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."