Sunday, August 17 - Send

This is the fifth in our series of discussions focussing on the acronym “BELLS”. Many of the ideas have been taken from the book “Exiles” by Michael Frost. Some are also from the website http://www.smallboatbigsea.org/ which is the website of the church group that Michael Frost is a part of. The fifth letter of “BELLS” is “S” which stands for “Send”.

We aim to follow Jesus by living incarnationally, continuing with the work that he started.
Luke 4: 18 - 19 - "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has annointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (NIV)
Jesus sends us in "The Great Commission" - Matt. 28: 16 - 20.

"Sent. We will see our daily life as an expression of our sent-ness by God into this world. Earlier we looked at the dualism that has beset the mainstream church, a dualism that assumes that our life outside church is irrelevant to the extension of God’s kingdom. We looked at being apprentice-children and doing the work of God through things such as truth-telling, building, healing, and naming. At smallboatbigsea we are committed to looking out for ways in which our daily lives can be expressions of our “sent-ness”, our mission as agents of God’s grace on this planet. This will include acts of hospitality and the just stewardship of our resources, as well as working for justice and striving for global peace. A great framework for thinking of our sent-ness can be found in the text that Jesus used to describe his own sense of being sent to the world. In Luke 4: 18 – 19 Jesus outlines his ministry to include: sharing the gospel (“good news to the poor”), attacking the consequences of poverty (“release to the captives”), overcoming disability and illness (“recovery of sight to the blind”) defeating the causes of poverty (“liberation to those who are oppressed”), and celebration and reconciliation (“proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favour”)." (Frost, 151)

From the website: "SENT – We are ambassadors who bear God's image in the world. We remind ourselves regularly that we are sent to participate in God’s activity in the world."

In Chapter 8, Frost talks about how our work is part of being sent. "Exiles will be devoted to their work, knowing that they can be called by God to work in a factory or a law firm or a school or the home every bit as much as someone can be called by God to minister as a priest or pastor." (177) Frost then goes on to say that we are God's "apprentice-children". As children used to learn by working alongside their parent, we learn by working alongside God. And we do this through a variety of vocations. "Our personal sense of mission involves what we do for a living just as much as what we do for our church activities.""Our primary motivation as exiles is to do our work as an expression of our relationship with God."

Frost refers to our work as "The Shadow of God’s work" (184). Frost identifies four areas that he says are the work of God.

1. Creating/building (189) - God is a creator. When we are involved in creating, we are following in the example of God. This could be anything from creating art to poetry to creating solutions to problems, to creating children.

2. Naming/Renaming (191) - In Gen. 2:19 - 20, God delegates the task of "naming" to people. Naming can include research (naming information not previously named); naming our children; renaming with positive attributes and names. "When you proclaim something is beautiful, you name it."

3. Truth-telling (195) - "To teach is to unearth the truth, to guide others in the right path.” “Many exiles will find themselves running organic, fair-trade coffee shops, or environmentally sound offices, or other social aware businesses in the interests of truth-telling."

4. Healing (197) - God is in the healing business. "Whatever we do, we bring healing to our world when we direct people to Jesus by the goodness, integrity, and compassion that we display in our daily lives. In this way we become “little Jesuses” apprentice-children to our Master-Father, God." (199)

Frost: "The primary reason for our vocation is to complete the work of our Master-Father."

From the website: We believe that our lives are expressions of God’s mission in the world through us. This final section of our gathering gives someone the opportunity to share what they do in their day-to-day lives. This could be their jobs, their leisure pursuits, or the friends and family they spend time with. After the person has shared, others in the group comment on how they see them imaging God in their lives. It can be very encouraging to hear this feedback, especially when people point out God’s mission in your life in ways you never imagined. It might be that you have a heart for the persecuted church and you wish to share news or prayer points associated with this.

"BELLS Everyday - Looking for ways in which our daily routines are expressions of God’s calling on our lives and recognising the ways in which we have been SENT to do his work."

Maynard, Tamar, Sam and Lauren, we thank you for bringing a more complete picture and representation of Christ to our church. We thank you for allowing God to use you here in Arborg and in this church. Now we commission you to go to Red Deer and continue to live Christ’s presence, to live his love among the people of Red Deer, to bring a more complete picture of God to the people of Red Deer. Please also pray for us as we continue to be God’s presence in Arborg.

Sunday, August 10 - Learning

This is the fourth in our series of discussions focussing on the acronym “BELLS”. Many of the ideas have been taken from the book “Exiles” by Michael Frost. Some are also from the website http://www.smallboatbigsea.org/ which is the website of the church group that Michael Frost is a part of. The fourth letter of “BELLS” is “L” which stands for “Learn”.

LEARN – "We desire to take on the image of God and to participate in his plan. We seek out knowledge about God to help us to do this. At our meetings we gather around the Scriptures and learn together, discussing issues that confront our world."

From the book Exiles: "Learn. We will read from the Gospels each week and remain diligent in learning more about Jesus. Of course, we encourage our members to read the whole Bible and to have a regular rhythm of biblical study. But in our attempts to be a Jesus-centred collective, we emphasize a weekly exploration of the Gospel stories about him."

What is your learning style? How does this affect how we "do church" Sunday mornings?

Ineffective learning – We have some warnings against ineffective learning.

John 5: 31 – 40 – You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

The learning does not go to the heart. Saying that we believe and follow the Bible but not accepting its truths.

II Timothy 3: 6 – 9 – always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.

I Corinthians 8: 1 – 3 – Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up… The man who loves God is known by God.

Learning without the heart being in the right place is not learning at all.

Matthew 11: 29 – Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

We learn first and foremost from Jesus.

II Timothy 3: 10 – 17 – You however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings…. Continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of… holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

We learn from each other. We need to be open and vulnerable so that others can learn from us.

BELLS Everyday - "LEARNing to develop a discipline of studying the Scriptures or reading other literature that gives insight into the nature of God."

Sunday, July 27 - Listen

This is the third in our series of discussions focussing on the acronym “BELLS”. Many of the ideas have been taken from the book “Exiles” by Michael Frost. Some are also from the website http://www.smallboatbigsea.org/ which is the website of the church group that Michael Frost is a part of. The third letter of “BELLS” is “L” which stands for “Listen”.

Someone once asked Mother Teresa, “What do you say to God when you pray? She replied, “Nothing I just listen.” The person then went on to ask “What does God say to you when you pray?” She replied, “Nothing, He listens too”. Sometimes it seems the art of listening is in short supply. We are always so busy doing or talking, we don’t have much time for listening.

Listening may refer to hearing what someone is saying. It can also include obeying someone. And finally, it can mean to wait for a sound. You don’t hear it now, but you are “listening” in hopes of hearing it.

From the website:
Someone once said that listening to a person is a powerful expression of our love for them. In our silence-starved world, we want to model the value of listening to God as an expression of our love and worship.

Past listening - Since the time of creation until now, God has been and is speaking to humans. Beginning with Adam and Eve in the garden, God spoke to them. At that time it seems God spoke in an audible voice as we might speak to each other. He also spoke audibly to Samuel, who, once he knew it was the voice of God, responded with “Speak for your servant is listening.” (I Sam. 3) God also spoke through the book of the law (Nehemiah 8) and through the prophets (Heb. 1: 1 – 3) And in the greatest communication of all time, God spoke through the incarnation in Jesus, both in his words and in his life.

God still speaks in the present. “in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Heb. 1:1 -3) We need to listen for the voice of God. Sometimes it is helpful to be completely silent before God, sometimes music can help us to hear his voice. In John 10, we have the picture of a shepherd with his sheep. The sheep hear and recognize the shepherd’s voice. We must learn to recognize the voice of God.

From the website:
L is for Listening
LISTENING – We believe that God is capable of speaking to us. We do not confine him to any particular medium, but we try to be attentive to his voice, wherever and whenever it speaks.
We acknowledge that some among us hear God speak in unique, prophetic ways. Some others share God’s heart for justice and peace in this world. Others still can bring a song or a word to us to encourage us. We want everyone to be engaged and participating in our gathering. The fullness of the heart of God and our corporate life is revealed as people listen to the Lord and respond as he prompts us to share. So after we eat there will be a time of silence (or accompanied by soft music) while people still themselves and respond to God’s promptings. This will be followed by a time of sharing.

From the book: Listen. We will commit ourselves weekly to listening to the promptings of God in our lives. Again, this will take different forms for different people. Some of us are very spiritually intuitive and hear from God in visions, pictures, and other ecstatic experiences. Others of us make our weekly commitment to search out God’s voice in less spectacular ways. We will ensure a weekly time of solitude to listen to God. We will take a prayer walk, find time alone in a special place, use prayer beads, and so on.

Questions to think about: How has God spoken to you in the past? Does God speak today? How does he speak? How will we hear God’s voice? How will we recognize it?
How can we be ready to listen to God?

Sunday, July 20 - Eat

This is the second in our series of discussions focussing on the acronym “BELLS”. Many of the ideas have been taken from the book “Exiles” by Michael Frost. Some are also from the website http://www.smallboatbigsea.org/ which is the website of the church group that Michael Frost is a part of. The second letter of “BELLS” is “E” which stands for “Eating”.

Food is mentioned in the Bible in many different contexts beginning with Eve eating the forbidden fruit in Genesis to the end of Revelation where it talks about “on each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And many times in between in many different contexts. Jesus did several miracles concerning food, including the first recorded miracle where he turned water into wine.

Chapter 7 of Frosts book is entitled “Exiles at the Table. The Promise: We will be generous and practice hospitality. He begins by saying that “Eating is an opportunity to bring God and his grace into our everyday world”. (159)

In this chapter Frost looks at the lives of Joseph, Daniel, and Paul to teach us some lessons about eating. According to Frost the story of Joseph “Teaches us to fashion an empire that is concerned with the fair and wise distribution of food” (166). Frost goes on to say that in a world where so many people are dying of hunger we must be concerned with the equitable and responsible distribution of resources.

Frost says that the Vegetarian Daniel “reminds us to eat in such a way as to be as healthy and vital as we possibly can so that our lifestyles will glorify God”. (166) He also says “Exiles will enjoy a good, healthy diet. They will eat in moderation, not stoically denying themselves all gastronomic pleasures, but enjoying delicious, fresh, tasty food just as God intended.” (163)

Frost notes that Paul and the “Missional Table” “Instructs us to be responsible in our freedom and to share food with those who don’t know our Lord and Savior”. (166) Paul, contrary to the religious custom of the day, ate with Gentiles. It seems Paul would rather eat “questionable meat” with unbelievers than to isolate himself from the people around him.

In Chapter 2 of Frost’s book he also talks about “Jesus the Exile”. He talks about how Jesus ate and drank with people. He was known as a glutton, and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. (Mt. 11:19). He accepted a “sinner” women washing his feet in perfume at a dinner table. He invited himself to the home of Zacchaeus, the tax collector. Jesus’ first recorded miracle was changing the water to wine at a wedding feast. And in parting, Jesus commanded his followers to eat and drink in remembrance of Him.

Frost goes on to say that people tend to open up over food and drinks. And yet too many Christians are so busy with the “church” that there is no time to eat and drink with non-Christians and on their terms. Frost insists that we make sure we find the time to eat and drink with others.

Frost does not however encourage excessive eating. He says, “Only when pleasures are balanced in a rhythm of freedom and responsibility can we enjoy them all the more for what they’re worth. When I give into gluttony, the beauty of godly feasting is lost because each meal blurs into the previous one. The undisciplined and uncontrolled search for pleasure makes that which is potentially sacred ordinary and mundane. By denying ourselves, we heighten the importance and the wonder of the experience”. (168) John Piper says that “God is glorified in us when we aim our behaviour at being most satisfied in him. We may do this by grateful eating or by grateful fasting.” (170)

In summary, Frost notes that: Like Paul, We should eat communally with both fellow believers and unbelieving friends; Like Daniel, we should eat responsibly and healthily to demonstrate the inherent goodness of life in God; Like Joseph, we should work at ensuring that the poor, the marginalized, the dispossessed, and victims of an unjust global economy have enough to eat. (171) “Every church should be a Matthew’s Party, a table for tax collectors and “sinners” to feast with the exile Jesus and his friends.” (176)

From the website little boat big sea:
EATING – Sharing food has always been central to a shared life of community. We want to place worship and communion back where it began: as a providore’s delight in the middle of the shared table. We meet weekly to share in a community meal. We bring food to share with everyone and visitors and guests eat freely. But instead of saying a hurried grace we will break a loaf of bread and drink wine/juice at the beginning of the meal. This way we will be acknowledging Christ’s presence at our table and our allegiance to him. (According to the website, they had communion once per month)

The Eating Challenge:
From the book The Exiles: “We will eat with other members of our community at least three times each week. In our community we all eat together every Sunday night… Also, we are divided into groups of three that meet weekly for mutual accountability, discipleship, and nurture. Those smaller cells usually meet over a meal or coffee… we eat one more meal with someone else in our collective” (150).

From the website: Eat (anything from a cup of coffee to a full meal) with someone that you don’t live with at least once every week.

Sunday July 13 - Bless

This is the first in a series of discussions that will look at the acronym BELLS. This is an acronym that we have been using in our Sunday morning gatherings to provide a structure for our meetings. Many of the thoughts have been taken from the book “Exiles” by Michael Frost. Some are also from the website http://www.smallboatbigsea.org/ which is the website of the church group that Michael Frost is a part of.

The “B” in the acronym is for “Bless”. According to the website mentioned earlier, the Hebrew for blessing means to “empower to strength”. We need to seek God’s blessing and pass that blessing on to others. “A blessing is like a prophetic announcement and a prayer rolled into one. We say and gesture to someone what we would like God to do in their life, knowing that the one who blesses is listening too.”

The Bible has many references to blessing. God blesses people (Gen.1:21 – 23; Ps. 29:11; Rom. 10:12). People bless each other (Gen. 24:60; Gen. 27). People who walk in God’s ways are blessed (Ps. 1:1; 32:2; 40:4; Is. 30:18; James 1:12; Rev. 1:3; 22:7;22:14, etc.). The beatitudes list those Jesus calls blessed (Mat.5:3 – 12).

We bless God. The website above encourages us to: “Begin with a time of blessing God for the goodness that has been shown during your day” and includes a simple prayer of blessing to God.

From the website, “Relationship with and belief in God are essential to blessing. When we bless, we ask for goodness, and we ask from the source of all goodness, we ask God. To bless is a small ritual wherein the blessing is transferred through the words that we pronounce and the gestures that we make, such as uplifted arms or actual laying-on of hands. A Blessing is for the enhancement of the receiver. To bless is to envision something good for the other. Even Jesus, when he pronounced the Beatitudes, envisioned a goodness that would give comfort and hope to future believers. The power to bless is awesome. It is the vision of divine enhancement, of a people resting in the palm of God’s hand. That is the hallmark of a blessing.

From the book, “Exiles”: “Bless. We will bless at least one other member of our community every day. This will take different forms. We might simply send an e-mail expressing our affirmation. We might write a letter, deliver a gift, say a word of encouragement. It might sound difficult, but you’d be surprised how easy it is once you’ve got into the hang of it. And it’s marvellous to be in a community of such support and consideration.”

The website mentions 3 ways people may bless each other, particularly referring to the morning service: (1) You can read a written blessing to someone (from the Bible or from another source); (2) Ask someone where they would like to see God’s blessing in their life, and then say a short prayer for them; (3) Bless someone by pointing out ways you see God using them, positive qualities in their lives, gifts and skills they have, or general words of encouragement.

For some examples of blessings you may wish to use see: http://www.smallboatbigsea.org/21/

Numbers 6:22 – 26: The LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron and his sons, 'This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: " ' "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." ' (NIV)

Retreat dates

A few conflict of times has come to my attention regarding the August 22 - 24 dates for retreat. I am wondering whether people would prefer to keep it at that date, or change it to either September 19 - 21 or 26 - 28. Please let me know ASAP what you would prefer.
Gloria

Coffee Time

Hi all,
Just a note about Friday Coffee Times. I will try to have coffee ready Fridays from 2 - 4PM for anyone who wishes to come. Bring friends, family, whoever. This Friday I may be a little late because I have an appointment just before 2PM.
Gloria