SWC The Journey

Charity . . .

2008-04-08T15:12:00.001-04:00

After reading this chapter I am find myself processing the need to be outside the normal Christian bumble that our North American Churches provide. Coach D makes the statement that, “Christians do not fail when they see needs up close; we just fail by arranging our lives so that we never see needy people” (118). I started to ask myself where are the needy people around me today? I sit in my lawn chair near my dorm and look at all the students who pass by, I see the men and women who work for the Maintenance Department, I even see children riding bikes on Spring Street. But are they needy? Or have I come to a place where only the people around me are just like me?

Drury makes the statement that “Charity is giving aid to the poor, motivated by a selfless love. It is love in action, love with gloves on, sometimes known as the biblical virtue of loving-kindness.” He does not just give this definition lightly, he goes on in the chapter to say charity is not just looking around, like I have done today, but is going and finding those that are poor in spiritual and physically. We are not just called to wait for the poor to come and ask for help. Like Jesus we must leave our comforts and travel to the place of need and give of our selves.

So, what will I do? Will I plan a drive-through, sign up for our mission trip at church, will volunteer at the local soup kitchen, help out at Step-by-Step, or take an offering for the poor in Lexington? I don’t know, I do know I need to do more than just sit in my lawn chair thinking about charity…

Spring Camping Trip

2008-03-19T18:33:00.005-04:00

When: April 25 -27, 2008
Where: Carter Caves State Park
Cost: $32 single & $50 couples (includes cost of food, camping, Cave Tour, and travel, be sure to bring along munchies for the drive!)

Join us on our annual spring camping trip as we head east to Carter Caves State Park. It all starts Friday evening, April 25th, when we setup our campsite and lasts until Sunday, April 27th. Along with camping and cave exploring we will enjoy times of praise, prayer, and fellowship as we connect with God in the beautiful country He has created.

Carter Caves State Park:
Beneath the forested hills of this park, nature has hidden a honeycomb of numerous caves and caverns. Visitors can tour them in varied fashion from easy walking tours to down and dirty cave crawls where you’ll discover a 30-foot underground waterfall. But there’s more - as in 20 miles of hiking trails, canoe trips on lakes and rivers, fishing, boating, and horseback riding and many more surprises!

For more information please contact Josh Keesling at josh.keesling@stonewallwesleyan.com

Confession . . .

2008-03-19T13:52:00.000-04:00

James 5:16, “therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” through a proverbial wrench into our Protestant Christian. Confession is often seen as a personal issue between God and the Christian. Coach D and the Apostle Paul take a totally different approach to confession, confession is not just letting God know, it is about becoming an authentic people within a community.

During this chapter Coach D recounts John Wesley’s thoughts on confession and how it was apart of the weekly small groups or class meetings. I wonder what the American Church would look like if every small group and Sunday school class would ask the following four questions: “What known sins have you committed since our last meeting?” “What temptations have you met with?” “How were you delivered?” “What have you thought, said, or done of which you doubt whether it be sin or not?” Confession of sins and temptations leads a Christian to deeper accountability and humility, it would appear that in the place God is able to form and shape the Christian more into the likeness of Christ.

This week I don’t want to just ask how you are practicing the spiritual discipline of confession, but how are you being formed through your practice of confession?

Secrecy . . .

2008-02-24T13:54:00.000-05:00

This past week our group studied the spiritual discipline of secrecy. Author Coach D says, “the discipline of secrecy is abstaining from taking credit for the good deeds we do. When we practice secrecy, we arrange to do good things in such a way that others can’t even find out who did them.” He goes on to say that like other disciplines secrecy really calls us to explore and focus on our relationship with God through the light of total dependency.

I found myself even today as I write these comments asking some hard questions about “Whom I seek affirmation or recognition from?” There are times over the years I have stayed late after church or event to talk with people and I think I wanted the pastor or leader to take notices. One of the hardest parts of practicing the discipline of secrecy is to examine our motivations. Coach reminds his readers, “It is our motivation that makes the deed either praiseworthy or hypocritical.” Paul takes about this in Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing our of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interest, but also to the interests of others.”

After reading the chapter and Philippians I am left thinking about my own personal motivates and propose this question to us all, have you checked your motivations this week? And what will you do to being practicing secrecy this week?

Rest . . .

2008-02-11T09:39:00.000-05:00

Right out the gate Coach D defines the spiritual discipline of rest as a “retreat from the frantic pace of life in order to be restored physically and spirituality. The practice of the discipline involves taking days off and vacations, and getting a full night’s sleep – every night.”

How do you define rest?

When was the last time you rested?

Simplicity . . .

2008-02-06T08:57:00.000-05:00

Last week we talked about solitude and the ability to separate oneself from many relationships in order to focus our attention on the most important relationship we have, with our Father in heaven. Simplicity follows the same train of through, only focusing on things and not relationships. Simplicity calls us to “intentionally pare down our lifestyle toward the essentials to free ourselves from the tyranny of things and focus more on spiritual life” according to Coach D.

Like other disciplines simplicity is not about doing with out for the sake of doing with out. The purpose and the meaning of simplicity come from the ability to focus deeply on God with the renewed time and energy created by doing with out. Coach D does not call us all to live like the desert Fathers and Mothers, but to see their example and passion of giving “themselves to worship, study and service.”

Coach D says the reason for practicing the simplicity, as a discipline is “to break free from the mastery of materialism and refocus our eyes on God.” What is keeping you from practicing simplicity in your life?

How will you start today moving towards freedom in simplicity of life?

What are your thoughts on simplicity?

Solitude . . .

2008-02-04T14:43:00.001-05:00

Being an introvert you would think solitude would be the easiest spiritual discipline for myself. But your wrong, being an introvert or extrovert really has nothing to do with solitude. True an introvert may find it easier to sit alone quietly process through the days events at dinner or read a book and ponder the deeper meaning of the text. Solitude has those elements, but it has much more and requires much more. According to Coach D “solitude is abstaining from people contact in order to be alone with God and get closer to Him. It is fasting from social contact in order to remove others form the God/me equation.”

Solitude is not just about getting alone; it is about moving closer to God and refocusing all our relationship with God being number one. Drury says, “Solitude reminds us of the order we should maintain in our relationships – God first, others second. A Christian who does not practice solitude is likely to be over reliant on friends and under reliant on God. Solitude corrects this imbalance.” Solitude may call us to leave all other relationships and focus on God, but it is for the encouragement of the community. When solitude is build in regularly in to one’s life, they return to community with new passion and focus that allows them to invest into the community.

Have to being getting alone to process your own thoughts or have you really entered solitude?

What has your experience of solitude thought you about yourself, God and the community?

When is your next time of solitude?

Silence . . .

2008-01-30T13:17:00.000-05:00

According to Coach D, “Silence is abstaining from sound in order to open our spiritual ears and listen more closely to the voice of God. God seldom speaks loudly. He usually speaks in a ‘still small voice,’ often little more than an impression in our minds (see 1 Kings 19:12 KJV).”

The start of this week was exciting and different than most, I attended our annual spring Community Life Retreat. It was a time of focused growth in the areas of character and leadership. One of the best part of the retreat was not having a television, radio, and computer. As I reflected outside in nature on the retreat grounds, I thought about all the times I walk in to my apartment and turn on the television just for the noise or the amount of time I spend on my computer checking emails and blogs. I am not saying all this modern things evil or bad, but if they become the driving focus of our lives can we truly hear the voice of God?

Coach calls us to, "learn to displace those noisy thoughts by concentrating on one thing, perhaps a Scripture passage or a scene from the Bible." I read these words and my heart is moved to listen and sit in silence in order to open our lives up to God's heart to replace all the noise of one's life. The next time you sit down on the couch and start to turn on the television ask yourself the following questions:

How many hours each day is the television on?

When you are out to dinner or coffee, how time do you spend listening to your companions?

How has the past week led to a deeper dependence on God through your experience of Silence?

Fasting . . .

2008-01-21T13:39:00.000-05:00

“Fasting is abstaining from food [video games, television, sports, etc.] for a time in order to gain mastery of the physical realm and open us up the spiritual.” – Coach (aka Keith Drury). During times of fasting we experience hunger, true hunger not for food but a hunger for the word of God. Matthew 4:4, says, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” This true hunger points us towards a deep dependence of God.

How has the past week led to a deeper dependence on God through your experience of fasting?

Young Adult Connection Group:

2008-01-06T14:55:00.000-05:00

Leader: Lisa Miller (lisa_miller@asburyseminary.edu)
Place: Grice Dorm (ATS), 111 Spring Street, Wilmore
Time: Wednesday @ 7:30 p.m.
Focus: A group for young adults, looking to journey through their walk together. Married or single, college or career, you are welcome!

What Community is Not?

2008-01-05T19:30:00.000-05:00

Check on this post:

http://keys-on-the-journey.blogspot.com/

Connection Group

2007-12-05T21:38:00.000-05:00

What is the reason for connection groups in our Young Adult Ministry?

We say on the website: Community Life is "Real people really doing life together, getting into groups where they can talk about life and faith and where they have fun together! Don't just sit here - get connected." Having said that I want to challenge everyone within our Young Adult Ministry to become apart of a connection group at SWC. There are different ways on getting connected, Sunday morning, Monday night, or Thursday nights. Now I know everyone has different schedules and activities happening each week, but in order to be a community each need each other and that means coming together.

So my question to you is, when can you come together this spring for a connection group?

Thanksgiving

2007-11-27T21:07:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving break!!!

Camping Trips in 2007

2007-11-18T12:52:00.000-05:00

Natural Bridge State Park, KY - October 2007

Brown County State Park, IN - May 2007

2007-11-15T22:22:00.001-05:00

Hey- great idea to set it up so we can all contribute- much cleaner than everybody replying to single posts. I also just wanted to remind everyone that our Jeremiah study won't be meeting next week because of Thanksgiving. We'll be back the week after that, though. I can't remember off the top of my head what the next passage is, but when I get a chance to look it up I'll let you all know. Happy Thanksgiving to everybody and safe travels to all who will be hitting the road.
Lisa

Good Progress

2007-11-15T22:10:00.000-05:00

Good job J. I hope you don't mind, but I went ahead and invited *by email through the blog* all the other people that I could think of to become authors for this blog -- that's the only way that people can technically put up their own posts.... so as long as they accept they can post their own new ideas and conversations strands :-) Yay. Thanks again. ~Danie

new blog

2007-11-15T11:34:00.000-05:00

a new blog so everyone can post
thanks for the suggestion shambachs