Holy Habits Session 7 - Worship

Holy Habits Session 7 - Worship

Think back to the last service of worship you attended. What do you remember about it? What inspired you and what annoyed you?

What does the word ‘worship’ mean to you? Brainstorm your ideas onto a piece of paper.

The holy habit of worship is a prominent theme in Luke’s writings. The first story he tells in his Gospel is set in the context of worship. In the midst of this, Zechariah receives the news that his prayers have been heard and that he and Elizabeth are to  have a son. The Gospel concludes with the story of Jesus’ ascension, with the disciples worshipping him before returning to Jerusalem where “they were continually in the temple praising God.”

Luke’s second volume – worship at the heart of the infant church – spirit filled exuberant praise offered in the home, the temple and on the streets – in public and in private. In his writings, Luke presents people praising God in response to experiencing God’s loving help or saving grace. Praise and worship flow from gratitude and thanksgiving for who God is and what God has done.   

Here are some definitions of worship. Which do you think are most appropriate to Christian worship?

a.         The expression of one’s devotion and allegiance pledged to a deity

b.        Religious rituals which salute, revere or praise a deity

c.         Human response to the holy in our midst

d.        Something else that you came up in discussion.

The word ‘prostrate’ is sometimes used to indicate an act of worship.

A person would prostrate (or bow down) themselves in response to the presence of God or in honour (in the presence) of an official or someone given great respect.  Look up the following references and discuss what it was about the situation that caused the individuals concerned to prostrate themselves/bow down and worship

Abraham  (Genesis 17:1-4)        

Job (Job 1:18-21)  

Jairus (Mark 5:22-23)      

Mary  (John 11:32)           

The Wise Men (Matthew 2:11) 

Spend a moment in silence imagining what it would feel like to come face to face with God. What would you do? Would you ask God to help you with a particular problem or dilemma? Or would you drop to the ground in fear and worship?

When, if ever, in an act of worship are you (or have you been) aware of encountering God?

Read Psalm 95:1-7a. In your opinion, why did the psalmist think that God was worthy of praise and worship?

The Shema

Jesus reminds his followers of God’s law in Deuteronomy 6:4 Shema (“hear”) is the Hebrew word that begins the most important prayer in Judaism. The whole Shema prayer, which includes verses 4-9, is spoken daily in the Jewish tradition.  Later Jewish tradition developed a three-part Shema prayer that also included Deuteronomy 11:13–29 and Numbers 15:37–41. Tradition states these three parts cover all aspects of the Ten Commandments.

The Shema prayer was so influential and important that Jesus used it as the beginning of His answer to the “greatest commandment” question in Mark 12:28–30. When Jesus began His answer with the Shema prayer, He acknowledged the Lord God as most important and that complete devotion to Him is the most important of the commandments. It is no surprise that the scribe replied this way in verses 32–33:

Think back to the last time you were in church: how, if at all, did the service help you to express each of these four areas? For example, heart might mean feelings, soul might be things you care about deeply, strength, things you do. 

If God is with us all the time, how does/could worship make us more aware of God’s presence? What responsibility do we have to make that happen?

“There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, he wants me as his friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given his Son to die for me in order to realise this purpose -not merely that we know God, but that he knows us.”

(J I Packer, Knowing God (3rd edition, Hodder & Stoughton, 2005)

How does it make you feel to think that God wants you as a friend and gave his Son to die for you?

Worship as an expression of devotion

Most common translation in NT for worship is “proskyneo.” The root meaning of this word is “to come towards and kiss the back of the hand.” An act of devotion, humility, intimacy and reverence. It also speaks of an amazing grace and generosity on the part of a Holy God that not just permits but encourages ordinary everyday people like you and me, struggling to be holy, to worship in this way.  

Read Mark 14: 3 – 9

What does this story say about the nature of true worship for you? Does it serve as a reminder not to criticise how others worship?  I might like choral evensong and not charismatic hand waving vibrance, you might be opposite! Does it matter how we do it as long as we do it?

Do we have to be in church to worship God?  Discuss the differences between worshipping God in church and elsewhere.  Do you make a point of worshipping God during the week?

Consider these two statements about worship. Are there words that stand out for you?   

I think worship should help us, as people in community, to sustain and deepen our relationship with the Divine, so that we become more open to God’s healing and transforming grace. Forms of worship may range from solemn gatherings using ancient liturgies to informal services aimed at toddlers and their caregivers, and from making a joyful noise to waiting for God in silence. Worshippers may express gratitude or sorrow, feel awestruck, comforted or challenged. Indeed we may leave at the end of a service without having felt very much at all – as in any relationship, there may be patches which lack passion and require perseverance instead.   Yet, I believe there are certain common threads which run through this diverse tapestry. To begin with, worship has both a personal and a collective dimension. Even in the largest gathering, each of us is intimately known and loved; we are never mere extras on a set. Yet no act of authentic worship is a purely private matter in which individuals pursue our salvation in isolation, if that were possible.     

We are connected at a profound level with the worldwide Church, past, present and future.

What is more, we invite God into the midst of our neighbourhood and world, filled with beauty but also sorrow, sin and the shadow of death, so that we and our communities may be refashioned and God’s kingdom come on earth as in heaven.

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The Westminster Shorter Catechism of 1647 declares that the “chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever”. Worship is the very purpose of our lives.

John’s vision in Revelation 4-5 paints for us a wonderful picture of worship and its importance. We see that worship is about centring ourselves on God. Everything in heaven is centred on God sitting on his throne. Worship centres us on God’s authority, power, beauty and love. Worship realigns us to God’s plan and purposes. Worship gathers us, for it is not something that we do on our own. Instead, we are gathered around God’s throne as brothers and sisters in Christ. Unlike so much of our lives, worship is not about us and our wants or desires, musically or otherwise, it’s about joining with the rest of creation to glorify and enjoy God.

Worship also reveals God to us. You cannot truly look to God, without responding in awe and adoration. You cannot look to God and not be humbled. God is the only being in the universe worthy of eternal worship. Consequently, the four living creatures around the throne cannot stop from saying: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come,” (Revelation 4:8). They are so centred on God, circling the throne, that their response can be nothing else. They cannot not worship. They cannot be distracted. They cannot not give God their all. Similarly, the 24 elders cannot stop themselves from falling down in worship before the throne, taking off their crowns, and declaring God’s praise (Rev, 4:10-11). Worship reveals God’s beauty and love to us afresh and draws us deeper into God…

During the week, how do you reflect on the past Sunday’s worship?

If you are a member of a congregation what would you like to say to preachers or worship leaders?

If you are a preacher or a worship leader what would you like to say to a congregation?

Susan J White – Groundwork of Christian Worship – Worship as service to God, leading us to be sent out to live and work to God’s praise and glory. 

Link to the last Holy Habit of evangelism with some words from the Archbishop of Canterbury: 2015 Lambeth Lecture:

“I want to start by saying just two simple sentences about the church. First, the church exists to worship God in Jesus Christ. Second, the church exists to make new disciples of Jesus Christ. Everything else is decoration. Some of it may be very necessary, useful, or wonderful decoration – but it’s decoration. “

Do you agree with his comment?

Should worship and evangelism (the last two Holy Habits) be at the heart of our church life?

Holy Habits Session 6 - Eating together, gladness and generosity

Holy Habits Session 6: Eating Together, Gladness and Generosity

Opening Exercise:

When did you last eat a meal with other people or another person? What did you eat?  Talk about it.  What else happened at the meal?

What are you glad about right now?

When was someone last generous to you and when were you to someone else?

Two habits to explore together: One is eating together, and the second is an attitude – with glad and generous hearts. Not just about food that one, but about life.

“Tables are one of the most important places of human connection. We’re often most fully alive to life when sharing a meal around a table. We shouldn’t be surprised, then, to find that throughout the Bible God has a way of showing up at tables.

In fact, it’s worth noting that at the centre of the spiritual lives of God’s people in both the Old and New Testaments, we find a table: the table of Passover and the table of Communion. New Testament scholar N. T. Wright captured something of this sentiment when he wrote, “When Jesus himself wanted to explain to his disciples what his forthcoming death was all about, he didn’t give them a theory, he gave them a meal.”

I’m convinced that one of the most important spiritual disciplines for us to recover in the kind of world in which we live is the discipline of table fellowship. In the fast-paced, tech-saturated, attention-deficit-disordered culture in which we find ourselves, Christians need to recover the art of a slow meal around a table with people we care about. “Table fellowship” doesn’t often make the list of the classical spiritual disciplines. But in the midst of a world that increasingly seems to have lost its way with regard to matters of both food and the soul, Christian spirituality has something important to say about the way that sharing tables nourishes us both physically and spiritually. We need a recovery of the spiritual significance of what we eat, where we eat, and with whom we eat.”

Jesus himself says ‘The Son of Man came eating and drinking’ (Luke 7:34). Eating and drinking – a lot. New Testament scholar Robert Karris says: ‘In Luke’s Gospel Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal.’

So much so that his enemies accuse him of being ‘a glutton and a drunkard’ – someone who eats too much and drinks too much. The Jews expected him to come with a bang, defeating God’s enemies and vindicating his people. Instead he shares a meal.

Meals are a powerful of expression of welcome and friendship in every culture. This is why Jesus’ meals are so significant – they embody God’s grace and enact God’s mission. Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners. Tax collectors were traitors not only to the nation, but also traitors towards God for they were collaborators with the Gentile occupiers who had defiled God’s holy land. So the table companions of Jesus led the Pharisees to conclude that he couldn't be from God (Luke 5:30; 7:39; 15:1–2). A reasonable conclusion – unless God’s grace is so amazing that it allows him to eat with his enemies and unless God’s grace explodes all our expectations (Luke 5:27–39). Meals are central to the mission of Jesus because they embody and enact the grace of God.

Isaiah 25:6–8: On this occasion death itself will be on the menu and God will swallow it up. This is an eternal feast that no one need ever leave. Jesus provides a foretaste of this feast when he feeds the five thousand. Here is a feast which need never end. Indeed there’s more food at the end than there was at the beginning. It’s a pointer to the fulfilment of God’s promise: that one day we will feast forever in his presence.

“Eating together can create safe space in which to share and deepen faith and offer the invitation to explore the adventure of discipleship.  At the meal table we can ask questions and share our stories, needs and struggles.  We can celebrate life’s joys and rejoice together when we have seen prayers answered through our following of Jesus. Eating together also creates a place of belonging where koinonia (fellowship) can really flourish.”  

If you visit Shetland during the summer months, you’ll quickly become aware of signs advertising Sunday teas in village halls around the islands. Usually, two or three halls will be offering them on any given Sunday and, if the opportunity arises, they’re not to be missed. Local people pull out all the stops to produce a tremendous spread of cakes, teabreads, biscuits, sandwiches, quiches and all sorts of other treats, accompanied by unlimited tea and coffee. It’s all done by volunteers in an effort to raise funds for charity and the experience is highly recommended.

How could eating together be missional/enhance our church life?

How might we make use of the opportunities presented by the major festivals and develop them as times of community feasting?

What does Luke 14: 15 – 23 say to you?

Then let’s explore glad and generous hearts. 

What is gladness? Play with the word and put it in a sentence: 

Feeling joy or pleasure; delighted; pleased:

Glad about the good news; glad that you are here.

Accompanied by or causing joy or pleasure:

A glad occasion; glad tidings.

Characterized by or showing cheerfulness, joy, or pleasure, as looks or utterances

Very willing:

I'll be glad to give him your message.

GLAD'NESS, n. See Glad. Joy, or a moderate degree of joy and exhilaration; pleasure of mind; cheerfulness.

They--did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Act.2.

Gladness is rarely or never equivalent to mirth, merriment, gayety and triumph, and it usually expresses less than delight. It sometimes expresses great joy. Esther 8.9.

Read some stories about gladness in the book  - pages 201/2

Take some time to reflect on your practising of gladness. If life is hard at the moment and gladness seems elusive, spend some time with someone who is in a tough place at the moment and maybe give them a simple gift like a cake or flowers. Often a good way to regain gladness is to give gladness.   

“The church was born in gladness. Gladness for what God had done, through  the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of  the Spirit as promised long ago by the prophets  and explained by Peter in  his Pentecost  address. There was gladness in the home, gladness in the temple and gladness out on the streets.”     

And what about generosity?

 Paul writes in Romans 12:1, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.” This is notable for what comes before it and for what it leads on to. Paul’s ‘therefore’ follows from his outburst of praise at the end of Romans 11 in which he asks, “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” And Paul ends verse 1 of Romans 12 by telling us that giving ourselves is, as the NIV translation puts it, “your true and proper worship”.

Paul goes on in the rest of Romans 12 to spell out what this self-giving worship means in practice. There are nine things to make us a glad and generous community being counter cultural to a world of avarice and greed.   We are to:

• honour others more highly than ourselves

• use our gifts for the benefit of the church as the body of Christ

• be patient in affliction

• be faithful in prayer

• share what we have with needy sisters and brothers in Christ

• practise hospitality

• bless those who treat us badly

• associate with people of lowly status

• do good to our enemies.

Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? (James 2:15-16)

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18)

A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor. (Proverbs 22:9)

How would living these passages make us a more effective community?

We need to remember the call to be inclusive, to share bread, to be companions, to live in gladness and generously every day. We need to be community in its richest sense.

Holy Habits Session 5 - Giving and Service

Holy Habits Session 5 – Giving and Service

“Send us out to live and work to your praise and glory.”

What has been happening in an hour or so is not just a peaceful interlude in a busy week, it is intended to be the very foundation of that week. We are being sent out to make a difference to our world. To bring, even into the very ordinary things we do each day, a tiny trace of God’s glory. We go out with something, having been reminded of it, we go out “in the power of the Holy Spirit” and with God’s peace, and God’s grace.

If what you do in church doesn’t have an impact on your life outside, then you may as well stay home with the Sunday papers.”

Our church life leads us to give generously and serve where we are needed to be. Read again Acts 2:  44 – 45. Then read Acts 4: 32 – 37.

What picture of “church” is painted here?

Luke presents pictures of the first Christian communities of disciples supporting one another and those in need in the wider community by the generous giving of their resources. They shared and sold possessions to create a common fund which could be used to support those in need of income and later on the deacons and others set apart for ministries of preaching and service. A recurrent practice as and when need arose.

Was this habit of giving like this fleeting? This type of sharing does not appear again in the NT after Acts 4!  What do you think happened?

Think about times you have been given something recently. What was the motive/reason in the giver? How did you receive the gift?

Think about a time you have given something generously? How did you feel? Do we live in a climate that has stopped giving and does receiving better because it expects so much from others?

Think about the Bible as a narrative of giving:

Read the following pages and ask yourselves in your conversation what is happening and what the words say about God then think about humans did next! 

Genesis 1: 26 – 30 and Genesis 2: 15 – 24

John 3: 16 – 21

Hosea 11: 1 – 9

The generous, persistent giving of God despite ourselves…

Is your church a giving church expecting nothing back? Or do we give only when we think it will give us something in return? Some traditions still do tithing – see Leviticus 27:  30 - 32  

Jesus talks about money more than any other subject – he uses stories and examples to point people to the divine impulse of generous giving.  

Read Luke 21: 1 – 4 – what does this story say to you tonight? The sacrificial generosity of the widow is stunning but by no means unique. So often it is those who have the least financially or materially who are the most generous with their giving. Have you examples of this? One in the material from Burundi.

John Wesley had things to say about money and giving in The Use of Money…

We know that it is the love of money that is a root of all kinds of evil. The fault does not lie in the money, but in those who use it.

Money can be used wrongly — and what cannot be misused? However, money can also be used properly. Money is of indescribable benefit to all civilized nations in all the common affairs of life. It is a most condensed means to transact all kinds of business and of doing all kinds of good (if we use it according to Christian wisdom).

If humankind were in an uncorrupted state or if all people were filled with the Holy Spirit, there would be no misuse of money. In paradise, the use of money will be outmoded, and we cannot imagine that there is anything like money among heaven’s inhabitants.

In our present state, though, money is an excellent gift from God, working toward the most elevated purposes. In the hands of God’s children, money is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, and clothing for the naked. For the pilgrim and stranger, money provides a place to lie down to rest. By the right use of money we can provide for others. Money can serve as a husband for the widow and as a father to the orphans. We can supply protection for the oppressed, a means of health for the sick, and comfort for those in pain. Money can become as “eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame” (Job 29:15, NRSV)2; and, indeed, money can lift up others “from the gates of death” (Psalm 9:13).

Therefore, it ranks among our highest concerns that all who fear God know how to use this valuable gift. It is important that we be instructed in how money can serve admirable ends to the highest degree. Perhaps all the instructions necessary for this goal can be reduced to three simple rules. By observing them, we can become faithful managers of money. These rules are gain all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.

Read Luke 19: 1 – 10 – Imagine it is your home Jesus is visiting. What does he give to you? And what do you feel called to give in return?

We may be able to pool our money but what about time and resources? As a Circuit we are trying to think about helping each other across the churches with skills and gifts and practical help. Some churches like quite understandably to hold on to their money for them and keep their own show on the ground first, when the Circuit system at its best is about us helping each other to be God’s people. Some people see the Circuit as an outdated thing of the past (even in this Circuit!) A discussion for another day J

Generosity and giving does not stay with the fellowship of believers who look after each other – it leads to service in the world.  Look at Acts 3, what happens after God gives the Church his Spirit?   No wonder they had the goodwill of all the people! The importance of incarnational mission . Think of an example of how your church is serving people outside your inner fellowship.

John 1: 14 – in the Message says the Word became flesh and moved into the neighbourhood. Jesus got involved, walked the streets, sat in the market place, spent time in people’s homes,  he got his hands dirty and offered the life changing touch of holiness. He brought heaven down to earth. Have we moved from this sort of Christianity keeping the Church going with all our energy now? Read story of disconnection (page 180) – need to know what the community is thinking, talking about, its problems and sorrows, not just about putting on what we think they need anymore or answering questions no one is asking. A church that is still in 1960 cannot speak to 2017.

Read Luke 14: 12 -14

A final exercise in groups leading to a plenary of action:

Read Matthew 25: 31 – 46. What does this passage say to you/challenge you about?

What ways do you exercise Christian giving and service in your life outside of Church stuff eg at work or in your leisure interests?

What one thing can your church give to people in the next few weeks?

How can your church serve its neighbourhood? What one thing might you do together to make that happen. Put it to  your next Church Council. 

Reflect together on the words of this hymn:

God wills us to show forgiveness, mercy and compassion, just as God bestows those gifts upon us. We are continually called toserve God in whatever capacity we can.

Called by Christ to be disciples                 

Every day in every place,

We are not to hide as hermits

But to spread the way of grace,

Citizens of heaven‟s kingdom,

Though this world is where we live,

As we serve a faithful master,

Faithful service may we give.

Richly varied are our pathways,

Many callings we pursue;

May we use our gifts and talents

Always, Lord, to honour you;

So in government or commerce,

College, hospice, farm or home,

Whether volunteers or earning,

May we see your kingdom come.

Holy Habits Session 4: Prayer

What is prayer?

Write down what you think prayer is. Keep it simple!

___________________________________________________

Andrew Roberts suggests “true prayer is so much than something we do occasionally or regularly. Prayer is the spiritual air we breathe. We breathe in the grace, blessings, peace, courage, holiness of God and breathe out our adoration, praise, thanksgiving, confession and intercession. Prayer is an adventure in itself. In prayer we soar and struggle, wonder and worry. When we pray we can experience ecstasy and anguish, clarity and confusion.  We encounter mystery and silence. When we run out of words the Spirit breathes out and prays through our groans and sighs.”  

 Some questions and an activity 

1.        What are the problems you find with prayer? Why are they problems? What do you find helpful that aids your prayer life?

2.        The Psalmist especially brought every situation and emotion to God. Do we? If we have a real relationship with God, we can be honest, can’t we? Share examples of honest praying you have done.

3.        Jesus has a lot to teach us about daily prayer. Is the place of prayer for many people only in crisis, or as a last resort, but not nurturing a relationship regularly?

4.        Jesus seems to be stressing that prayer is about God’s will not ours. This is difficult! Share examples of when God has not answered prayer (does God ever not answer prayer!!?) or has answered it in a way that has surprised you or disturbed you? As a church, have we been surprised or disturbed by the way God has answered prayer?

5.        Are we a community that listens to others and to God? Where is the space in our lives and our church programme to listen to God? Reflect together on a prayer by Michel Quoist called The Telephone.

I have just hung up ; why did he telephone ?

I don't know . . . Oh ! I get it . . .

I talked a lot and listened very little .

Forgive me , Lord , it was a monologue and not a dialogue .

I explained my idea and did not get his ;

Since I didn't listen , I learned nothing .

Since I didn't listen , I didn't help .

Since I didn't listen , we didn't communicate .

Forgive me , Lord , for we were connected ,

And now we are cut off .

Acts 2: 42 – Luke slips in the little phrase “the prayers” – implies use of specific, regularly used prayers. Mainly Jewish prayers with added Christian flavouring.  Jewish models but enriched because of the Christ event. Some scholars reckon the Lord’s Prayer would have been included in the light of Luke 11: 2 – 4 which includes the instruction “when you pray, say…” Pentecost (a few verses earlier) would have had spontaneous outpouring of prayer as the Spirit came. There is a way to pray for us all!   

ACTS

In five groups do a consequences prayer – remember consequences – the sun said, the moon thought, and the consequence was, folded paper passed to different groups:

Adoration - some things you are wanting to praise God for in his character.

Confession – some things you think we (a large we) need to be sorry for.

Thanksgiving – what are you thankful for tonight?

Intercession – what do we bring to God in prayer tonight re his world?

Certainty

So   - fill in the blank then pass it to another group:

O God we praise you because

We are sorry that

We thank you for

We pray for your world especially for                                               that you

You are                                                                           and we                    Amen. 

Adoration is oft neglected. Gazing upon and being transformed by divine holiness. Expressing our adoration of God just for the sake of it.

Confession – can be rushed. “I worry when it comes to confession that we (individually and especially collectively) are sometimes keen to get on with the repentance (the changing) without first dwelling in the place of contrition and sorrow. Examples?

Thanksgiving – an aspect of prayer to savour and be transformed by. We are shocked when someone says thank you to us these days.

As we take time with adoration, confession and thanksgiving we are re-orientated to, and transformed by, the love and holiness of God.

So when we come to intercession we will be able to pray in a way consistent with the teaching of Jesus for the fruits of God’s Kingdom to be seen and known in the lives of those for whom we pray.

Praying wherever you are

We find God in the rhythm of daily life. We need daily rituals in the rhythm of the day, the problem is, he suggests, we have no rhythm! Bishop Stephen Cottrell in How to Pray talks about other faiths – prayer built into daily life. There is no embarrassment about prayer, and if it is the hour of prayer everything stops, wherever you are, and whatever you are doing.

In our busyness, we might learn prayers by heart. Do you know any prayers off by heart? Apart from the Lord’s Prayer (which a lot of people don’t know by heart now even.)

Here’s one:

O Holy Spirit, giver of light and life, impart to us thoughts better than our own thoughts, and prayers better than our own prayers, and powers better than our own powers, that we may spend and be spent in the ways of love and goodness, after the perfect image of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

We said that prayer every day in assembly at secondary school. I can still remember it! And the headmistress leading it.

Monks of old said, "Lord, make haste to help me. Lord, make speed to save me," all day long.

God is not only found in the routine, he is found in the disjuncture and the surprise. He is the God of the unexpected. Prayer needs to be relevant, contemporary, and speak to what is going on right now.

Michael Ramsey from “Be still and know”: “The praying Christian draws inspiration from the world. Sometimes the beauty he sees in the world will stir him to wonder and to worship. Sometimes the presence of the divine word in human lives of goodness or wisdom will stir him with gratitude and reverence. The presence of self-sacrifice in human lives will set him thinking of Calvary. More often, perhaps, the agony of the world will draw him to the compassion of Christ and stir his will to pray.”

People need to know the church is a praying people. We offer space for prayer when we open our doors. We offer words when people have no words.

A final thought

What help is there to enhance our prayer life?  What good practice can you pass on?

  John Wesley’s Sermon: “The Wilderness State”

  Perhaps it is this very thing, the want of striving, spiritual sloth, which keeps your soul in darkness. You dwell at ease in the land; there is no war in your coasts; and so you are quiet and unconcerned. You go on in the same even track of outward duties, and are content there to abide. And do you wonder, meantime, that your soul is dead? O stir yourself up before the Lord! Arise, and shake yourself from the dust; wrestle with God for the mighty blessing; pour out your soul unto God in prayer, and continue therein with all perseverance! Watch! Awake out of sleep; and keep awake! Otherwise there is nothing to be expected, but that you will be alienated more and more from the light and life of God.

What is John Wesley saying about prayer here?

You’ve got to keep doing it!

Holy Habits Session 3 - Breaking Bread

Think of stories in the Bible which involve food.

What happens when food is eaten and what happens afterwards?

Think of what happens in a meal you have shared recently, during the meal and after it.

“Why have we made something Jesus made so simple and transferable, so complicated?”

In Acts the emerging church is regulation light (no mention of the apostles presiding at the breaking of bread) - Also noteworthy is the context “they broke bread at home.”

Note the distinction between home and Temple in Acts 2: 46. The Lord’s Supper was inaugurated where? In the upper room of a home by Jesus who was born in Bethlehem which means “house of bread.” The discipleship meal began in an everyday, domestic context, sacred in its simplicity, transferable and transcultural, accessible to all.

The breaking of bread is a term Luke uses elsewhere. See Luke 24: 35 - where is Jesus known by Cleopas and his companion? What is happening here? An everyday event infused with sacred significance. A holy habit to be practiced with due reverence for the one who instituted it, anytime, anyplace, anywhere? Whenever believers are together they can break bread as part of the meal as well as part of an act of worship, and not just remember but experience the risen Jesus in the midst of their fellowship. An ordinary meal and the Eucharist blended together. Acts 27: 35 – meal that Paul shared with the sailors began with Paul giving thanks and breaking bread. Encouraged and renewed spiritually they were then nourished and strengthened physically as they ate together.     

The breaking of bread should made you feel better.

The last meal I shared was at the River Haven carvery in Rye, with folk from the church but also my former colleague in Stamford and Rutland Circuit Malcolm Peach, and his wife Heather. Malcolm has retired to Canterbury and comes over to lead worship in the east of the Circuit to help me out. What did we do yesterday? As well as taking time over the food (how many meals do we rush? My Granny used to tell me to masticate each piece of food 30 times) and enjoying it, we caught up with life and our stories, we heard about future plans for us all, we told stories of the past which made us laugh, we gave thanks for the meal at the end and for the time, we went away nourished and refreshed.  

Breaking of bread is rooted in thanksgiving.

 Jewish meal rituals – prayers that reflect a deep dependence and thankfulness to God who provided for all needs, physical and spiritual.

Jewish spirituality – everything you do calls you to remember and thank God. Would not think of eating or drinking without first saying the appropriate grace or benediction. Saying of grace for us? Still done? Or not?

This prayer pattern shines through the New Testament – Colossians 3: 17. Best known Jewish thanksgiving of all is the Last Supper benediction of Jesus “when he had given thanks” over the bread and the cup.

Every action, every moment of the day, was related to the gracious God who protected and provided for the dependent community.

Last Supper rooted in Jewish thanksgiving spirituality 

Think about the last time you shared in a communion service – have we examples of times and places we have received and the event has changed us? Is it a renewing thing? Do we remind ourselves of a past event, that happens still today and that God is in control? What happens for you as you go to the rail or the bread is given to you in your seat and you eat together as we are doing on Sunday mornings at St Helens at the moment because we haven’t room to come to the front? We wait and eat together as a community.  Plenary after (10 minutes)     

Both Jesus and Paul regarded the sharing of meals as means of breaking down barriers and building up relationships.

Jesus ate and drank with sinners (Mark 2: 15f)

The parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15: 23 – 24, 32) ends with an invitation to a meal of joy and reconciliation.

See earliest account of Last Supper in bible – 1 Corinthians 11: 17 -  34

Again, see it in a Jewish context as a structure – remember Christians weren’t suddenly invented when Jesus came – Jesus was a Jew and first followers were Jews so knew Judaism. Basic features of a formal Jewish meal are in the account. Head of the household would say a blessing to God at the beginning, bread would be broken and shared, and at the end of the meal, thanks would be offered for the cup of blessing.

Interesting though, meal is not in a Jewish context in Corinthian Church – cosmopolitan city. Some people think setting here was a symposium, a drinking gathering after a supper, with a special cup of wine dedicated to a special god, (recorded in Plato), which led to other activities – philosophical discussions, games, sex, religious discussion, a time of social interaction. Not a solemn affair. Church has this background, this sort of meal, so open to abuse.  So, if it is to unite – Paul gets cross hence -    

Conversely, greedy or inconsiderate behaviour at the Lord’s Supper could break the church’s fellowship and unity symbolised among other things by the one loaf and the common cup (1 Corinthians 11: 17 – 34) 

Not greed, all given the same, no matter who we are. Prayer of Humble Access – see service book, and invitation to communion in Lenten service – really beautiful.

Some group work using ideas on how we break bread together:

  

The breaking of bread as missional tool

Rev Barbara Glasson was stationed some years ago to city centre Liverpool.      She writes:

‘A city centre is a wonderful mixing pot – and on my first day I took the train to town and just looked around,’ Being only five foot two, Barbara felt dwarfed by the huge buildings – but also intimidated  by the size of the task if the Gospel was to impact Liverpool city centre.

Her thoughts turned to yeast – something tiny which can make a huge difference in baking. An idea began to form in her mind which she thought might be from God. So she invited accountant Andrew Loveday to go for  a walk with her, near Albert Dock.

‘What do you think about baking bread?’ she asked him.

They found some rooms to rent above a radical left wing bookshop, got an oven, gathered a few friends together and started pummelling dough – at first carefully following the directions on the flour packet,   as none of them had any experience of baking bread.

‘We made a huge mound of loaves. For every  one we kept for ourselves we committed to giving one away.’

People who received a delicious free freshly baked loaf asked why.  And the next time the group gathered to make bread some of those who had been given loaves were there to join in. Bread-making is fun, it’s sociable and friendly.

A small community evolved, very naturally, around the regular bread-making times. While the bread was rising, the conversation would turn to the important issues of life, shared in the warm kitchen. People would read from the Bible, pray for one another. They became  companions (= cum panis, with bread).

Some of those who were given free bread and who were drawn into the group came from  the homeless street-dwellers of the big city.

 ‘We try to be a place where people can be warm, safe and who they are, around the  bread.’

 ‘Making bread has taught us so much – the process of baking mirrors so much in life: the pummelling and proving is about how we engage with one another, the waiting for the dough to rise is about how we give each other time. Churches generally are a bit obsessed  with numbers and outcomes. But the bread makes us wait … it needs to rest, to rise. In the waiting time the smell of the bread triggers memories and facilitates story so that people quite naturally talk to each other. And every loaf we make is different. Bread is a sign to the world.    

 ‘We bake at least twice a week. We have a faith development meeting one evening, and we meet to worship on a Sunday. We’ve had weddings, blessings, baptisms and even one funeral.’

On Friday, while away, I visited the coffee shop in what was our Circuit church in Stamford, Lincolnshire, and was told about Second Helpings.

Second Helpings is a community café, established to intercept perfectly good food that would otherwise go to waste. 

The café is run by a team of volunteers who aim to turn the rescued food into delicious, nutritious meals that are available to all diners on a Pay-As-You-Feel basis – the choice people have is to donate whatever value you feel your food was worth and this can be in the form of money or time.

Adam Smith: founder of the Real Junk Food project:

"It is bringing people from different demographics together that doesn't involve money. People are opening Junk Food Projects because they have had enough of what is going on in society and care about what is happening to other human beings," It is a revolution."

"We cook the basics in the cafe because many people don’t know how to do the basic things with food," he said. "I know people who think they don’t know how to make a fruit salad and they are 40-years-old. They didn’t get it was just chopping up fruit and putting it into a bowl. We have realised there is a serious lack of basic education in the UK in terms of food awareness, what to make and where it comes from. "We cook basis sides, sauces, stews, casseroles, cakes, to get people eating this sort of food again and it is so easy  to make "We regularly take food from supermarket bins if we have to," he said. "We watch them throw it away, then we go and take it back out again 10 minutes later. Over 90% of the goods are perfectly fine."

This is sacramental breaking of bread in a new way!

Think about what we have done to the breaking of bread by rules. Does it matter to you who gives you the bread at communion? Have  we always had an open table and are you happy  we have? (Wasn’t always so, communion was done behind the wall at the end of Sunday School) One church I served, three quarters of them didn’t take the communion despite sharing the liturgy? Why do you think that was so? Have we made something so simple too complicated?

 

Breaking of bread as transformative act

Does sharing bread change us?

Read story of Inderjit Bhogal and the man he gave bread to…

At his induction as President of Conference in 2000 he spoke of what he finds compelling in Jesus Christ: how Jesus expresses a God who is with us all, who respects people of other faiths and who eats with whoever will eat with him; a man who dies abandoned by his friends. "The genius of Jesus was to put food, a meal, at the centre of his community."

"To embrace each other is to accept each other without requiring everyone to think and speak and appear the same To embrace is to be prepared to sit at Table together and share bread with others.”

Perhaps someone needs to share this with President Trump…

A final quote:

“   “There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

Sharing a piece of bread given by another

How do we become a bread church, overflowing with generosity, sharing with those who are hungry today? Is breaking of bread the heart of the Gospel?  

Holy Habits Sessions 1 and 2

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.

Small groups meeting in cafes - Lyfe material. www.biblesociety.org.uk

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 21^st 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…