Independence Day

Today is the Fourth of July–Independence Day. My family spent the day visiting the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. They had a bunch of activities going on–from face painting to trick roping, and even had visits from “Presidents” Lincoln and Washington. As I write this, I’m hearing the first of the fireworks being shot off outside.

Our culture is built around the idea of independence and freedom. From our birth as a nation to the rights of an individual, it’s hard to deny the mindframe that we have. But I have trouble balancing my responsibility and autonomy as an individual with my dependence on others.

It’s not that I don’t believe in freedom, it’s that I wonder how our history as a nation, as communities, and as individuals would be different if we remembered ourselves not only as a people who were set free from the tyranny of taxation without representation, but also as people whose freedom was secured by the help of others.

Without the everyday militia men, Washington would not have succeeded in his surprise the day after Christmas – stopping Britain’s hired soldiers from their plan to destroy the weak colonial army. Without Officer Henry Knox, Washington wouldn’t have had atillery in Boston to end the stalemate with Britain. Without the French navy, the British would have been able to retreat instead of surrendering. 

What role do others play in your life? Pick one person. What would it be like without that person? From general to militiaman, your grocery clerk to Michael Jackson, they all leave an impact. And while it’s hard to speculate what the impact of one person actually is, one can imagine.

Who is your independence impacting?

“For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)

“As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil.” (1 Peter 2:16)

“Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” (2 Corinthians 1:9)

 

Jen Hurst
Associate Director of Small Groups
jen.hurst@belairpres.org

July Monthly Five

Study the Word – Buy a commentary or study Bible to go along with the book your Small Group is studying.

Worship the Lord – Buy a prayer notebook to write down your prayers and the prayers of your Small Group members. Keep it small (or make it electronic) so that you can carry it with you.

Care for Each Other– Learn one anothers’ stories.  Make a “Life Map” by putting sticky notes of major events in your life on a posterboard. Spend fifteen minutes or so sharing your story with your Small Group.

Serve your Neighbor– Invite a neighbor you don’t know to your Fourth of July bar-be-que.

Relate as Friends – Watch fireworks together!

Film Night: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Planning to go to the Film Night this Sunday? Or are you looking for a way to connect with your Small Group outside of the regular time? This Sunday night at 7:30p.m. in the Discipleship Center, there will be a screening and panel discussion of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” To dig deeper into the movie and its message, use these notes in your Small Group. Click here to review the plot. 

Reflect

Reflect on Frank Capra’s America of 1939 compared to what you see today. What is different? What are the similarities?

Is it possible to be an “idealist” in politics? Or does the mechanism, the political “machine,” cast out idealism in the face of pragmatism?

Is idealism necessary in a democracy?

Read: 1 Peter 2:13-20

Respond

What does it mean to accept the authority of an institution (see v. 13)?

How does our response to those in authority affect our witness? How does it affect our relationship with others? With Christ?

Do you consider yourself idealistic? Why or why not? How does the affect the way you interact with our culture?

Daily Reflections on (not so) Hidden Glory

Good title, huh? Well, at least I thought it was. That’s why it’s been sitting on my “to write” list for well over a year. It stemmed from a period of time that I was journaling frequently. As I put my pen to paper each day, I realized that my vision changed. It was almost as if I was seeing things through God’s eyes—at least a glimpse of what he would see. Everyday things became obviously linked to God’s attributes or how He is working in the world.

My Small Group is studying the book of John right now. Each week, we read the Scripture together, and then watch the portion of a movie that portrays that section of Scripture. The first time we watched it, I couldn’t get it out of my mind that the actor who played Jesus also plays Desmond on “Lost.” Some weeks, it seems like an exercise in redundancy. But last week, it was almost as if I was hearing the words of that passage for the first time.

As we watched, Jesus walked onto a rooftop while he was talking with Nicodemus. The wind swept through his clothes and he said “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Despite what he said, I was struck by how it was said. Jesus felt the wind and integrated it into what he was trying to teach. Suddenly, I saw Jesus teaching me through what I was experiencing during my week:

• My husband and I ran into a friend from high school who no longer follows Jesus because “what works for you, works for you.” I walked away treasuring the gift of faith, and encouraged to rebuild my relationship with her;
• A woman asked me if I had seen her lost cat—she had gotten a tip that it had been seen nearby and was canvassing the neighborhood for it. I got a description of the cat from her so I could be on the lookout, and was reminded of the parable of the lost coin;
• My neighbor rushed to me for help after his wife fell on the asphalt and couldn’t get up—he had knocked on two other doors to no answer when he saw my son and I leaving our house. I was thankful that I was available.

The only reason we were able to engage in any of these moments was because we stepped out of our house to go for a walk. And now, I’m walking with my ears open to hear what God has to teach, and my eyes open the people he is asking me to reach in my everyday moments.

Maybe for you, walking isn’t the tool that God is going to use to reach your neighborhood. Maybe it’s your daughter’s dance class or your lunch breaks at work. It could be the long lines at Gelson’s or your HOA meetings. Try to identify where in your life you most interact with others who don’t follow Jesus. Whatever the medium, be intentional about developing those relationships, and making space in your calendar for the opportunities that God puts before you. Then ask for a glimpse of God’s vision in your piece of Los Angeles.

 

Jen Hurst
Associate Director of Small Groups
jen.hurst@belairpres.org

The Small Group of the Revolving Door

My current Small Group has been meeting for two Lents now. We have about seven or eight people come each week, and since the beginning of our group we have intentionally left it “OPEN” so that people who are looking to join a group can come.

Because of this, we have had quite a few people contact us about joining our group. It can be a rather frustrating exercise: phone calls not returned; people who come once or twice and then don’t come again; people who say they’re going to come never do. We’ve actually started not telling our Small Group when someone new said they were going to be there because we don’t like disappointing them when the person doesn’t show up.

But those who do come, and “stick,” have been a huge blessing to us. It’s a great reminder that people are there who are looking for the kind of community that Small Groups provide, and that they do want to form relationships with the Lord and with others.

A few months ago, my husband and I created a list of the people who have come to our group–no matter how long they stayed (the reasons for no coming anymore vary: they found a different group that fit better, they are taking a break, they moved, et cetera . . .). The list was long. Just now when I spent a couple minutes trying to recreate the list, I listed 27 names. This doesn’t include all of the inquires we get from people who don’t end up coming (usually one or two a month).

There are a couple ways you can look at this list. At times, it can be depressing to see how many people came in and went out again, without holding onto the community. I have to intentionally try to view it another way—as the number of people that God allowed us to encourage, be available to, and experience his desire for community with.

Despite the often-times revolving nature of a group that is “OPEN” in a culture like L.A., I think that God has a purpose for those groups. As people look to join a Small Group, it may be that welcoming presence, that phone call or email that helps them put a chip in the walls to actually stepping into someone’s home or workplace, or that one Tuesday night that they needed a reminder that God is still alive and involved in our lives—your group was there for them.

Oh, and regardless of how many times a person has come to our Small Group, we still include him or her in our weekly prayer & potluck reminder email. So if they ever choose to walk back into our Small Group, they know that they’re welcome to do so.

 

Jen Hurst
Associate Director of Small Groups
jen.hurst@belairpres.org

Be a Doer!

My small group time usually goes something like this: when we arrive, we catch up with each other for a few minutes and then jump into Bible study. And most weeks, our study of scriptures is rich, full, and diverse. We agree and disagree, we ask questions and use illustrations to help us better understand the scripture, and we even sometimes look up the original Greek or Hebrew text (crazy, huh!).  Then we spend some time sharing prayer requests and praying for each other before we head to “Crave”, our new favorite night spot, for a crepe or some fro-yo.  Not bad.

But, a couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across a passage of scripture that has led me to evaluate my weekly small group experience. What I found during this “evaluation” is that my interaction with scripture, privately and in my small group, is quite “heady”. It’s intellectual. Smart, even. 

The passage I stumbled across this week is James 1:22-27. In this passage two verses in particular led me to the before mentioned evaluation;

25 “But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act – they will be blessed in their doing.”

27 “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

Upon reading this passage I realized, my Christian life is not supposed to be so “heady”. It’s supposed to be “do-y”. Scripture should lead us to DO, not just THINK. 

But that’s the hard part. I am more than willing to dig into God’s word, but not nearly as willing to dig into my personal actions. Digging into God’s word can be detached from my behavior. It can be solely academic. And that is “safe.” But taking a close look at my life is vulnerable, scary, and discouraging. Particularly with my small group – guys who I look up to and admire for their strong Christian lives!

But how will the Truths we have found in scripture ever change our lives if we do not also dig into our personal actions?  If we do not ask, “how am I being a DOER of God’s word, not just a HEARER?”, then how will we know if God’s Word is really changing us? Making us better? Making purer? Making us more like Jesus? 

The question this week for me has become, “Am I content knowing a lot of the facts about scripture?” or “Do I really want to live a life that my God can proudly use to impact the lives of those I know and meet?” 

In my small group, my hope is now this: that we will not ONLY be learners of the word, but doers; that we will spend as much time in the APPLICATION part of the study, as we do in the DIGGING part of the study; and that my fellow small group members will ask me how I have succeeded and failed at being a DOER of God’s word. Not so I can feel pride for succeeding, or guilt for failing, but so that “orphans and widows” have been cared for, and that I have remained “unstained by the world.”

Chris Greer
Coordinator of Small Groups
chris.greer@belairpres.org

“Way to go, you.”

“Way to go, you.”

The statement stares at me from my coffee cup. I have no idea what it’s referring to, until I look closer. My coffee shop has a campaign entitled Shared Planet. They have focused their effort on “ethically traded coffee,” and encouraged their customers by saying “everything we do, you do.”

I was feeling conflicted about this cup. Okay, maybe more annoyed than conflicted. On the one hand, it’s nice to make responsible coffee purchases. On the other hand, I don’t think I deserve the praise at all. I did not have any thought whatsoever for the farmers until Starbucks added this to their cup. And while it’s good to know, I don’t think it has affected my coffee purchases or the way I think about coffee growers in my day-to-day life.

While my purchase was important to the cause of the coffee growers, it hadn’t stemmed from my heart. It came from my desire for caffeine. I think our financial offerings are like that. They help the vision and mission, but I don’t think that your offering is what Jesus was looking for. I don’t think he was looking for you to be an usher or even (could she really be saying this?) serve as a Small Group Host. Nope. I think Jesus is looking for our whole self; our lives, our hearts, and our minds.

And while the offering, ushering, and Hosting are expressions of this, they can just as easily become the end itself.

Scripture reminds us that we are to be good stewards of our time, talents and treasure. We are reminded of it when we pass the offering plates, walk by the offering boxes on the wall of the Sanctuary, or see a blurb in the bulletin or on the web site inviting us to serve. But sometimes, I feel like we give ourselves an “out” when we look at our giving—“I don’t have time to serve right now, I have too much going on and give primarily by my offering. They should find someone to do that.”

I posted not long ago on a book entitled “Simple Small Groups.” In the book, Bill Search shares how his pastor, Jeff, at one point got tired of looking around for the nebulous group of people—“they.” You know—“They should help that lady,” “They should start a Small Group that fits my demographic,” “They should. . .” So Jeff coined a term: “They is you.” This phrase reminded him and others of the responsibility we have to one another, and to the fact that perhaps the reason you were made aware of a problem is because God wanted you to do something about it.

 We all have limits on our time and energy, so I’m not asking you to take on everything. However, be mindful of everything. Whatever you find in your path, be listening for the nudge to act. BAPC doesn’t always provide structured service projects for our Small Group, but we are often nudged by God in more subtle ways: through our neighbor who struggles to bring in his trash cans; the new mom and dad who could benefit from some meals; the kids in the neighborhood who need a soccer coach; the man who walks his dog by your home every night who you can begin developing a friendship with (even if the dog does bark incessantly).

 While I’m not sure how soon I’ll become an advocate for coffee-growers rights and rightfully receive my coffee cup’s encouragement, I believe that as we open our eyes and seek God’s guidance in the seemingly mundane, we’ll better embody “They is you.”

 

Jen Hurst
Associate Director of Small Groups
jen.hurst@belairpres.org

Breaking out the Mop ‘N Glo

Last week, in three different instances, the story of Mary and Martha came up. And while the context of that passage of Scripture was debated in one of those conversations, the overall tone was one of breaking out of what was socially acceptable in order to relax at the feet of Jesus.

And yet, knowing that my Small Group meets tonight, I spent much of last night cleaning the kitchen and living room—doing dishes, organizing the clutter, setting out plates and silverware, even mopping the floor. As I went to bed, I realized that it was a lot later than I had anticipated.

I didn’t want to stay up late getting ready for my Small Group—in fact, I mentally object to making the house look nice for people when they come over. My mind tells me that if people don’t come to our Small Group because a few of my son’s toys are out or because there are dirty dishes in the sink, then that’s their issue, not mine. That “clutter” is evidence of life. But the heart in me says, “make this home welcoming.” How can I remove obstacles? How can I ensure people feel comfortable? I guess my heart hasn’t come to the conclusion yet that my head has. And I’m not convinced at this point that it should.

In fact, as Chris Greer and I were preparing to post “Is there really time to do all this?” on this blog a few weeks ago, we debated whether or not to include a “What NOT to do” section. Cleaning the house was the first thing that came to my mind for this section.

Is it helpful or harmful for me to clean up my home before my Small Group comes over? Maybe it’s neutral. I don’t think the answer is the same for each person or every week; but what I am learning is to allow people to feel comfortable, not because of the way that my home looks, but because of the joy and excitement I feel that they have come to our Small Group.

 

Jen Hurst
Associate Director of Small Groups
jen.hurst@belairpres.org

Film Night: Slumdog Millionaire

Planning to go to the Film Night this Sunday? Or are you looking for a way to connect with your Small Group outside of the regular time? This Sunday night at 7:30p.m. in the Discipleship Center, there will be a screening and panel discussion of Slumdog Millionaire. To dig deeper into the movie and it’s message, use these notes in your Small Group.

1) The film depicts India’s caste system in which those born into poverty have no means of elevating their living condition. When the boys, at the Taj Mahal, resort to stealing the shoes of tourists, which is the greater ethical dilemma: stealing shoes or the system that oppresses them? What do you think Jesus would say to the boys at this point? What other types of “systemic” evil do you see today?

 

2) The film has a particular worldview of LOVE and DESTINY. How do you agree or disagree with this worldview from a Christian perspective?

 

3) What was at stake for the host of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”? His motives were ambiguous. Do you think he was for or against the hero and why?

 

4) If we believe we are all born with a “sin nature” – in what ways and through which characters do you see the sin nature being overcome or the sin nature prevailing?

The Power of Five

Ever have a moment where you realize you’re not ready for your Small Group? What about those times when your group is in-between studies and you’re not sure what to do in the meantime?

When the other resources we suggest (sermon study questions and study guides in the Cafe or that BAPC produces) aren’t available or don’t fit where your group is at, here is a way to engage your Small Group in meaningful conversation, simply. These are adapted from Randy Knutson’s “Power of Four” approach to Small Groups.

1. Read the Scripture together. What do you observe about the Scripture?
2. What was the sermon about?
3. What is God saying to you personally through the Scripture & sermon?
4. What will you do differently this week as a result?
5. How can we pray for you?