Andy took today's meeting, basing it on 1 Corinthians 13 and parts of Gary Chapman's book 'The Five Love Languages'. Andy used the audio book version and played a couple of sections to us.
According to Gary the five love languages are quality time, words of affirmation, gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. Each of us will major in one of these, showing love mainly in this particular way and looking for it to be returned in the same way. When we and our partner have different primary love languages we may both have difficulty feeling loved. We need to learn to 'speak one another's language'.
Kevin explained that he and his wife run a marriage preparation course at their church and have used the five love language principles very effectively with many young people.
I think it might be useful to post news and comment here from time to time. These items won't just be any old news picked at random, they will be reports I've seen that may be encouraging or challenging to those of us meeting in simple ways here in the Beds, Cambs, Northants region of England.
Just a few minutes ago I read an item from Joel News, I encourage you to click through and read it too. It's a report on the house church conference held in New Delhi, India, from November 11th-14th 2009. The meetings explored the growth of organic house church communities and movements worldwide. Two hundred representatives from forty nations took part (including our own Peter Farmer).
It's clear that in many parts of the world, and especially in Asia, home churches are growing at an enormous pace. In our little corner of England we would do well to ask what they are doing that we are not, and also what we are doing that they are not! There are two ways to stop church growth in its tracks, on the one hand we can fail to do the right things, on the other hand we can waste much time doing the wrong things.
Let's ponder the extraordinary growth in certain countries and see if there are ways for us to step up the pace here on our own doorstep. Part of it is a matter of freshness, enthusiasm, and expectation that if Father asks us to go here or there and do this or that he will bless us abundantly when we obey. Perhaps we need to begin in prayer combined with a willingness to act according to the answer we receive.
We thought about one another's lives and how some things are working out better this week, especially for Jim. We also thought about men and women in marriage, about church life and activities, and about finding a proper home/work/church balance in our lives. In a sense it's important to recognise that church life encompasses home and work anyway, it cannot be separated out. It's not a question of how much time church should take, but how deeply it becomes the important element in everything we are and do.
While we were discussing this, Sean was called away to help sort out an issue between two of his children. It struck me as ironic that we had this example of 'church/life balance' right at the time we were talking about it. Should Sean go to deal with the issue or stay for the church 'meeting'? For me it's a no-brainer, he should go, his family needed him and that is all part of Kingdom living.
Jim talked about connecting with people. He said that we need to connect more. We need to identify the needs that people have in the way that people like Gandhi or Martin Luther King did. And we need to meet people where they are, showing that we love them in practical ways, revealing the nature of Christ to them by effectively being Christ for them. (We are his body here in the earth, all we need to do is obey the head like any healthy body does.)
Jim mentioned that the Lord does things bigger and better than we can imagine, this is true! Not only that, it's been proved true in our experiences during the past twelve months in so many ways.
He also said that we 'need to make good decisions based on the word'. The 'word' can refer to the written word, that is the Bible, or it can refer to Jesus who was the Word brought to life on this earth.
For many years there's been debate in the church about the place and role of women. From the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches right down to the smallest organic church meeting at home, it's often just assumed that men should take leadership positions while women should not. This has been the pattern throughout most of church history.
There are plenty of exceptions of course, especially in the non-denominational, less structured groups. But even in the small, organic house churches it's not unusual to find reduced or limited roles for women. The view that women should be passive is generally reflected in church practice, supported by many Biblical scholars, and taught as both required and beneficial.
Often women are accepted or even preferred for work involving other women or with children and there are many other roles open to them. However, in many cases women are not allowed to teach men or have any authority over men. Authority itself is often misunderstood, but that's another story.
On the other hand, many of us sense that something is seriously wrong. It seems that half of the talent, wisdom, energy, and capability of the church is prevented from functioning or at best limited to functioning only in ways that are circumscribed and restricted.
But whatever we might think we have to accept the Bible's teaching on these matters, right? Right!
And we all know that the Bible is clear about this, authority is laid on men while women are to be in submission, right? Well - let's not be too hasty here.
Jon Zens has just published a careful analysis in reviewing John Piper's book 'What’s the Difference? Manhood & Womanhood Defined According to the Bible'.
Jon's review is well worth reading whatever your current understanding of these things. He writes refreshingly and thoughtfully and draws on a wealth of biblical knowledge and experience. You can read the review in the panel below and you can also download it, print it, or enlarge it to full screen using the options at the bottom of the panel.
A few days ago I promised you a video clip of the demolition. Here it is. This clip shows the hydraulic crushing jaws at work on a steel reinforced concrete floor in the building that once included my office.
It's an extraordinarily quiet way to bring down a building, there is no loud noise, no great vibrations underfoot as large pieces of masonry come down. It's all crushed in situ and the pieces that fall are relatively small. There is awesome power in these steel jaws. The machine eats through concrete like a child nibbling chocolate.
I had volunteered to take today's Christian Union meeting. I'd mentioned the idea of Church of Two (CO2) briefly before, but decided to share it more fully now that Sean and I have been testing it for a couple of weeks.
I introduced the idea in outline, explaining that it is simply two (or three) people agreeing to meet daily to do two short exercises together. The whole daily session may take as little as ten minutes, but the frequency and the nature of the disciplines encourages openness to one another and to the Lord.
We read Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 which emphasises that two are better than one. And we also considered how Jesus sent his disciples out in twos, and how they are listed as pairs in the gospels.
I briefly explained the SASHET and VIRKLER disciplines. SASHET stands for Sad, Angry, Scared, Happy, Excited, Tender. The idea is that the partners in the CO2 take turns to discuss their feelings under those headings, focusing on the way each feels today. The other partner listens without offering advice, though asking for clarification is OK. In this way, both partners learn to share their feelings more freely and at the same time hear about the feelings of the other.
VIRKLER is a simple technique to help a person listen to the Lord. It consists of four steps done before the CO2 meeting each day. First it's necessary to clear worldly issues from the mind. The second step is then to focus on Jesus. Then, with the focus where it ought to be, pay attention to the thoughts, ideas, pictures etc that pass through the mind. Finally, note these things down as they present themselves and consider what the Spirit of Christ is saying to you today. The conclusions can be shared when the partners meet and may guide a time of prayer.
It seems likely that at least one other person from CU will now try CO2, and he already has a friend in mind. If so, it was well worth sharing.
There is much more information online. Read more about CO2 from the following resources...
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Andy used the audio book version and played a couple of sections to us.
