So we had 2009′s first gathering of our little small group collective in our home on Tuesday night. It was great to see friends old and new and there was much laughing and a loud din of chat as we all caught up with eachother. Small group just got much better as you can see from the above photo of the pudding that Learning From Sophie brought…
After eating together we watched a “Society Room” DVD where Gabe Lyons interviewed Chuck Colson. They touched on something we have chatted a fair bit about over the past year i.e what exactly is the gospel we are meant to share?
That may sound dumb, but, have we tended to focus on: creation, the fall and redemption without, perhaps, placing enough on a fourth element, namely, restoration? Do we believe in a divine mandate to bring restoration to people, to our planet, for justice?
We talked about our hang-ups with evangelism. We chatted about the need for mission and for this not to be some kind of hit and run thing but a need to disciple people and to explain that Christianity is likely to make life harder rather than easier. We considered whether, actually, our small group is a place where we can disciple one another and hold eachother accountable regardless of age and stage physically or in our journeys of faith. Do we ever stop needing to be discipled?
As we start a new series of teaching moving us toward some practical outworkings of all our musings, I wonder what this aspect of the year will hold for this little bunch of friends I consider so important to me? Maybe it’s not just the New Year that starts here, but a New Life…
“Are you under the Mercy?
Are you under attack?
Are you going forward?
Are you going back?
The new life starts here
Are you coming to grips?
Are you coming apart?
Are you listening to fear?
Or to your heart?
The new life starts here
Are you building heaven
or are you building hell?
When that great day comes
will you be able to tell?
The new life starts here
Citizen, criminal, child
woman or man
The keys to the Kingdom
are in your own hands
The new life starts here
God of our love
who ignited the sun
Not my will
but thine be done
The new life starts here”
From “The New Life” by The Waterboys
