in august, i was privileged to co-facilitate a bible study once a week for the month. during that month, i engaged the biblical text in a way that is as disciplined as i get.
now, i don't have a small group. i am not in any classes that engage the text in spiritually and i am not preaching very often. so i find myself without the relationship to the text that drives me and can keep me healthy.
what about the small group encouraged me to relate to the text?
1. the women i worked with brought insights to the text that i could not find alone... each week challenging me to work back into texts that i thought i knew.
2. there was some accountability... needing to be able to articulate to the group where I saw God during the week and realizing that others cared about my spiritual health and integrity.
3. our discussion every week got me more and more excited about the bible... and kind of excitement i cannot seem to sustain on my own.
4. intentional communal prayer every week in a smaller group than my church fed my personal prayer life.
so i want to stop trying this on my own... gonna look for a small group. i need more disciplined pray and study. i need to balance. i need the challenge. i need the greater understanding of the work i do.
keep me to it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I could echo this entire blog posting. Miss you. Miss that group. Miss the "bible" as it was in that group.
There's a really famous biblical scholar who teaches around the country. When asked what kind of individual time he takes with the bible, he responded by saying "the bible has no place but in community."
Makes sense to me.
Did you ever find a small group? I'm looking for some kind of small group, myself.
Post a Comment