Not in Vain

An update on my Mark memorising- not going so well!  It seems that despite my initial enthusiasm, memorising a verse a day is beyond me.  I'm changing my strategy, and am going to attempt to set aside an hour in one day of the week to work on it.  I'm half way through chapter 1, and am amazed how much I learn by just reading and reciting these familiar words over and over.

This weekend I went to a conference on preaching.  The speaker at the seminar I attended was Peter Adam, former Principal of Ridley.  He is one of my favourite preachers, when I hear him.  But often when I haven't heard him for a while, his whimsical style and thoughtful godliness leaves my mind, and I forget to list him when thinking of who are the great preachers.  One point I found really fascinating was when he commented that great preaching doesn't have to be memorable to be effective.  He could remember several wonderful sermons he had heard through his life, but that didn't mean that the others he heard hadn't been used by God.  The aim of teaching is to change people to be more like Jesus, and that is much more important than being remembered.

But both together can still be nice.

At this conference a very familiar face came up to me.  Even his name, bouncing off his lanyard, seemed to ring some subtle bell in my mind.  He smiled at me, and said "I don't know if you remember me, but you were my Kids Club and Youth Group leader".  The name and face and context came together and I remembered.  A kid who went with his family to a church with no other kids, a very enthusiastic Kids Club kid who ended up in Youth Group.  A kid who had stopped coming and I always wondered about.  A kid I hadn't seen in probably 10 to 12 years.

He told me of the church plant he had joined.  He spoke of Kids club and of Bible Studies at my house.  I was only just an adult when I lead those studies, and often look back and wonder what they were like, since I have no memory, other than that they happened and vague visual pictures of the Bible, bits of paper and my parent's lounge-room.

I stuttered a bit, and commented on how happy I was to see him at such a conference, to see how seriously he was taking God.   I told him, "I often look back at my Youth leading days, at all those who lost interest and fell away, and feel sad".

"Don't worry" the young man said, "It was worth it".

It always is.  Praise God!
BG

New Years Resolutions and the Fear factor

I have always been a resolution kind of person.  Even though I've always thought the whole NYE party thing was a bit silly, the idea of setting goals and working hard has always appealed to me.  I am not a naturally organised person, so having a few little goals to spur me on works really well.

2011 has been a tough year, and I am very, very happy to see the back of it.  My resolution for last year: Survive.  And I did it.  Just.

I really, really want 2012 to be a better year.  But, as God would ordain it- I am looking at a year full of uncertainty.  Church planting.  Sorting out a job.  New-but-old city.  Everything is familiar but different.  And so many people around me are going through changes that mean that relationships are changing as well.

My temptation is just to set the same low bar on next year, to just get through it.

But I don't want to!  I don't want to survive, I want to thrive!  I want to make the most out of this year, I want to make the most out of me that I can, no matter how much uncertainty rests ahead.  I want God to change me and grow me into the likeness of his son.

So, in honour of that wish- here are my NY resolutions- under the three themes of my blog

LIFE: I will learn how to cook pastry and I will overcome my fear of cooking sugar and learn to make things with toffee!  I will get to the end of each day with a tidy lounge room and kitchen.

WRITING: I will finish my novel, I will get some short stories published, I will get some manuscript advice, I will begin the process of getting my novel published.

FAITH: I will devote this year to Loving God will all my heart and soul and I will memorise the book of Mark.

I feel like the last two need a way of explanation.  Loving God will all my heart and soul is a commandment from God, and something that of course is on my to do list every year.  But one of my reflections as I end this year is that I don't enjoy God as I should.  God is so great and good, and I just don't appreciate him.  There is so much joy to be found in that relationship that I don't bother to access.  One of my favourite Psalms- number 73 says "Whom have I in heaven but you.  And the earth has nothing I desire besides you".  That is my dream for this year.  That my love and appreciation for God will grow to the extent that my joy in that relationship will rise above the tough things that will no doubt come next year.

Memorising Mark?  I wasn't sure if I should write that here, because it sounds a bit proud and show-offy.  But let me explain.

The last three years i have worked for a church and under my 'portfolio' so to speak has been encouraging Scripture memorising for Adults and kids.  Lots of people have commented to me through this process that they "find memorising verses from the Bible hard".  And I, with my natural talent for memorisation, didn't understand.  I could do it, why couldn't they.  Overtime I realised this wasn't fair.

About three months ago I decided to memorise part of Jonah as preparation for a Bible study.  I was absolutely amazed about how helpful it was for getting to know the passage really well.  It was by far the most helpful Bible study prep I had ever done.  But, to my amazement, it was also easy. I probably spent 1 hour learning one chapter over the space of three days.  It was alot more work than learning a verse, but it was manageable.

And I couldn't help thinking God has made me good at memorising his word.  And here I am showing off about the one verse I learn once a month.  I felt rebuked but also inspired.  How great would it be for my Christian walk if I knew a Gospel off my heart.  How helpful would it be for my ministry!

I'm really nervous!  It is a big ask.

But if my aim is to love God more- I think having such a big chunk of his Word in my head is a great place to start.

You might have noticed there are no specific mentions of Tim.  Of course I will aim to be a better wife and friend to him!  But it's my experience that loving God more will be the best thing for my marriage.  And the clean house won't do any harm either ;)
love BG

The Power of the Word

This week has been a wonderful ministry week- even if its been not so good on the home-front (I've had a poor sick vomiting Tim on my hands).

After 6 months of trying I've got to meet up to read the Bible with two Mum's who became Christians in the last 12-18 months. One of the surprises I had was how hard it is to pin a Mum down for coffee and Bible study- even when their child is in Day-care or being minded by someone else. Mum's are so busy even when the kids aren't there, it can be hard in their minds to justify the "luxury" of sitting down with someone to read the Bible.

But I wanted to share one story in relation to one of the Mums.

She became a Christian through someone else- about 4 weeks after I met her and she started coming to church. It was really exciting. And then her 1 year old daughter, who had been living with her mum, came to live with her.

Life became (quite understandably) crazy, as she got re-used to being a full-time Mum, and a functional single one at that (her husband works in another country and only can visit once in a while).

I really wanted to encourage her in her faith but she didn't feel up to coming to church or Bible study or Bible reading or anything.

I was despairing a bit- how could i help her in this difficult stage, and convince her that it was important?

I was trying to work out how best to encourage her one day when myself, her and her daughter went out for lunch. She was really stressed and so I pulled out the Bible and read the bit in Philippians about not being anxious and praying and I explained how this helped me when I was stressed to remember that the best thing to do when you are stressed is to pray and hand it to God. She liked it so much that I copied it out on a piece of paper with a nice picture for her to stick up on her wall.

And as the months progressed she kept talking about how much it helped her, when she was stressed she would look at the verse and remember to pray, and remember God was working in her. She used it so much she learnt it by heart and every week or so she would have different things she had learnt from it that she wanted to tell me.

It was excited to see even a few verses of the Bible changing someone life.

Now we are actually reading the Bible together once a fortnight. It's so exciting seeing how hungry she is to read the Bible and to have God change her to be more like Jesus.
Yay! Praise God for great ministry weeks.
love B

New Every Morning

This week is, and is going to be a hard week.

In a week like this, I find myself asking the question- what does scripture have to say to me in life's difficult times? What can I turn to for comfort? Or often it's not that articulate and thought out- I just pick up my Bible and cry out "Help".

And as often happens, the verse that as a church we are memorising this month, the very verse that Tim and I did a kids talk on this last weekend, was the one i needed to hear. The verse we had was Lamentations 3:22-23- but I'll give you the context. May it comfort you in whatever situation God has placed you in.
Love B

19I remember my affliction and my wandering,

the bitterness and the gall.
20I well remember them,

and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind

and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;

therefore I will wait for him."
25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,

to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly

for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke

while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence,

for the LORD has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust—

there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,

and let him be filled with disgrace.
31 For men are not cast off

by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,

so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction

or grief to the children of men.

Memorising Scripture

When I first started my job one of the first thing that was talked about was memorising Scripture.

My boss (who in the tradition of "The Castle" is an idea's man) was really keen that as a church family we all get into the habit of learning Memory verses, and that we be really deliberate in the choices that we make- so that these verses will be helpful throughout the whole lives of those who learn them. And he suggested that this might be a task that I could undertake.

We set the starting date for just after the school holidays (one of the many reasons why my last school holidays wasn't really a holiday!) I had to think about memorising scripture, why it was important, to work out how to sell it to the church, pick the verses and particularly the categories we might use in choosing what kinds of verses to have, and work out how we would teach and encourage people to prioritise learning.

It was a pretty mammoth task- but it has been one of the most rewarding things I've done so far. There are two reasons for this.

The first is the personal impact. The task of going to the Bible to pick memory verses is just amazing. You are constantly poring over the Bible and looking over verses that inspire you, challenge you and point you to the cross and the great God who made it happen. I remember one afternoon just reading through the "Fighter Verses" that Bethlehem Baptist (John Pipers church) use and just being so spurred on and encouraged. It made me realise how much more effort I should put into memorising scripture. How many instances I could think of where having certain verses would have been just a blessing in the fight against sin and discouragement- if only I had known them off by heart!

The second is seeing it actually happen in the congregation. The end of the first month I was a little bit nervous that hardly anyone would have learnt it. It had been plugged every week. Where relevant it had been mentioned in sermons. It had been taught in Sunday School. But would anyone know it?

The verse was Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us".

I asked everyone to say it together (without the words displayed) on the last Sunday of the month. The church resounded with an enthusiastic rendition; over-powered somewhat by a young grade three girl who screamed it at the top of her lungs ;)

But the big test was TNT.

TNT is the junior youth Bible study that Tim and I lead. They had seemed at first a bit non committal about learning it; there was a real "can't be bothered" vibe in the air when we talked about it. And yet, on that last day- most of them knew it and were excited about knowing it.

And they understood it. During the study Tim asked them: "How do we know that God loves us?" Someone answered: "Because Jesus died for us when we were sinners". GOLD!

This Sunday I had the pleasure of teaching actions to the whole church- and seeing everyone jumping enthusiastically into the air as they cried out "ABOUNDING in love and faithfulness" (Exodus 34:6).

Have I mentioned lately that I love my job?
love B