Newsletter, December 23

Newsletter
December 23, 2007

Note from Ed and Claire: Dear Friends, thank you for starting our Christmas celebration with the two generous and thoughtful gift cards. Claire and I have long had the Bone Fish Grill on our “wish to eat there” list, and we will enjoy wandering the aisles of Barnes and Nobel with treasure in hand.

Thank you also the many cards and notes with which you have enriched our lives over the last several days. The door of our refrigerator is brightly adorned with pictures of many of you and your children, and we often pause in wonder and prayer before them.

And finally, thank you for honoring us by allowing us to teach your Sunday School class. Our lives are immeasurably richer because you permit us this opportunity. May the peace and joy that is the promise of the season color every minute of your Christmas celebration. May you experience the fact that “God is with us” in a special way.

e and c

Coming Events:
December 24: “Come and Go” Communion for families will be served at the church at 7:30 am and 11:30 pm. There will be candlelight Christmas eve service at 5:00 pm.

December 30: Karen Clark will teach the lesson in class. This will be a special Sunday in which there is no 8:30 service, Sunday School will be at usual time, and at the 11:00 service, the worship will turn around sharing some of the wonderful music of the season and the stories behind the music.

January 6: Carla McCorvey will lead us in a business meeting. For the uninitiated, this also means we will have a several wonderful dishes to sample along with juice, water, and coffee.

January 27: We could still use a teacher on this Sunday. Ed and Claire will be combining business trip to Washington D. C. with celebration of their XX anniversary (no, we are not telling). Call/email Ed if you are interested/willing.

February 3: Superbowl party at the McCorvey’s house. More details revealed at January 6 business meeting.

Surprises for Christmas

Opening Question: We have been talking about Christmas now for three weeks … and you have heard sermons about Christmas … and music about Christmas. Have you read or heard or thought anything new this year? Have you had any surprises as you prepared for Christmas this year?


In a sense, each of our Christmas lessons has been about surprises. Tony started with a lesson that featured the surprise that Zachariah and Elizabeth received. Then a lesson on Gabriel’s surprise visit to Mary. Then a lesson on the surprises that greeted the shepherds in the field near Bethlehem. In our lesson today Mary and Joseph have yet more surprises. Even as they are actors in the first Christmas, they continue to learn its meaning. Let me give you the setting for the surprises we will discuss today:

Jesus was born into a devout Jewish family, and, shortly after his birth, his parents carry him to Jerusalem to participate in some part of the ritual in which devout families participated around the births. There were three:
· Jesus needed to undergo the rite of circumcision
· Jesus’ parents needed pay a temple tax to buy back their son. [In the Hebrew mind, every male child was sacred to God … belonged to God in a special way … and the family paid a temple tax of five shekels to release him to their family.]
· Mary needed to undergo a rite of purification. After the birth she was ceremonially unclean for 40 days, after which time she was to offer a lamb and a pigeon as an offering. [This was a pretty stiff offering. If you were poor, you could offer two pigeons and you will note that this is the offering that Mary and Joseph provided]
So, as the family traveled to Jerusalem to take care of one or more of these obligations, they were met by two old people, Simeon and Anna. [I must tell you that it gives Claire and me comfort to see old folks at the center of this exciting story.]

Both Simeon and Anna are waiting quietly but confidently for the arrival of the messiah. Before I turn you loose to read their part in the story, let me remind you of the two strains of messianic hope that filled the hearts of the Jewish people.

A substantial party of people believed that when the messiah came, he would lead the Jews to triumph over all nations. They harkened back to their memory of King David, a time in which their nation had some military success. In the messianic period, they believed that Israel would rule and all nations would be subservient. In particular, Israel would throw off the shackles of Rome. There were some of this party who were not content to wait for the messiah and constantly maintained a low grade warfare against the Romans. They were called Zealots. This low grade guerilla war occasionally flared into open rebellion, and one such flare-up led to the destruction of Jerusalem about 62 years after the events of the first Christmas.

Another group’s ideas about the messiah came from other sources. In God’s original promises to Abraham in Genesis 12, part of the promise was that “all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you and the nation that comes from your people.” And this theme is repeated in other parts of the old testament. This group, called “The Quiet in the Land” by Barclay, were less certain about what the messianic period would look like, but were sure that when it happened, God would bless not only the Jews, but others as well. They waited for the Messiah, attempting to live exemplary lives and saturate their lives in prayer and obedience. Out of this group come Simeon and Anna.

Read Luke 2: 21 – 36 and think about these questions.

What might have surprised Joseph and Mary about what Simeon had to say?
§ A light of revelation to the Gentiles
§ This child will cause the falling and rising of many
§ The thoughts of many hearts will be revealed
§ A sword will pierce your heart
Why was/is Jesus good news for some and bad news for others?
How did/does the light that Jesus represents expose their/our hearts?

And the surprises were not over, for no sooner than the old man had departed than the old woman Anna came trotting up. Read Luke 2: 36- 38.

In Barclay’s study of Luke he makes three insightful comments about Anna:
Anna had known sorrow … but had not grown bitter because
She had never ceased to worship
She never ceased to pray

A Christmas To-Do List

What’s at the top of your list this season?


In our first week of study, Tony led us as we looked to the story of Zachariah and Elizabeth and the question of how we prepare for Christmas.

Last week, the authors of our series suggested to us an important part of that preparation involves finding the spirit for Christmas. In search of that spirit they led us to the example of Mary who responded to an unexpected crisis in her life with humility …
I am the Lord’s servant, let me serve him in the way that he asks.

Before we leave Mary and her spirit of humility, I want us to hear young Mary in her own words. As the story is told in Luke, after Mary becomes pregnant she goes to visit her relative Elizabeth who she has heard is also expecting an unexpected child. While there, Elizabeth provides Mary with some much needed support. When Mary enters the room, Elizabeth exclaims, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child that you bear.” With this encouragement, Luke records that Mary launched into her own prayer of praise: a verse that became one of the hymns of the early church and is known as the Magnificat. I would like you to read the Magnificat (Luke 1: 46- 55). I want you to again listen to Mary’s humility but I also want you to listen for something else. Our authors say that the theme of this passage is the great reversal. As you read the passage I want you to look for three great reversals.

Barclay’s Versions of the Three Reversals:

He has scattered the proud: Jesus leads a moral revolution. Our prideful visions of ourselves as moral creatures without blemish are destroyed when we examine ourselves by the light that Jesus brings into the world.

He casts down the mighty and exalts the humble: Jesus leads a social revolution …the old labels of class, caste, gender, prestige are rendered moot.

He has filled those who are hungry … those who are rich are sent empty away: Jesus leads an economic revolution.

Our authors: Some have taken this as a political manifesto of liberation for the poor and oppressed of the Earth. It was never meant to be that. The liberation Mary describes is not political or economic, but spiritual. Mary will be called blessed not because she’ll get a new Mercedes, but because her Son will save her and others from sin. The liberation is not for the poor, period—but for the poor who fear God, trust God, and look to God for salvation.
I am not so sure about this as are our authors. As I mentioned in my discussion of stewardship a couple of weeks ago, I think that in any careful reading of the Gospels we come away understanding that Jesus had a special heart in his ministry for the poor --- and that he was not exclusively concerned for their spiritual poverty. I don’t think Jesus special concern for the poor in itself determines our politics or our advocacy on issues. It has never been clear to me what political system or policies best serve the poor. However, the Magnificat and many scriptures like it do mean this: Whatever political system and policies a Christian advocates … we cannot forget the poor in that advocacy.

I want to shift gears now and move into the next lesson. In this lesson, the authors want to talk to us about our to-do list. I don’t know about your house, but my house is littered with them. As we try to remain faithful to obligations of work and family and friends … and execute the plans required by the Christmas season, we compose list after list of things that must be done … and reminders of the deadlines for doing them. In this next lesson, our authors want to add something to our lists. Well, that is not exactly correct, what they want to do is suggest some things that may in fact shorten our lists because they will put all of our other todo’s into perspective.
Our authors remind us that when we read Luke 1 and 2 we are not reading about one birth but two … and they claim that between the two births we get some important insights into things that should come first on our to do list for the Christmas season. They claim that in these chapters we often find the actors involved in these activities:
1. Believe.
2. Obey.
Ed Note: This entry in the list reminds us of a real temptation in the Christmas season, the temptation to keep Jesus in the manger. In the movie Talledega nights, the protagonist offers his dinner time blessing not to God but to the baby Jesus. When his wife protests, Ricky Bobby says, I like him better when I think of him that way, a cute little baby. Who knows what was in Ricky Bobby’s tortured mind, but it may have been the fact that when we let Jesus grow up, he makes more significant calls on our lives … he calls on us to obey him.
3. Tell others

4. Experience holy wonder
Mary: My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices
Mary: Mary treasured up all of these things and pondered them in her heart
Zachariah: The rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in the darkness to guide our feet to the path of peace

Of four items on the list, the one that was most appealing for me in this Christmas season was the notion of finding time to pause in holy wonder. Our authors suggest the following ways to escape the busyness of the season and experience holy wonder. Can you extend their list?

In the middle of my shopping, stop, pull out my Bible, and read the Christmas story.
Gather your children around a Nativity scene each night to unwrap a different piece, and talk about the role it plays in the Christmas story.
Wake up early one morning and find a place to watch the sun rise and meditate on Zechariah’s words: “The rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Write the words of the angel on a 3x5 card and pull it out every time I eat: “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

The True Spirit of Christmas

Are you where God wants you to be this Christmas season?

We began our discussion by each class member writing a definition of humility. After some conversation about these definitions, Ed launched the following lesson.

In last week’s lesson, our writers emphasized that if our Christmas is to be spiritually successful, we must prepare for it. Today they are going to tell us that a critical part of that preparation will be to develop the correct attitude … and the attitude they suggest will prepare us for Christmas is … humility. We have taken a stab at definitions, but oftentimes definitions of attitudes and emotions are pretty theoretical until we see them clothed in human flesh. So for the next few minutes, we are going to see some living definitions of humility.

The first definition is found in the first chapter of Luke. It is the story of a little girl named Mary and her response to an event in her life that was bigger than she could possibly comprehend. Mary was probably 13 or 14 years old. She was probably amore mature than the 13 or 14 year old that we were … but she was still very young. And, as was the custom for girls her age, she was betrothed to be married to a carpenter named Joseph … said a little more precisely, her family had made a contractual arrangement with Joseph or Joseph’s family and to exit that arrangement would effectively be as serious as ending a marriage.

Suddenly, one day as this little girl works around the house, probably daydreaming about marriage … wondering how it would be to live with Joseph, she is visited by someone … someone whom Luke identifies as the angel Gabriel … who turns her world upside down. “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Gabriel goes on to tell her a disturbing story. She will become pregnant, she will give birth, the son she will bear will be extraordinary. These are not things that were part of the world she knew 15 minutes earlier.

But Mary puzzles. This story does not mesh well with what her mother had been telling her about how babies got started. “How can this be, … for I am a virgin?”

Then the most startling news. The pregnancy will come from God …” For nothing is impossible to God.”

Mary sat quietly for a long time, trying to recover the world that had been hers only minutes earlier … and failing totally. Then she provided us with a definition of humility:

I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.

Our authors tell us that we find within this story the incarnation of humility in the person of this little girl Mary. And they say that at the heart of humility is surrender … I am the Lord’s servant, let me serve him in the way that he asks.


In a minute, we will take some time and respond to this notion … that a spirit of humility lies at the heart of preparation for the Christmas. But first, I would like us to hear two more stories that will help us define humility.

The first is a story from the life of Corrie Ten Boom. The Ten Boom story is in itself a rich and inspiring story, the story of a Christian Dutch family who had distinguished itself in the service of the weak and marginalized prior to World War II. During the war, the family began to shelter Dutch Jews who were pursued by the Gestapo. Hundreds of persons were saved by their efforts, but in 1944 the family was arrested and sent to concentration camps. The Ten Boom father died almost immediately after incarceration and the two unmarried middle aged women, Corrie and her sister, were subjected to every possible indignity and deprivation including being paraded in the nude before the male guards at the camp. Corrie’s sister died; Corrie was released due to a clerical error shortly before she was to be gassed. After the war Corrie began an international career as a teacher and preacher. This is the story of what occurred when after a preaching service, Corrie came face to face with one of the guards who had humiliated Corrie and her sister at the Ravensbruck concentration camp.

Corrie Ten Boom tells the story of when she was speaking in a church and recognized a man who was a guard at the concentration camp she and her sister were in during World War II. Memories of the concentration camp came back with a rush: the huge room with its harsh overhead lights, the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor, the shame of walking naked past the man. Now this former guard was in front of her with his hand thrust out: “A fine message, fraulein. How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!”
It was the first time since her release that she had been face to face with one of her captors. She froze. “You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk,” he said. “I was a guard there. But since that time, I’ve become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I’d like to hear it from your lips as well.” Again the hand came out—“Will you forgive me?” She stood there—and couldn’t do it. Her sister had died in that place. Hours seemed to pass as the man stood there with his hand held out, and Corrie wrestled with the most difficult thing she ever had to do. She knew she didn’t really have a choice. Jesus commanded it. So she prayed: “Jesus, help me! I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.” And so, mechanically, she thrust her hand into his. As she did, she said a current started in her shoulder, raced down her arm, and sprang into their joined hands. And then a healing warmth seemed to flood her whole being, bringing tears to her eyes. “I forgive you, brother!” she cried. “With all my heart!”

For a long moment, they grasped each other’s hands—the former guard and the former prisoner. Corrie made the same choice Mary did. Those are hard choices to make, but could it be that, as with Mary, our greatest gifts come disguised as intrusions demanding our surrender?

I have one last story I would like for you to hear before we begin discussion. It turns around one of my favorite basketball players of all time, David Robinson. You may or may not remember that Robinson did not play high school basketball until his senior year in high school, as a consequence was not recruited by major colleges, went to the Naval Academy with a 1365 SAT to study mathematics, and as an afterthought, decided to play basketball there. He became one of the dominant players in college ball, graduated to serve two years in the Navy, then became a San Antonio Spur where he immediately became a force in professional basket ball, harvesting all awards from Rookie of the Year to MVP of the league. However, during an extraordinary ten year career, the Spurs never won a championship. Late in his career he was seriously injured, the Spurs had a 20-50 season, and hence got the opportunity to draft Tim Duncan out of Wake Forest University. The next year, with Robinson in the post and Duncan at power forward, the Spurs owned the league and Robinson finally earned his championship. But Tim Duncan was chosen as tournament Most Valuable Player.

In Sports Illustrated, Robinson reflected on what this was like for him:
I can’t overstate how important my faith has been to me as an athlete and as a person. It’s helped me deal with so many things, including matters of ego and pride. For instance, I can’t deny that it felt weird to see Tim standing on the podium with the finals MVP trophy. I was thinking, Man, never have I come to the end of a tournament and not been the one holding up that trophy. It was hard.
But I thought about the Bible story of David and Goliath. David helped King Saul win a battle, but the king wasn’t happy because he had killed thousands of men while David had killed tens of thousands. So King Saul couldn’t enjoy the victory because he was thinking about David’s getting more credit than he was.
I’m blessed that God has given me the ability to just enjoy the victory. So Tim killed the tens of thousands. That’s great. I’m for him.
That’s the spirit of Christmas—knowing you’re accepting your role in God’s plan. Thomas Merton once said, “Give me humility, in which alone is rest, and deliver me from pride, which is the heaviest of burdens.”

Three Questions for Reflection:
1. The authors have asserted that if we correctly understand Christmas, we understand that humility is the true spirit of Chistmas. Do you agree? In what way might this understanding make this Christmas season more powerful for you?
2. In our efforts to understand a spirit of humility, we have looked at humility as it has manifest itself in the lives of three persons. Mary, mother of Jesus, Corrie Ten Boom, David Robinson. Was there any one of those three stories that spoke to you especially powerfully?
3. In each of our examples, we have seen persons who had plans for their lives, found their plans changed, and understood that change as requiring surrender to the will of God.
· Mary planned to wed Joseph and settle down to quiet, traditional life in Nazareth … but was called to another vocation
· Corrie Ten Boom planned to preach her sermon, shake the hands of friends and supporters, and go on her way … but was faced with an unexpected encounter.
· David Robinson had planned to lead his team to a championship as the star … and found himself there, but in a supporting role
(a) Have you ever had to surrender something to God and found it difficult? If so, tell us about it: What was the hardest thing about it? What was the outcome?
(b) Have you ever refused to surrender something to God? If so, what was the outcome of that?

Stewardship on November 20

Since we have spent a lot of “church time” over the past four weeks talking about stewardship, it seemed we ought to spend a little time on the topic in class, especially since I have not paused at this topic often over the six years Claire and I have been teaching this class. I would like to talk about three important themes that have shaped my own commitments relative to stewardship.

My first understanding of stewardship was developed in the home of my childhood, in a family in which tithing was understood to be one of the most important ways that Christians would serve their God. My father was always eager for my brother and I to earn money, and he kept a list of chores that could be completed for the princely sum of 20 cents an hour. When payday came I was always careful to sequester 2 cents per hour to carry to church the next Sunday. Thus tithing became a habit and continued to be the way Claire and I did things from the first year of marriage when we lived in a mobile home and I earned $3500 a year as a teaching assistant at University of Virginia to later days when my take home pay was more substantial. I am very grateful to my family of origin for this practice and would commend it to any family with young children. It has been a good way to support God’s work in the churches I have attended, but it has had another important effect. In a society in which nearly everyone needs to make 10% more than their paycheck, just to break even, it has been a very powerful thing to live on 90% of that paycheck. This power has given us flexibility and options when making some of life’s hard decisions.

Though tithing has continued to be a guideline for our family, as I became an adult, it no longer functioned as the law I had understood it to be as a child. I needed another principle to help me understand how I was to give. I understood this principle while listening to a miscellaneous devotional on stewardship some years ago. The speaker showed up with an armload of shoe boxes, nine of which were wrapped in black paper and one of which was wrapped in white. After he arranged the boxes across the front of the room, he addressed the group with this question, “Imagine that these ten boxes represent all your worldly possessions, the funds in your bank account, your cars, boats and houses, the contents of your 401K. Which part of this wealth belongs to God?” Given my tithing inclination, my eyes focused on the one white box, but the speaker swept his hand across all ten boxes. “All that you possess, you possess only because God made it available to you. All you think of as yours is rightfully God’s. You are a good steward when the contents of all ten boxes are used in a way that glorifies God.”

This gave me a whole new perspective on stewardship. It was not just about the 10%; it was about a life style and a way of being in the world. As I have attempted to follow God’s leadership on this matter, the per cents of giving have changed. 10% has not always been large enough for my family,but I can imagine many family circumstances in which a much small per cent than 10% would be understood by God as giving from the heart. The more important issue is that the remainder also be used to God’s glory.

The third important theme in my giving came as my reading of New Testament and Old Testament convinced me that it is the special responsibility of Christians to be attentive to the needs of the poor. This realization has led me to give special attention in my giving to ministries of the church that minister to the physical needs of others. In circumstances when my church was not heavily involved with this kind of ministry, it has led me to find and support Christian ministries in both community and world that give “a cup of cold water in Jesus’s name”

Thanks for letting fillibuster a bit about the Wheeler view of stewardship.

Summary: Romans 14-16

Next week Tony will begin a new series that will prepare us for the celebration of Christmas. Today Ed wants to do two things … talk a bit about stewardship … and finish our study of Romans. [Note: Ed's thought on stewardship are found in a separate post titled, Stewardship on November 20.]

Now we must attend to Romans: In a minute I will turn you loose on Romans 14:1-23, but first a word of preparation:


This section of Romans is a very important section for us to read because it has to do with how Christians will relate to one another when they differ in terms of personal convictions. To understand this scripture best, we need to remmeber that two very different groups populated the early church: some were converts from Judaism … others were converts from belief in the polytheism of the Greek/Roman traditional religions (Zeus and Aphrodite and crew) or one of the Greek mystery religions.

Some of the converts from Judaism believed that the dietary restrictions of Judaism should still be observed as part of the Christian faith.

Some of the converts from Greek cults believed that it was still important to observe dietary restrictions (the Pythagoreans did not eat meat)

Some converts from Judaism continued to observe the Sabbath and other Jewish feast days.

Some converts from paganism and some Jewish converts did not want to drink wine or eat meat that had been offered as sacrifice to idols.

Paul was part of a group that believed that Christ had freed us from the need to justify ourselves before God by observing certain diets or rituals. In his sacrificial death, Christ had freed us from these burdens.

The various groups described faced different temptations:
Those who kept rigorous dietary and ritual practice were tempted to look down on those who did not [They were strong because they keep the practice; others were weak because they did not.]
Those who felt they had been freed from dietary and ritual laws were tempted to look down on those who still felt they need to do this stuff. [They were strong because they did not need this crutch any more; others were weak]

Now with this background, read Roman 14: 1- 23. However, as you read, think a bit about convictions that you have with whom you differ with brothers and sisters … in this room, in this church, in other churches


Read Romans 14: 1 – 23As you read, make notes in the following columns.
Thoughts, surprises, insights, questions Think about these questions:
• According to Paul’s teachings, how should we treat one another regardless of our convictions
• What is Paul’s answer to the question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
• How do we find out if something we are doing is a stumbling block to other Christians?
• What should we do if another Christian’s choices are causing us to stumble?
• Paul is dealing with dietary laws and ritual practice. Were you able to think of other convictions on which you have seen Christians differ?

In view of the short time remaining and the fact that we need to finish Romans today, I will briefly summarize Romans 15:
1 – 6: An exhortation to create within the Christian community in Rome six essential characteristics: consideration of others, study of scriptures, encouragement, hope, harmony and praise. It begins with this notable verse:

It is the duty of the strong to bear the burden of those who are not strong.

7-13: An appeal that within the church we eliminate the bounds of nationality and race and become as one. Built around by quotes from Old Testament in which writers predicted that God’s blessings would flow from the Jews to all the nations. This prediction was important to Paul as he launched his ministry to the Gentiles

14-33: Paul defines his ministry and indicates his next steps. He says that his goal has always been to proclaim the gospel in places where the gospel has not been heard. He has finished his work in Greece and Turkey and wants to move west. He will first visit the church in Jerusalem with a love offering from the Gentile congregations, he then hopes to come to Rome … to visit, to rest, and to obtain support to travel on to Spain. He then asks for prayers that his offerings in Jerusalem would be accepted and that he would be “rescued from unbelievers in Jerusalem.”

What we know: He went to Jerusalem, presented his offering, was later arrested and tried by unbelievers, and appealed to Rome. Ultimately he arrived in Rome as a prisoner … and to the best of our knowledge, he died in that state;

Romans 16: A beautiful chapter of greetings in which we hear a role call of the heroes of the Roman church.

Phoebe …wealthy woman who delivered the letter and probably provided some of the support for Paul
Priscilla and Acquila: banished from Rome by Claudius, met Paul in Ephesus, traveled to Corinth with him, now back in Rome
Rufus [Mark 15:21 Simon of Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rufus, called upon to carry cross of Jesus … this member of the church at Rome was likely the son of Simon.]
6 of 20 greetings go to women … one of whom is called an apostle and three of whom are saluted because they serve the Lord to point of exhaustion
Some evidence that slaves in the greatest houses in Rome are in the Roman church

Summary: Romans 13: 8-14

This lesson started out with a test on the previous week’s lesson. The Test was administered as follows: Ed told a story and then asked the penetrating question, “what does the story had to do with last week’s lesson?”

The Story:
Some 18 years ago I hired Steve, a young computer engineer from Auburn University, to teach computer science at Armstrong. Shortly after he arrived, we became jogging buddies and that relationship has continued even as our responsibilities and positions on campus have diverged. Last summer after a run, we discussed my taking him and his two sons, Matthew, aged 11 and Chris, aged 15, on a fishing trip in coastal waters. I agreed, but only after Steve convinced me that he understood the framework within which we would operate: When you go fishing with Ed Wheeler, you never catch fish.

So one day in mid-August, we loaded my boat and headed down the Intercoastal. Surprisingly, we had a good day. We got a couple of keeper sized trout on board, pulled in a few big sharks, and had some very large sharks rip our lines up. However, late in the day, the 11 year old had still not caught a fish. I was so very pleased when just minutes before time to depart he caught a little 8 inch trout. Although Georgia Law requires that trout be 13 inches to take home, I was feeling a little grandfatherly and said, “Matthew, because this is your first fish, we will take it home for your supper.” Matthew smiled brightly in anticipation… but from the other side of the boat I heard his father speaking quietly but firmly, “Ed, we need to put the fish back in the water.” As I was releasing the little trout, I realized that not only had Matthew been taught an important lesson that day, but so had I.

My question: What does this story have to do with last week’s lesson. (Review Romans 13:1-7).

In preparation for completing our reading of Romans 13, I have this story for you:

In summer AD 386, a young professor of rhetoric in the Italian city of Milan was in despair. He had been born in North Africa to a Christian mother and pagan father, had been provided an excellent classic education, found his way to Rome where he received academic and political promotions, and now occupied an enviable position in Milan that could lead to either political ascension or academic ascension. However, on this day, he had reached a crisis point in his life. Despite the prayers of his mother, he had lived a debauched life since adolescence, enjoying all the many diversions available in the big cities of the Roman empire. He was famous for having flippantly prayed, “Grant me chastity and continence, Lord, but not yet … not yet.” But now in his early thirties and despite great prospects, he could no long detect any sense of direction in his life. He was pacing in the garden when he heard the voice of a child saying, “Take and read … take and read.” He looked for the child and found none. Then he went to table where a friend had been reading a pile of manuscripts including letters of the Apostle Paul. He grabbed a letter and begin reading the first lines his eyes saw … and the lines were Romans 13: 13-14. In this moment his heart yielded to God and Augustine was converted. He returned to North Africa where he became one of the great preachers and religious leaders and philosophers of the ancient world. His name was Augustine and we often hear him referenced as St. Augustine or Augustine of Hippo.

Read Romans 13: 8 – 14 As you read, make notes in the following columns.
Thoughts, surprises, insights, questions (don’t forget to read Augustine’s two verses, 13 and 14) Think about these questions:
• What is one of the greatest examples of love that you have personally witnessed?
• Does Christ’s promised return affect the way you live your life? Should it?
• Paul uses the metaphor of “Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ” as a summary statement for his exhortations. What does this metaphor mean to you?

Summary:Romans 13: 1- 7

The Christian and Government: Romans 13: 1- 7

In Romans 13: 1 - 7 Paul praises the function of secular government … and indeed, declares that the authority for the government comes from God. In thinking about this passage it might be useful to remember the following things:
• The Roman empire was a marvel. Although there had been great empires that preceded Rome, there had been no previous civilization in the West that had provided the infrastructure (roads, water supplies, sewer systems) that Rome had provided. Nor was there another civilization that had created a legal system that was uniformly applied over a wide area and that guaranteed the safety of its roads to the extent that private citizens could travel long distances.
• Paul had personally benefited from the existence of the Roman government. On more than one occasion he had been rescued from a mob by Roman authorities after reminding those present that he was a Roman citizen.
• The universal “peace” that Rome had provided enabled the kind of missionary travel that made it possible for Paul’s work to be successful.
• In our recent history, we have been able to watch what happens when secular authority fails. Life in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union was abysmal in the absence of communist bureaucracy. For the common folk, life’s uncertainties overshadowed gains in freedom they may have achieved. Indeed, the citizens of Russia seem to be allowing a police state to be re-established by Putin, largely in response to the misery in the period under Yeltsin.
• One could argue that life in Iraq has been harder for ordinary citizens in the absence of government that it was during the terribly corrupt government of Saddam. Predictability, even when bad, is often better than chaos.
• Even though the persecution of Christians had not yet reached the crescendo it reached in decades to come, Christians continued to preach support for government in the next two centuries. Writers such as Tertullian and Justin Martyr in the second century, when some of the worst persecution occurred, continued to urge their readers to offer prayer for the “peace and pardon for all who are in authority.”


Read Romans 13: 1-7 As you read, make notes in the following columns
Thoughts, surprises, and insights Questions


If we used these seven verses alone as our measure of how we respond to government, we might imagine that we should never oppose a governmental mandate.
• Can you think of circumstances in which you might contemplate such opposition?
• Is there a difference between “submitting to authorities” and unconditionally obeying them?
• Can you think of examples from history in which Christians defied the mandates of their governments?

After class was over, Ed wished he had summarized the conversation a bit before ending it. Below you will find some summary comments. Observe that they are heavily laden with Wheeler’s opinion.

Summary a la Wheeler:
• Wheeler certainly supports the Apostle Paul in his assertion that God often uses nations, governments, and people to accomplish his purposes … even when they are not aware of God’s part and God’s goal in what they are doing. Much of God’s good work in this world is done by persons and agencies who are not aware that they are serving God.
• Devin’s observation that God wills order over chaos for his people gives additional understanding for the Apostle Paul’s strong support of existing governments.
• The Apostle Paul’s observations that Christians serve God by honoring the laws of the land in which they live and paying taxes (and, in a democracy, voting) should make some inconvenient obligations easier to complete.
• On the other hand, the history of the last 2000 years is ripe with circumstances in which Christians, in response to their understanding of God’s will, found it necessary to oppose their governments [Christians who hid Jewish persons from Nazis in 1930’s and 40’s, Puritans who fled England to find better place to establish the Christian communities that they desired, Christian abolitionists in 1850’s who refused to return slaves to masters despite the rulings of the U. S. Supreme Court, Chinese citizens who persisted in attending house churches despite official prohibitions …]. These examples remind us that we live in a tension between faithful service to the government under which we live … and obedience to God’s coming kingdom in which our citizenship surely lies.

Summary: Romans 8: 28-39, Romans 12: 1-21

We began class by reading and making notes on Romans 8:28-39 using the following template.


Read Romans 8: 28- 39: As you read, make notes in the following columns
Thoughts, surprises, and insights

Questions

One question raised had to do with the verses around Romans 8:29 that refer to the notion of predestination, the notion that before all time God has chosen those to whom he will show mercy. We observed that John Calvin had made predestination one of the central issues in his theology and that some modern denominations continue to give attention to this theme. This is one of the areas that divide Methodism and churches that are strongly influenced by Calvin’s thought. Methodists usually argue that these verses are counter to the thrust of the rest of the New Testament including Paul’s life mission of inviting all to receive the gospel and verses such as John 3:16. Barclay in his writing interprets the verse this way: God predestines every man and woman to be conformed to the image of the son, to be called, justified, and glorified but allows men and women to choose other destinies.


In Chapter 12, Paul moves abstract conversation to very practical conversation. What does it look like on the ground to be a Christian. What does it look like on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday? Paul’s first statement would be a shocker to the Gentile members of the church at Rome. “Present your body to Christ as a living sacrifice.” In the popular philosophies of the day in the Greek world, this would have been nonsense. Our physical bodies had nothing to do with religion … religion was a thing of the spirit and it occurred in rarefied times and special places. Two consequences
• Hedonism and debauchery
• Aestheticism … punish and deprive the body
Paul says, Real worship is offering day to day life to God … and this involves the body …

Read Romans 12: 1 – 21 mindful of these questions


Read Romans 12: 1 - 21: As you read, think about the questions in the left column
Questions:
1. What does it mean to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice.”
2. What does Paul mean “Do not be conformed to this age?”
• Examples
• Have you ever experienced “renewing of the mind.”
3. Are you more likely to overestimate or underestimate your spiritual gifts? Of the six gifts Paul lists in verses 6 - 8, which is your strongest gift.
4. Look at characteristics of a Christian found in verses 9-21.
• Which is hardest for you?
• Which is easiest for you?
5. Suppose you were giving advice to a friend about how to acquire one of the Christian character traits that was hard for him or her. What would you suggest?

Surprises?
Insights?
Questions?

Your thoughts:
We did not get too far in our discussion of these questions and may return to them later.

Newsletter, October 14, 2007

NewsFlash: William Jamison Koser was born to Devin and Rachel Koser on Friday, October 12. We are so pleased to have this new member of our community. Chrissy Snider will deliver a “Shower in a Basket” from the Family and Friends Class.

Many, many thanks: To those who prepared the wonderful breakfast that we enjoyed in business meeting today. Those of us who usually suffice on a bowl of cereal in the morning are particularly grateful and feel particularly blessed.

Report from Business Meeting: Well, the old man was feeding his face rather than taking notes as he should, but here are his best recollections of what was decided today in business meeting … with some additional info that comes from telephone conversations with Kristen this afternoon.

November 10: Upside Down Progressive Dinner and Game Night
On Saturday, November 10, a team of noted chefs will entertain all comers in an “upside down” progressive dinner. Courses will include appetizer, salad, dessert, meat, vegetable and soup in some order, not yet determined. Here are the details:
• Nursery opens at 5:30 at the church (Robin will be ready with helper(s))
• Dinner begins at 5:45 at the church
• After the dinner, Hostess Kristen Maynard invites those whose schedule will permit to stay for a game night
• The Chefs:
Meat: K. Maynard
Dessert: C and R Anderson
Appetizer: J and M Everly
Appetizer: E and C Wheeler
Salad: C and P Snider
Soup: E and C Larsh
Starch: A and T Murphy
Vegetables: J and J West
Backup-Chefs: C and D McCorvey
• Note: this is not a “pot-luck” dinner. We would welcome other participants, both those in the Family and Friends Class and those who are not in the class. You are warmly invited. (Scott and Dwayne, we would particularly enjoy feeding you a home-cooked meal.) To register your intention to attend (and make sure we have food for you); call Kristen Maynard at 921-7688 (home) or 657-3634 (cell). If you are a chef who finds you are not able to attend, call Kristen also.

October 27 (Saturday): This will be the church’s Fall Festival. Erica and Curt will be taking pictures from 10:00- noon as our class contribution to the festivities. Extra hands to help with Rebekah and Alex will be appreciated. Clearly children of our families may find this a fun time and place to be. Any profit from this event will go to support the youth program. We decided that we would not take on the project of being the “drip of blood” for the American Red Cross promotion that will be occurring on the 27th.


October 31: Halloween is on Wednesday night this year and the usual Wed night supper will adjourn to a “Trunk or Treat” event in which it is envisioned that attendees will raise their trunks and let children “Trick or Treat” out of the back of cars.

Children’s Church: The implementation of “Veggie Tales” Children’s Church has run into a few rough spots. Rhonda Anderson will convene a meeting involving herself and Janet and Pastor Castor and Sarah M. to work out details. If you would like to be included in the meeting, call Ronda at 925-3799.

Safe Sanctuary: There will be a Safe Sanctuary training meeting in Statesboro on January 26. However, Claire was disturbed that we must go out of town to get training and is trying to get the credential so she can do the training herself. We must wait till later to determine if the “powers to be” felt she is sufficiently qualified. 

Door Decoration: Kristen Maynard (assisted by Chrissy and Janet) will coordinate our “door decorating” efforts on December 2.

Nursery List: The list of persons who will help in the nursery needs to be refurbished. Several persons on the list have moved on to other places and their places on the rotations need to be filled. Jennifer will do some walking around to other classes to request help. If there are those in this class that have not yet signed up, Jennifer would be glad to hear from you (484-5554). [This responsibility can be completed by persons of both genders; prior experience not necessary!! ]

Coffee Fellowship Cleanup: November is our month to clean up after the 10:30 fellowship. We passed around the sign-up sheet and to my knowledge, all spaces were covered.

Summary: Romans 9-11

In our next lesson we will return to Romans 8 and begin Romans 12, but today I want to discuss Romans 9 –11 as a unit. In order to prepare to read Romans 9-11, I want you to imagine or remember a dark moment in your life … a moment in which there was a terrible disappointment or tragedy or loss or misunderstanding. Perhaps you
• Lost a job
• Did not get a job you believed you deserved
• Were betrayed by a friend
• Were unfaithful to a friend
• Lost a child to accident or disease

Imagine your state of mind in the days that would follow. For many of us, our thoughts would churn. We would race from one explanation to another … we would create theories and then we would debunk those theories … we would live in the world of “if only” and “why” and “surely not” I imagine pacing around a room, and as I reach each corner of the room a divergent thought would arise to lead me further into despair.

In Romans 9 – 11 Paul wrestles exactly such a disappointment.
• Why did not all the Jewish people understand that Jesus was the Messiah for whom they had long waited?
• Why were all true Jews not Christians?
• (Note many Jews were Christians, indeed it appears that for the first few years virtually all persons who followed Jesus were Christians. At some point the Christians in Jerusalem numbered 8000.)

Now why is this such a crucial question for Paul?
• He was a Jew … a very serious Jew … a Pharisee … who had studied under one of the great Jewish rabbis of the first century, Gamiliel
• As he traveled around Turkey and Greece as a missionary to Gentiles, as he arrived in each city he first went to the Jewish synagogue with his “good news.” He reached many Jewish converts, but many of those who most vigorously persecuted him were Jewish.
• It was a crucial issue for Paul … because he loved his people and wanted them to respond to God’s love in Jesus

Now, Romans 9-11. When I read these chapters, I do not find a carefully reasoned argument. Rather I hear the struggles of a man who is wrestling with a very difficult issue. I imagine Paul pacing around a room, trying on different ideas, trying to understand .. but never quite achieving understanding. At each corner of the room he has a new idea … sometimes contradicting the idea he had at the last corner … in each case he is turning the great tragedy of the rejection of Christ by some Jews over and over again in his head.

Before we walk to some of those corners with Paul, I want you to read his beginning and his conclusion. Let’s read the beginning lessons of Romans 9 and concluding verses of Romans 11 (Romans 11: 33 – 36)

The Beginning: Read Romans 9: 1-5

As Paul begins his long night of wrestling with the tragedy of the rejection of the Messiah by the Jewish people, what is his tone? Is he angry, sad, frustrated, belligerent, condescending, hoping, …?

The End: Read Romans 11:33-36

As Paul ends his long night of wrestling with the tragedy, what is his tone?
How do you respond to his conclusions?

As Paul finishes Chapter 11, he acknowledges that some questions are too big for him to answer … no matter how hard he tries. He prepares himself to go forward without his tragedy resolved … indeed in next chapter he shifts into practical advice for living Christian life. His resolution is remarkably similar to the position at which Job arrived in the Old Testament after his time of trial

Now, let’s follow Paul as he wrestles with this question in these 3 chapters of Romans. As I summarize his thought, I will imagine him pacing a room, arriving at a different and divergent thought at each corner:

First Corner: This is the fact of the matter. God owes the Hebrew people nothing. God can choose to be merciful to whom he wishes to be merciful. Not all the biological descendents of Abraham became Hebrews … Abraham’s son Ishmael was rejected in favor of Isaac; Isaac’s son Essau was rejected in favor of Jacob. Indeed, God used Pharaoh as an instrument to show his power … everything has to do with what God chooses. (Romans 9: 6 – 18)
Second Corner: But this sounds a little like we have no choice in the matter at all … no free will. Well that is the truth of the matter. We are like clay in the hands of a potter. He chose some of us to serve a noble purpose and some of us to serve a base purpose. (Romans 9: 19 –21)
Third Corner: Maybe the whole idea is this. In order to show his power and glory, God chooses his people not only from the Jews who are his covenant family but also from those who have no claim to be part of his family. (Romans 9: 22 – 27)
Fourth Corner: But I don’t think God acts this way. He does not deprive us of our free will and punish us when we don’t deserve it. Maybe it was really Israel’s fault. Perhaps God allows the Israelites to reject the Messiah because the Israelites chose to pursue salvation by seeking righteousness under the law rather than by faith. (Romans 9:30 – 33)
Fifth Corner: But my heart breaks. My hearts greatest desire is that the Israelites be saved. They are so serious about their faith .. yet their seriousness is misdirected. Here is the truth they must apprehend. (Romans 10: 1 – 12 and following)
Sixth Corner: But God is working in Israel. There are thousands of Hebrews in the church in Jerusalem and across Asia. Perhaps God is just saving a remnant and the rest have been lulled to sleep. (Romans 11:1 –9)
Seventh Corner: But you Gentiles had best be careful. Don’t get arrogant because you are part of God’s coming kingdom and the Hebrews are not. By God’s mercy you have been grafted onto the tree of God’s family .. .but the roots and lower branches of that tree are Jewish. Indeed, God may be using the fact that you have been grafted onto the tree to make Israelites jealous so that they will come to the faith. (Romans 11: 11 – 24)
Eighth Corner: I tell you what I really believe. I cannot see how it will happen right now, but I know the God I love and in the end, He will save his people. All of Israel will be saved. They are disobedient now … but in time … they will receive mercy. “God has bound all people over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.” (Romans 11:25 – 32)

Newsletter, September 27

Short Newsletter, September 27

Important Dates and Info from Carla: Several important dates were decided in class on September 23 and Carla had a bushel of info from a Church Council meeting she attended. Here goes:

Sunday October 14: Next class meeting. [For new folks … this means we will have good things to eat during the class meeting and Carla will lead us in doing such business things as planning the November social and discussing our participation in church projects! We will close with a prayer time]

October 27: This will be the church’s Fall festival. Carla is looking for ideas ccasemccorvey@hotmail.com of ways our class might participate. Clearly children of our families may find this a fun time and place to be.

October 31: Halloween is on Wednesday night this year and the usual Wed night supper will adjourn to a “Trunk or Treat” event in which it is envisioned that attenders will raise their trunks and let children “Trick or Treat” out of the back of cars.

November 10: This will be the next Family and Friends social. Kristen may have to “unconfuse me” but my belief is that this will be progressive dinner set up in consecutive rooms in the church {room 9 for the escargot, room 10 for the leek soup, room 11 for the ostrich steaks, …}.

Other Wisdom from Carla:

Veggie Tales: In its debut on September 16, more than 40 children enjoyed “Veggie Tales” in Children’s Church. Lois desperately needs more volunteers to help with this wonderful abundance of children.

Summary: Mission of the Church

Initially divided into two groups with these assignments:

Group 1:

Read:
Jesus words at the end of his conversation with Nicodemus: John 3:16 - 17
Peter’s closing of his sermon at Pentecost: Acts 2: 37 - 39
Much loved passage from Romans: Romans 3: 21 - 24

If these were the only scriptures you knew, what would be your understanding of the most important activities in the Christian faith.

Group 2:

Read:
Typical of prophetic passages in which prophets address the needs of the weak: Isaiah 10:1-2
Jesus’ reading at the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth: Luke 4: 16-18
Jesus on judgment: Matthew 25:34-40

If these were the only scriptures you knew, what would be your understanding of the most important activities in the Christian faith.

After reviewing the thoughts that followed this reading, the teacher observed that the scriptures from Group 1 reminded us that an important responsibility of the church is to invited folks to accept the gift of reconciliation with God that is offered through Jesus. The scriptures from Group 2 remind us that an important responsibility of the church is to minister to a hurting world in the name of Jesus. The teacher then launched into the following:

I want to talk about a sorrow that has been part of my pilgrimage as a Christian. The sorrow stems from observing the difficulty that Christian communities have in living and proclaiming the breadth of the gospel. More specifically, Christian communities (individual churches) tend to cluster and polarize around two ways of viewing the Christian gospel:

Salvationism: The churches focus on bringing persons in to saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Social Activism: The churches focus on increasing the measure of peace and justice in this world. Special concern is evidenced for the poor, the outcast, and the forgotten.


The tendency is for communities to choose … and make one of these themes the primary theme in its ministries to the exclusion of the other. Those who have suffered under this teacher for a while can probably guess his position … both emphases are central to the mission of the church of Jesus Christ.


Short comings of “Salvationism” Exclusive focus on bringing persons into saving relationship with Jesus Christ

Misses one of the key themes of prophetic proclamation in the Old Testament (Isaiah, Jeremiah)
Misses one of the key themes of Jesus’ teachings
You are the Salt of the world … You are the Light of the world
Blessed are the Poor in spirit and the peace maker
Fails to understand the full measure of the call of love and define that love for a watching world

Note: Salvationism is most in error when it assumes that we are charged with saving the world: Under the influence of this error, we sometimes find folks crushing people in efforts to save them and ignoring the important truth: God alone is saving and has saved the world in Jesus Christ … our call is to be welcoming and invitational to those who might wish to accept this gift of grace


Shortcomings of Social Activism: Exclusive focus on increasing the measure of peace and justice in the world.

Tendency to detach efforts from Biblical proclamation and God’s offer of grace.
Tendency to miss the reality of evil in our world.
Tendency to see “the problem” as “the society” rather than “the individual” and hence to lose sight of the power of amazing grace to convert us … and thereby to profoundly address issues of poverty, peace, and justice.

Note: Social Activism is most in error when it assumes that we are charged with saving the world: Under the influence of this error, we sometimes find folks using means to justify ends and neglecting to do all good works in Jesus name and thereby ignoring the important truth: God alone is redeeming our world and our society … our call is to be the hands and feet of God’s work in the place where we are … to experience the reality of being salt and light.

I have not always been a Methodist … and sometimes get a little frustrated with Methodist ways of doing things. But here is something of which I am very proud. In many churches in the South, Methodist have taken seriously the full breadth of the Christian ministry. Even while being serious about helping men and women discover salvation, understand that they are members of the Family of God, we have remained committed to reaching across barriers of poverty and injustice. Indeed, even as our church struggled during recent years:
o Each year … the Honduran mission trip
o Each year … many weeks committed to Inner Faith Hospitality
o After Katrina …Two trips from our church to the Gulf Coast

Closing conversation:
Think a bit together: Suppose we wanted to do a better job with the Salvationist side of our call as Christians.

Think a bit together: What if we wished to do a better job on the Social Justice side of our call as Christians. What things might we do?

"The Five Love Languages" Part 3

This is Claire’s final lesson on growing healthy relationships. In view of some of the conversation that resulted from the two lessons on Chapman’s Five Love Languages, she decided to talk a bit about problems solving. When a family reaches the child-bearing years, the need for problem solving moves front and center. Suddenly there are avalanches of problems that must be solved as a family rather than as individuals, and this avalanche can sometimes threaten a family’s health. Claire organized her discussion in three sections.

Chapter 1: Problem Solving as a Method

In the early 1960 a University of North Carolina psychologist named Neil Jacobson decided to use problem solving strategies that had been developed at IBM for corporate problem solving as an intervention with couples who were experiencing distress. In the resulting study, couples who were counseled with this strategy quite often reported much improved satisfaction with their marriage. Below are the guidelines that Jacobson taught the couples:
GUIDELINES FOR PROLEM-SOLVING

I. Clearly and specifically state the problem.
a. Phrase the problem in terms of behaviors which are currently occurring or not occurring
b. Break large, complex problems, down into several smaller problems and deal with them one at a time.
c. Make sure both people agree on the statement of the problem and are willing to discuss it.
II. Discuss possible solutions.
a. Stay solution-oriented
b. Your goal is not to defend yourself, decide who was right or wrong, or establish the truth of what happened in the past – your goal is to decide how to do things differently in the future.
III. Decide on a solution that is agreeable to both of you.
a. Do not accept a solution on which you do not intend to follow through.
b. Do not accept a solution which you believe will make you angry or resentful.
c. If you cannot find a solution which greatly pleases both partners, suggest a compromise solution.
d. State your solution in clear, specific, behavioral terms: what each of you are going to do and not do.
IV. Decide on a trial period to implement the solution.

As the couple worked through the process they were asked to keep the following diary:
Problem-solving diary
1) Statement of the problem:
2) Agreed upon solution
3) Trial period:
4) Re-evaluation date:


Re-Evaluation

1) What is working well about the solution?
2) What is not working well about the solution?
3) Agreed upon amended solution?
4) Trial date for the amended solution?


Chapter 2: Difficulties with implementing problem solving

After the class had reviewed the method, Claire asked what class members perceived would be the difficulties in implementing Jacobson’s strategies. Why is this not an automatic solution to all problem solving issues in a relationship? In the ensuing conversation class members observed and Claire confirmed these reasons why this technique is not automatic and, in fact, takes a great deal of effort to make work:
o We often recognize a problem only after a crisis has occurred. At that time we are often angry, exasperated, and rushed. [Claire recommended that we not try to problem solve in the heat of the moment, but rather make a date to discuss the problem and possible solutions in a more neutral moment.]
o We may feel defensive as we enter the conversation.
o For reasons of pride, one partner may feel the need to establish that he or she is right before conversation about a future solution.
o One partner may feel he or she already “knows” the solution rather than working together to arrive at one of several possible solutions that both members of the problem solving team can commit to.
o We may come to problem solving with several destructive preconceptions:
i. Before we move to the future we must determine blame for the past
ii. Before we solve the current problem, we must review past failures

Chapter 3: The Strengths that Christians bring to Problems Solving

Claire went on to observe that in her many years of working with distressed couples and stressful relationships between adolescents and parents that those who start from the point of view of the Christian faith are able to use the problem solving process much more effectively than others. She then asked what strengths the Christian faith brings to such a process.

The class offered and Claire confirmed these strengths.
o The high value that Christians place on forgiveness.
o The fact that we derive our ultimate value not from our partner’s love for us but from God’s love for us. In times of stress with partner, we can derive the necessary strength from God’s love to do the hard work problem solving entails.
o The Biblical understanding that within a Christian relationship we are to nurture one another. This creates momentum that leads us to try to make problem solving experiments work.
o In particular, the Christian understanding that partners submit to one another in love is a marked contrast to our society’s belief that above all things, an individual must protect his or her “rights.”

Lesson 1 on Relationships, September 9

This week’s lesson consisted of two segments and was built around a video produced by Dr. Gary Chapman entitled “The Five Languages of Love.” The first piece was viewed and discussed at an event of the Family and Friends Class that took place at the home of Ed and Claire on Saturday evening. The second piece was viewed and discussed on the following Sunday morning.


Segment 1: The Five Languages of Love
Summary of Chapman’s Ideas:
o Each of us desires to experience love in our closest relationships.
o Many times, despite the best intentions of our partner, we do not experience love even when the partner is offering it.
o The problem is that the partner may be “speaking love” in a language we do not expect or cannot “understand.”
o Chapman identifies five languages of love:
o Words that affirm and build up
o Gifts
o Acts of service
o Quality time
o Physical touch
o He suggests that each of us has a primary language of love, through which we best understand love that is “spoken to us.”
o If we desire a healthy relationship we must commit to seeking our partner’s language and learning to communicate love using that language.
o The fact that our partner’s language is “not natural” to us is no excuse. Love is a matter of the will.

Claire’s summary of Chapman’s Idea: In a healthy relationship each partner takes responsibility for providing nurture to the other.

Segment 2: In this segment, Chapman suggests that our culture’s preoccupation with “falling in love” produces marriages that are programmed to fail unless the participants in the marriage actively work to replace the “tingle” of falling in love with something more significant and lasting.

Summary of Chapman’s ideas.

o Most relationships in our culture begin with an intense and exciting period in which the two persons involved become obsessed with one another.
o In this period we engage in irrational thinking
o We feel as if we know the person very well and experience an enhanced sense of intimacy
o We are blind to the differences between us
o We think of our partner as perfect
o We believe we will never be happy without the other
o If this thinking persists into the marriage relationship … and it often does … it means that we potentially face disillusionment when the obsession fades and reality sets in.
o We become aware of differences
o The emotional intensity subsides
o Conflicts emerge and we react to conflict by fights or withdrawal
o We no longer feel loved within our marriage relationships
o At this point we are especially vulnerable to “falling in love” with some stranger about whom we know little, but who creates a “tingle.” Something as minor as a chance encounter at the coffee pot at work can start the cycle again.
o Two answers:
o Short run: stop going to coffee pot
o Long run: learn the love language of your spouse and fill him or her with love … so that the spouse will be strong enough to reciprocate and you can work through problems rather than withdrawing or fighting
o We will not return to the obsessive stage, BUT we will experience warm, emotional love for one another.

Important Note: If there is someone who was not able to participate in this weekend’s work, but would like to view the video in their home, Claire would be glad to load the video tape to you.

There are also upcoming seminars for "The Five Love Languages" in Columbus, GA and Florida during the Spring 2008.

Next Week: Claire will discuss some research-based strategies that facilitate problem solving in relationships and reduce conflict and withdrawal.

Thank you Anna, Devin and Rachel for joining us in class this Sunday. We do look forward to seeing you again.

Lesson on Prayer, September 2, 2007

Today Hybels turns to the Lord’s Prayer … and those of you who have been in the class for a while know that this topic brings a broad smile to the teacher’s heart. Indeed, not too long ago we studied the Lord’s Prayer for 10 weeks. [To see a summary of the ten lessons go to www.sundayschoolblog.typepad.com ]

We will follow Hybels, [Opening Your Heart to God: Prayer, Zonderman, 1997] and will focus on three points.

Point 1: Hybels reminds us that Jesus provided us with the Lord’s Prayer at a time when Jesus was delivering a number of teachings about prayer. So the Lord’s Prayer is in fact a teaching prayer. In Matthew 6 where the Lord’s Prayer is found, we find three teachings about prayer.
Evidently in Jesus time there were men who felt that to show they were religious they should locate themselves in public places and pray loud public prayers. Jesus taught, “Go into your closet to pray.”
Evidently in Jesus time these same men prayed by stringing together series of high sounding phrases as they prayed noisily. Jesus said, “Keep it simple and authentic.”
Then Jesus taught his followers the Lord’s prayer.

Point 2, Chasing a rabbit: In a moment I want to return to the Lord’s Prayer as a teaching prayer, but I want to chase a rabbit with Hybels for just a minute: Hybels keys on the fact that Jesus talks about misuse of prayer in his teaching and wants to discuss this issue for moment: He reminds us of an episode that is recorded in Luke 9. Jesus was traveling with his disciples toward Jerusalem, and they came to a point in their journey from which the quickest way to complete the journey was to cross the district known as Samaria. However, Samaria was a district where Jews were not always welcome. Jesus petitioned for right of passage but he was denied. The disciples were incensed and prepared to pray for fires to come down and consume those who barred the way. Jesus cooled them off and moved in another direction. Hybels understands the disciples’ proposed prayer as being an abuse of prayer. It is an attempt to capture the power of God for our convenience.

Hybels then asks us, “Have you seen prayer abused?” So, that is the first question I lay before you today. Can you think of a time in your experience in which you have seen prayer abused or have abused prayer?


Discussion
Example from Hybels: Stan had an unbridled desire to acquire neat gadgets and shiny things. To this end he maxed out his credit cards and pushed to the limit his other lines of credit. When the creditors closed in, Stan retreats to his bedroom and prays:
God I need a job that pays better
God I need some lottery numbers
God I need cash, and quick.
Hybels regards Stan’s prayer as an abuse of prayer. Hybels wants Stan to pray: “God, help me to face the truth about myself. I am broken and I need your healing. I am dishonoring your and my life is out of control Help me acquire the basic tools of budgeting and self-control. Give me the courage to take the steps I need to take to face my brokenness and have victory.”


Ed’s response to Hybels example. I differ a bit with Hybels when he labels Stan’s prayer as abuse of prayer. I think that God receives with equal compassion Stan’s prayer in his bedroom after his profligacy and a soldier’s prayer in a foxhole after a month of debauchery. However, I believe that God’s answer may not be a new job or lottery numbers. God’s answer may be to lead Stan to the kind of self-examination and confession that Hybel recommends for Stan in his version of the prayer. I find it hard to label any personal or private prayer as “abuse of prayer.” I do believe, however, that one of the primary outcomes of prayer is that we are lead to see ourselves and to see the world with God’s eyes.


Point 3: Now, back to the Lord’s Prayer as a teaching prayer:

In reading the Lord’s Prayer we are sometimes overcome with the blindness of familiarity. We have said/read it so often we miss the things it has to teach. Please read again keeping these questions in mind:
If you were reading this prayer for the first time, what phrase or aspect of the prayer would surprise you most?
Compare this prayer to your prayers (or the prayers you have heard others pray).
What is in this prayer that often does not make it into your prayers?
What is not in this prayer that often is included in your prayers?

Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
As we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
And deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever.
Amen.

Discussion
In reference to A.C.T.S., Thanksgiving seems to be somewhat left out of this prayer. Yes, ‘Give us today our daily bread’ is really not a thanks, but a request for our own needs. Another point brought up in class was in reference to what is not in this prayer that we often include in our prayers dealing with Supplication. There is really nothing specifically mentioned about lifting up to God the concerns for others. On the other hand, words such as our, us and we were used suggesting the inclusion of all people.

Lesson on Prayer, August 26

Some Hard Prayers


Musings by Ed:

I will start by reading one of the hardest scriptures in the Bible … but it is also one of the most important scriptures in the Bible …

Matthew 5: 43-44: You have heard it said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemies. But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

One of the most important things to know about authentic Christian prayer is that in authentic prayer, we pray for our enemies in order to learn what it means to love our enemies. My first exercise of the day, before you get too comfortable, is that I want you to make a list of five enemies for whom you could pray if you willed to do so:

Now, you may stumble over this a bit … at many times in my life I have not been able to identify any personal enemies in my life: But I have always been able to identify those with whom I am struggling: To help you a bit, I want to tell you some folks that have occupied this part of my prayer list over time:

A colleague at work with whom I am having difficult and often angry personnel conversations.
A politician with whom I differ strongly.
A boss who has represented me poorly to his or her superiors
My child or my spouse with whom I struggle with a real difference in priorities
A person who is misusing a member of my family (most often, Claire’s bosses)
Those persons in Iraq whom I understand as impeding the possibility of peace … for their own people and for our troops
Members of a group within our society from whom I feel estranged and toward whom I feel angry.

With these hints, please complete your list and put it aside. We may get back to this issue later.


In his chapter this week, Bill Hybels deals with a second kind of hard prayer, “Praying Authentic prayers when the roof falls in.” To lead us into thinking about this topic, Hybels asks us to read a prayer that is buried in the middle of the book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament. Before going there, I want to tell you a bit about Jeremiah:


Some of us have pretty tough jobs. I think of Jamie keeping rich golfers happy in the daytime and dealing with folks purchasing bail bond in the evening. I think of Scott and several tons of fertilizer. I think of Karen and rooms full of adolescents. I think of Janet with four kids under six. Some members of this class have very hard jobs. I want to tell you about a man named Jeremiah had a really tough job. For more than 40 years (626-587 and beyond), he felt that God had called him to tell the political and social and business leadership of his day that they were wicked and as a result of their wickedness, Jerusalem and Judah would fall to a foreign army. In public sermon and public demonstration he held the leadership of Jerusalem and Judah accountable for:
Worshipping Baal and other gods other than Yahweh
Cheating widows, orphans and other fragile people
Exploiting workers without pay
Committing adultery, theft and other violations of the ten commandments
Further, with Babylon besieging the city, he called for the citizens to surrender and to understand captivity as God’s judgment … and to save their lives. Needless to say, the leadership of his community was not very pleased with him. He was ignored, beaten, imprisoned, thrown in a cistern, and … . Now, do you think that with this job and with this response, that his prayers were always neat and tidy packages of “thank you, God” and “ please care for my detractors.” Please turn to the following passage. Read the passage and after reading, think about the questions which we will then discuss.



Read Jeremiah 20:7-18

Snapshot: People do a lot of different things when they feel the roof caving in on their lives. But not many of them have Jeremiah’s honesty. When he was in the pits, he prayed. Not a “party-line” prayer, not a sanitized prayer, not a carefully edited prayer. He prayed a painfully honest prayer.

What do you do when you expect God’s provision and protection and it seems that protection is removed and your life has turned upside down. A routine physical turns into your worst nightmare. A marital disagreement intensifies and lingers. Corporate restructuring costs you your job. Your child is injured in an accident. You are betrayed by a life-long friend. What do you do?

Describe a time in your life when you felt the roof felt like it was caving in. What kinds of prayers did you find yourself lifting at that time?
In Jeremiah’s prayer, he jumps back and forth between deep pain and great joy. Can you think of an explanation for this ambivalence?


Snapshot from Hybels: What do you do with highly charged feelings that fly around in your spirit when you feel God has let you down. Some people, in an effort to be “Good Christians” feel they need to protect God. They deny their pain and discount their feelings. …

I remember standing with a young woman at the side of her young husband’s casket. If anyone had a right to be honest about her pain before God, it was this woman. She looked at me and said, “Bill, I guess the Lord needed him in heaven more than I needed him on earth. Praise God.”

How is denial of pain and struggles a sign of being dishonest with God?


Why are we tempted to deny our hurt, anger, and pain rather than freely admit it to God?


Hybels’ goes on to say that the young woman in his snapshot was not being honest. Is it possible for her words to Hybels to have been honest yet her prayers in private to have been full of anger or pain?


Final Observations:
1. I think that Hybel’s most important point is this. When we are angry and disappointed in God, God would rather we pray honest angry and frustrated prayers than to not pray at all.
2. In beginning our lesson today, we talked about Jesus’ command to pray for our enemies and those that persecute you. If you have not been praying for those persons, you might find honest prayers to make it easier to pray for someone with whom you are very angry or of whom you are very fearful. You may need to include in your prayers a graphic description of the scumbag of whom you speak. However, even as you paint the picture for God of the person, pause at the end to say, “God this is how I see things. Give me the wisdom to see things as you see them … and to love this scumbag.”


Newsletter, August 26

Other Class Business:

Welcome Chantel Grimball (hopefully that is the correct spelling) for visiting our class Sunday! She is a new Graduate student at SCAD. We look forward to seeing her again.

The Veggie Tales curriculum has been purchased for the Children’s Church. The cost was $200, and our class has agreed to assist in the funding. Karen will write a check out of the class account for $50 and anyone wishing to help out is welcome to donate.

(From Erica’s email):
Below is the list of Children's Church volunteers from our Sunday School class that we talked about this morning. I took the liberty of setting up a schedule for the rest of the year for 8:30 only since I know that you have some other volunteers for the 11 am service. I could not cross-reference this with the nursery volunteer list or with the individuals, so this schedule is definitely not set in stone. I think a really good goal would be to have a two month rotation so the more volunteers that we can get, the better. Also, a BIG thank you for being willing to be present at all of the 8:30 services in September to help get everyone oriented. Please do not hesitate to let Rhonda Anderson or myself know of any needs that you have--we are here to help you!

Thanks!

Erica

8:30 Schedule-Two volunteers needed (8:30 Substitutes: Kristen Maynard, Karen Clarke)

Sept 2- Curt & Erica Larsh
Sept 9- Communion Sunday
Sept 16- Paul & Chrissy Snider
Sept 23- Amy & Tony Murphy
Sept 30- Carla McCorvey & Jennifer West

Oct: 14 - Paul & Chrissy
Oct 21- Amy & Tony
Oct 28- Carla & Jennifer

Nov 10 Curt & Erica
Nov 17 Paul & Chrissy
Nov 24 Amy & Tony

Dec 9- Carla & Jennifer
Dec 16- Curt & Erica
Dec 23- Paul & Chrissy
Dec 30-Amy & Tony


11 am Volunteers-One volunteer in addition to Sarah needed:

Chris and Rhonda Anderson (will not be here on Sept 2)
Janet & Mitch Everly
Stan Lendermann
Lisa McGaillard

Sunday School teachers’ training is scheduled for September 22 in Dublin, GA at Pine Forest UMC from 10-3pm. Transportation will be provided. See Lois Caster for more information.

Newsletter, August 19

Something like this will appear in the church news letter ( I hope) for the next few weeks …

What More Could You Ask: Dinner and Love!!!
The Family and Friends Church School Class invites couples and singles in their twenties and thirties to join them on Saturday evening, September 8, for a shared dinner (meat and drinks provided; other dishes, pot luck) and then a study of The Five Languages of Love by Gary Chapman. The study will be led by Dr. Claire Wheeler, clinical psychologist and family counselor. Come join us and learn ways to be more loving in your important relationships. Eating will begin 6:00 pm at the home of Claire and Ed Wheeler, 10 Crows Nest Point; childcare will be available at the church nursery beginning at 5:30 pm. For more information call Ed or Claire at 925-1279.

More Details for Class Members

• Robin will be at church nursery for childcare at 5:30
• Bring covered dish if able, but don’t fail to come just because no time to cook
• Let Kriston Maynard ((Cell 657 3634; x_stitch_1yr@hotmail.com ) know if will leave children in nursery and how many. [Kristun, make sure that Robin knows to be there at 5:30]
• Directions to Wheeler’s at 10 Crows Nest Point:
  If traveling south on Abercorn, turn left onto King George Boulevard (if traveling north, turn right). Immediately turn left into Forest Cove Community. As you approach the gate, you will find a pedestal on your left where you can call the Wheelers and they will “command” the gate to open. Proceed to first Stop Sign and turn right on Companion Way. Continue until you dead end and turn right on Cove Drive. Immediately turn right on Crows Nest; the Wheeler’s house is the only two story house on this little 6 house street.
  If problems, call Wheelers at 925-1279.
  
  
  Report from Business Meeting for FAMILIES AND FRIENDS
  SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS
  August 19, 2007
  
  CLASS MINISTRIES
  We will continue to send a letter and a children’s Bible to the parents of children who are baptized in the church. Janet and Mitch are still OK to continue this
  
  We will commit to filling the Wednesday slots for IFHN.
  
  Presently, these are the areas of ministry that we will address as a class.
  
  CLASS TREASURER’S REPORT
  We have roughly $200 in class treasury for class projects, class ministries, and to use in supporting church priorities of our choice. Karen Clarke will continue to be treasurer. We will pass basket only on business meeting days, but will leave basket by door on other days for those who wish to contribute .
  
  SOCIAL EVENT HOSTS, HOSTESSES, AND ROTATION

September/October: E and C Wheeler (See top of newsletter)

November/December: K. Maynard

January/February: C and D McCorvey

March/April: P and C Snider

May/June: M and J Everly

July/August: T and A Murphy

CLASS CURRICULUM
5 Languages of Love: 1st lesson
at Ed and Claire’s on September 8
Next lessons will follow on Sunday

Ed solicits suggestions for direction on future lesson plans, especially
since Five Languages will likely take only a few Sundays.

CLASS
OUTREACH
Reminder to invite those in church or using nursery that may be
interested in attending our class. A personal invitation makes all the
difference.

Erica and Amy will update fliers for bulletin board-
reminder that they are also located in the narthex as well to be handed to those
you are inviting as you are walking out of the sanctuary. We need to restock
both areas…

Feel free to update the bulletin board in both the hallway
and the classroom with new pictures, announcements about events, etc. Jennifer
West will take leadership on this.


NURSERY COMMITTEE
Jennifer West Janet Everly Lois Caster
Amy Murphy Carla McCorvey
Erica Larsh Robyn

Invitation for
anyone interested in joining/helping the nursery committee to please feel
welcome and attend the next meeting which is being held Thursday, August 23rd @
6:30 here at the church

Issues being addressed:
*Need to evaluate
number of willing volunteers and their distribution throughout the 8:30, Sunday
school hour, and 11:00 services
*Need to address “graduation” from nursery
school to Children’s Church
*Need to nominate new leaders for upcoming year
*Safe Sanctuaries Training (first available Saturday, September 22 in
Dublin,GA from 10am-3pm)


CLASS ORGANIZATION
For this year we are
pleased to announce that the following folks are willing to provide leadership
for the class

Carla McCorvey, CLASS CHAIRPERSON: to run class meetings,
organize class business and organize the social and service calendar. [with help
from Janet Everly]

Amy Murphy, OUTREACH LEADER- To contact visitors and
class friends whom we have not seen for a while. Will also serve as contact
person for class when a prayer need arises within our community. [Phone
756-3745. email: ajmurphy@comcast.net]

Karen Clarke,
SECRETARY/TREASURER- To oversee class funds

Janet and Mitch Everly,
BAPTISM OUTREACH COORDINATOR- To send a letter and children’s Bible to parents
of children who have been baptized in the church

Ed Wheeler and Paul
Snider NEWSLETTER EDITORS- To distribute class information via e-mail and blog
as needed, especially regarding summaries of class meeting decisions/issues,
upcoming events, etc. [Paul now has password to blog so he can post whenever you
need him to do so]

Claire Wheeler, Curt Larsh, Jamie West PRAYER
LEADERS- a team/individual to help lead the class in prayer

Kristan
Maynard, NURSERY LIASON- to secure Robyn for social events and alert her in
ample time of number of expected children in need of child care. To also ensure
that a meal is available to both the children in attendance as well as the
nursery staff. To collect payment for childcare and give to Robyn.

Other Notes:

• Amy Murphy will prepare letter on the Five Loves event for
  distribution at the Church PreSchool and will bring to Chrissy Snider next
  Sunday who will distribute at Open House and First Day.
• Erica Larsh and Rhonda Anderson will be class delegates to
  meetings on Children’s Church.
• By the way, Kriston … Kristun … Kristan Maynard’s name is really
  Kristen. :-)

Lesson on Prayer, August 12

In our class on August 12, we worked on the question of how we are to think about unanswered prayer, prayers that we have offered for which we do not yet understand an answer. In Bill Hybel's book Prayer: Opening Your Heart to God (Hybels and Harney, Zonderman, 1997, available at Lifeway bookstore), Hybels suggests three ways of thinking about this issue
Thinking About Prayers that Have Not Been Answered:

God may have answered … No
Read Mark 10:35-45
Imagine you were James or John in this situation.
How would you have felt after Jesus responded to your request?
What might you have learned from this experience?


God may have answered … Slow … God may be judging that this is not the right time for an answer

God may have answered … Grow … God may be judging that you need to grow in your understanding of him or of others before you can understand his answer to his prayer


In our discussion we agreed that these three insights could inform both our understanding of prayer and our understanding of God. However, David McCorvey pointed out that when dealing with very personal grief or pain, these theoretical ideas do not carry too much weight. If we have praying for the safety of our child and our child is harmed … or the relief from pain for our parent and our parent continues to suffer excruciating pain …or … you know the rest. We find it difficult to be content with No, Slow, and Grow. At this point we must rest in faith before the mystery of God … remembering that he is no stranger to pain and to loss ... He knows the prayer, “Father, take this cup from me but not my will be done” … He knows the cross … but He also knows of the resurrection.

Questions discussed:

Do you know of a prayer you have prayed in which you understood later that God answered “No.”

We can almost expect God to answer certain kinds of prayer with a “No.” What are some of these kinds of prayer?

Can you identify a prayer you have prayed in which you understood later that God waited a long time to answer?

What did you learn during your time of slowing down and waiting for God’s answer?

Why is honest self appraisal essential as you grow in you prayer life?

Closing Note from Hybels: In your next prayer time, pause for listening to the spirit of God. Ask God to search your heart and life, shedding light on any area of darkness that could be a barrier in your prayer life.

Lesson on Prayer, August 5

Notes from August 5 (Thank you, Scott, Paul, Curt, Mitch, Janet, Kristan)

Episode 1, Icebreaker

Pose the following three questions and then go around the room asking persons to answer one of the questions.

What was your earliest experience with prayer?
How did you learn to
pray?
What is your earliest memory of prayer?

After everyone has contributed to the ice breaker, pass out the reading page entitled Dangerous Prayers (from Prayer by Bill Hybels, Kevin and Sherry Harney, Zondervan, 1997) and ask everyone to read it carefully.

Episode 2, Search Me Distribute Bibles to each person and ask them to read Psalm 139: 1- 12 and 23-24. Read Hybels snapshot out loud. Then pass out snapshot with two questions. After folks have had a minute to think, invite comments on the questions.
Hybel Snapshot: A “search me” prayer invites God to aim the
search light of his holiness at the inner recesses of who we are and expose what is there. When David wrote Psalm 139, he was reflecting on the greatness and grandeur of God and acknowledging that there is no mystery that God does not understand. David was praising God for being omniscient saying, “There is nothing that confuses you about what is going on in the universe or in my life. You are intimately acquainted with all my ways.” David then invited his Creator to search his heart.

Why is it dangerous to invite God to search our hearts?

What would make us reluctant to pray this prayer?

Episode 3, Break Me: Read Hybels snapshot out loud. Then pass out snapshot with two questions. After folks have had a minute to think, invite anyone to answer the questions. However, do not force anyone to answer the questions, since the answers could be quite personal. After a few moments, if no one answers, pass on to the next episode.

Hybel Snapshot: Ecclesiastes 3:3 says there is a time to tear
down and there is a time to build up. As you move on in our
Christian journey, you will discover that you need to develop new patterns in our lives. You will find that some old habits and some old patterns of living and some old ways of thinking are not productive and you need to tear them down. To do this, you need God’s help. You need to invite God
to break down those things in your life. You need to learn to pray the dangerous prayer, “Break me.”

What is one area of your life that God is breaking down?

What is one area of your life in which you need to ask God to help you break down walls?


Episode 4, Stretch Me: Read Hybels snapshot out loud. Then pass out the snapshot with two questions. After folks have had a minute to think, invite anyone to answer the questions. However, do not force anyone to answer the questions, since the answers could be quite sensitive. After a few moments, if no one answers, pass on to the next section.

Hybels Snapshot: As we grow as followers of Christ, we get to a point where we say, “I am no longer content with the status quo in my life. I am tired of being in a spiritual rut.” We begin to pray, “God, you created me to be dynamic and growing, but I am stuck. Please stretch me. Grow me beyond where I am to where you want me to be.”

Describe a time in your spiritual life when God really stretched you.
How did it feel at the time?
How does it feel now as you look back?

What is an area in your life in which you need to begin praying for God to stretch you?

Episode 5, Lead Me: Read Hybels snapshot out loud. Then pass out the snapshot with two questions. After folks have had a minute to think, invite anyone to answer the questions. However, do not force anyone to answer the questions, since the answers could be quite sensitive. After a few moments, if no one answers, pass on to the next section.

Hybels Snapshot: “God lead me, I take my life, gifts, talents,
resources, energy, and future and put it all in Your hands” A couple of years after I became a Christian, a deeply committed follower of Christ challenged me to let God lead my life. … I said to God, “I will give you my whole life. You can lead m life until it seems to me you are untrustworthy, and then all bets are off.” Despite the immaturity that characterizes my youthful conversation with God, “I can tell you that God has
been totally trustworthy. He has led me every step of the way.”

Can you relate a time in which you experienced God’s leading in your life?
Put your finger on one area of your life you need to turn over to God and allow Him to start leading you.


Episode 6, Prayer Time: Move into prayer time. You can handle it any way you wish … silent prayers, verbal prayers …. In addition to prayer needs that are mentioned at the end of class, remember again any that have been mentioned in the class discussion.