
Prayers
7.35pm:
Introduction: The first Holy Habit is “they devoted themselves to the apostles
teaching”
What words
do you trust today? What words have you heard today and how did you respond to
them?
Some people
trust a source as absolutely accurate with their words. My Mum still thinks the
Daily Mail is infallible “it says so and so in my paper” and I remember growing
up she would share wise things, and when we asked where she heard them, she would
say she heard it “on Jimmy Young!!”
Some don’t
trust the written word. There were more people at my inauguration than any
other in history says President Trump, what you’ve written is lies. His press
man lost it last night!
7.50pm:
What is your
favourite bible verse and why?
What was the
apostles teaching? Jesus had a teaching ministry which was rooted in the Hebrew
Scriptures. This is continued through those who are identified as his apostles.
The apostles are the medium and the guarantors of the teaching focused on fresh
interpretations of the Scriptures and beginning to order the memories of Jesus
teaching and ministry into forms suitable for instruction, worship and
proclamation. But proclamation of what?
What is the
last message on your answer machine? What did the person want you to know?
If you were
to write a summary of what the bible teaches us where would you start?
An Old
Testament verse perhaps?
The key
teaching of Jesus for you with a story or a text
Something to
do as a result of that teaching – find an example in the bible.
Mark 1:14 -
20.
When he sent
his disciples out, what did he tell them to preach? Matthew 10:7 and Luke 10:9
The verse
telling us the disciples devoted themselves to the apostles teaching comes
straight after the first biblical sermon.
Read it – Acts 2: 14 - 36
8.20pm:
Plenary
Some ancient manuscripts of Mark 1:14-15 say
that Jesus preached the kingdom of God; others say that he preached the gospel
of God. It is not necessary here to discuss which manuscripts are better, but
we will discuss the verse that is familiar to many of us – Jesus preached, “The
time has come… The kingdom of God has come near.” Jesus was announcing the kingdom – not just
the king – as being near. He was talking about nearness in terms of time, not
geography. “The time has come” for God’s kingdom to be established. Likewise,
when the disciples preached that the kingdom was near, they were not talking
about the king, and they were not talking about a nearby territory. They were
announcing that God’s kingdom would soon arrive. This was good news! The height
of biblical teaching.
8.30pm: How
do we use the bible in the church? Share experiences of church bible study
groups or house groups you have been a member of. What was good about them? How
else is the bible used in your local church?
Not just to
be sworn on or put on a shelf but used.
NT has
development of spirit filled Christ centred teaching and preaching today still
important but other ways to do this and more and more the small fellowship
group (link to second half of tonight) is becoming more and more the way people
grow in faith.
The value of
small group or worship where we open the bible together? Experience?
Very
Methodist! Wesley’s class meeting.
Class
meetings consisting of 12 people typically met for one hour to an hour and a
half during which time each person would have an opportunity to share their
experience of deepening love in Christ. They read the Bible together. (Groups
today are about shared insight) They also gave money toward sustaining the
Connexion.
It was expected
that the leader would set the tone by sharing their experience and ensure that
all had opportunity to speak and that there was prayer together.
Colin
Morris, our Methodist minister and broadcaster who has written in his ministry
so much about communication, has this illustration to offer. There’s a knock at
the door and there are two people there, very neatly dressed, with Bibles in
one hand, and a magazine in the other. They say, “Hello, we’ve come to tell you
about the Bible!” And we’ll say, “oh, but we’re Methodists!” And they’ll say
with smiles like hungry sharks, “Ah! You’re Methodists, then you will know what
it says in Leviticus 24 verse 13” and we’ll say, “Leviticus? Is it in the Old
Testament, is it in the New Testament? Is it the name of a racehorse?” They are banking on the fact
that however little they know about the Bible, we will know less.
And Dr
Morris asks at the end of this piece of writing: “would you buy a car from a
car salesman who doesn’t know how to get the bonnet open?” We need to become
acquainted with what is meant to be the basis of everything we do here.
The Bible
can seem overwhelming, boring and difficult, but a few basic tips can help you
understand it more. Try these…
1. Understand
the historical context in which the Bible is written
Even the
newest bits are about 2,000 years old. So start asking yourself questions about
what it might have been like when the books were written and Google the
answers. It will take you on a journey
into the world of the biblical writers and open your eyes to new and
fascinating insights.
2. Don’t
read passages entirely on their own, look at what comes before and after them
It’s easy to
take verses, or sometimes whole stories, out of context, by reading them by
themselves. Try to work out where they fit in the bigger story or argument of
the book. You’ll get a much better sense of what’s going on and what it all has
to say to you.
3. Read
what’s actually there, not what you think might be there
This is
particularly true for famous verses; we can think we know what it says and not
actually read it. So slow down and chew it over. You’ll often find you
understand it in a new way.
4. Read the
Bible with other people
We all bring
our own experiences to the Bible so it’s really helpful to read the Bible with
other people, for example, a home group or a prayer triplet. You’ll gain other
people’s perspective on what they think the Bible says. To get some really
different ideas, read it with someone from a different culture.
5. Don’t
read the Bible from start to finish like a novel
It isn’t
one. Start with the bits that you can get on with. You might find Mark might be
more interesting than Hebrews, Genesis more than Leviticus, because stories are
often easier to read than sermons or laws.
Once you have read the stories you might like to turn to some poetry
(Psalms) or some letters.
6. Use
different translations
There are
lots and lots of different translations. Look for the one you like best. It’s
often a good idea to have a very literal translation (like the NRSV) and one
that’s in easy-to-read modern English (like the CEV). The differences between
them will get you thinking.
7. And
finally, don’t beat yourself up if you’re struggling
The Bible
can be a difficult book to read when you begin, but the more you read it, the
more you’ll get to grips with it. If you keep going you’ll learn to love it and
understand it better, and soon you won’t be able to remember how you got by
without it.
8.45pm:
Exploring the value of fellowship groups:
Get in a
group and work it out – fellowship… support, mutual accountability and care as
well as challenge. Working out what God is doing together. What good groups are
you a member of outside church and what makes you belong to them?
When have
you felt excluded from a fellowship, even a church one?
Jean Vanier
who formed the L’Arche Community:
“It is
through everyday life in community and the love that must be incarnate in this,
that people can discover that they have a value, that they are loved and so
lovable.
Each day
brings me new lessons on how much Christian life must grow in commitment to
life in community, and on how much that life needs faith, the love of Jesus and
the presence of the Holy Spirit if it is to deepen.”
Vanier’s
vision of deep, committed, transformational community reflects the picture that
Luke paints of the very first Christian communities which formed after the
great outpouring of the Spirit.
Loneliness –
disintegration in 21st century of familiar or familial groups. Where
do you get your support? Some through social media, virtual community, church
on line. Or interest groups coming together to pursue an interest together. In
a church along the coast, bible truths and deep fellowship are shared by ladies
who knit at speed for two hours a week. Secularly, groups coming together to
sing or play instruments or debate history or watch films…
Need a
commitment to live more intentionally in community, to worship, support,
challenge, pray and read the Bible together. In Wesley’s day it was tough to be
in a group or a class! Are people
committed to a group today or just go to one when they have nothing else on?
The accountability and intentional stuff matter if there is to be growth. 21
questions of Wesley for you to chew…
John
Wesley’s Small Group Questions:
1. Am I
consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I
am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
2. Am I
honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
3. Do I
confidentially pass onto another what was told me in confidence?
4. Am I a
slave to dress, friends, work , or habits?
5. Am I
self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
6. Did the
Bible live in me today?
7. Do I give
it time to speak to me everyday?
8. Am I enjoying
prayer?
9. When did
I last speak to someone about my faith?
10. Do I
pray about the money I spend?
11. Do I get
to bed on time and get up on time?
12. Do I
disobey God in anything?
13. Do I
insist upon doing something about which my conscience is
uneasy?
14. Am I
defeated in any part of my life?
15. Am I
jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy or distrustful?
16. How do I
spend my spare time?
17. Am I
proud?
18. Do I
thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisee who
despised the publican?
19. Is there
anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold resentment toward or disregard? If so, what
am I going to do about it?
20. Do I
grumble and complain constantly?
21. Is
Christ real to me?
9.15pm:
Summary: These two are foundational holy habits in which the others can
flourish.. both are vital…
A question
we asked candidates for ministry in the District on Saturday – how could
today’s Methodism rediscover the bible and the class meeting and do we need to?
Has bible study become less important for us than it used to be? Very worrying
if so…
Walter
Bruggemann:
Living out
the teaching of the Bible “in glad obedience” in the world that is the “venue
for God’s reign.”
“What counts
in the end is not a better understanding or a new idea; what counts is a
community of engagement that takes up the gift of transformation and acts it
out in the world” - holy living inside
leading to prophetic witness outside…
