1 Groups

I was reading Michael Frost’s Incarnate: The Body of Christ in an Age of Disengagement (You can find it here). Frost describes a prayer exercise that I think would fit well with the lesson in which we talked about praying scripture (Find it here).

Frost describes a prayer cycle based on the prayers of Luke 1-2. The daily cycle goes as follows:

Upon waking, read/pray Mary’s response to Gabriel: Luke 1.38.

This prayer serves as an opening of your day and prepares you for those activities of the day.

During the morning, read/pray the Magnificat: Luke 1.46-55.

Frost rightly claims that your morning is often the busiest time of the day and so Mary’s praise of the power of God serves to focus us on the one who is important, when compared to those things we might claim as such.

Midday read/pray Zechariah’s song (often called the Benedictus): Luke 1.68-75.

Zechariah’s prayer focuses us for the rest of the afternoon to come.

In the afternoon read/pray the response of heavenly host: Luke 2.14

After a busy day, this response of the angels reminds us of the Lordship of God.

Close your day with Simeon’s pray to God: Luke 2.29-32.

Although Simeon’s prayer is a reflection of the end of his life, it serves us well as we close down our day and rest in preparation for the next.

I found this cycle beneficial and wanted to share it with you as you spend time praying scripture.

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As we begin a new series in our groups, we have updated our Current Lesson page (find it here) to include those lessons. This page will be updated as more lessons become available.

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We have updated the “Current Lessons” tab above to include the One Group Lessons over our study in the Gospel of Matthew. You can click that tab, or go there directly by clicking here.

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For those of you who were a part of South Plains’ Wednesday night series on spiritual disciplines (or if you were unable to be a part), I have included a new page with some suggested resources. These will help you continue your journey into practices that help us be transformed into His image.

You can find the list by clicking on the tab above which says “Bibliography” or by going directly here.

One question, though: What would you add to this list?

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Here is our schedule for the summer:

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Tax preparation labels you. Although they are few, there are times in life when you are instantly labeled, put into one camp or the other. You are either an instruction reader or a “do it by feel” kind of person. You either ask for directions or refuse to admit you are truly lost.  You are either a morning or late night person. Coke or Pepsi. And you either keep a neat log with all your receipts and mileage records or you just throw them all into a drawer (if even that!)

I have heard about people who have a nice, neat, computer print out of all their expenditures and business miles printed in advance. Like … end of January advance. It often makes completing their 1040 as simple as filling in the blanks. In no time, they are done.

Others use more of a “somewhere-in-the-bottom-of-this-shoebox” system. They scramble desperately to get all of the facts and figures down on paper and put in the proper place before the deadline. (And yes, the bottom-of-the-box individual is often the ten minutes until midnight person as well.)

It dawned on me this year (it was a shoebox year, thanks for asking) that we often approach our groups in a similar manner. Sometimes we spend time all throughout the year developing relationships and spending time with group leaders or members. Our mutual encouragement, accountability, and support of one another flow easily as we continue to work through a small group year. When a crisis arises, we have already developed the relationships that enable us to smoothly sail the rough waters.

Other times, we desperately try to pull together relationships we have spent far too little time cultivating during the year, all the while knowing the small group year is drawing to a close and wondering what sort of harvest our groups will produce. When the challenges raise their ugly head, we have to scramble in hopes that we somehow make it through the difficult stretches.

Which category do you fall in?

Are you doing the little things every day that make the big moments of your group life seem as simple as just filling in the blanks?

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Here are the resources I mentioned in tonight’s lesson, along with some of the notes.

Ruth Haley Barton Invitation to Solitude and Silence

Richard Foster Celebration of Discipline

Thomas Merton Thoughts in Solitude

Henri J. M. Nouwen The Way of the Heart

Marjorie J. Thompson Soul Feast

Spiritual disciplines that will help you relinquish those idols that stand in the way of you and God are:

• Self-examination
• Silence
• Solitude
• Submission
• The discipline of secrecy was also mentioned because it is, I believe, a byproduct of a life that longs to allow God to have all control.

Over the next two weeks, do the following:

• Spend some examining your heart, your motives, and asking God to show you those things that need to be relinquished or that you need to place under His control.
• Spend some time in solitude.
• Spend some time in silence.
• As you become aware of those things that need to be relinquished, submit yourself to God’s calling and give those things over to him.
• Finally, do something in secret this week.

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