With the autumn
leaves beginning to fall here in Amersham our church’s housegroups (which we
call Life and Faith Groups) have begun to reassemble for a new term. Each group develops its own theme and even
comes up with its own study material. They
are a great addition to our life together and it’s been a joy this week
attending two of them.
The first one is revisiting the Lectionary passages we use on a Sunday morning – so having preached the sermon I thought it would be interesting to attend a group discussing it! But I was in for something of a surprise for this group is one that likes to do things differently. It’s led by folk who have super gifts of creativity – so one member told me as I left ‘every week we meet we do it differently’. So yesterday morning we played Monopoly! We did so after reading the passage from Luke about the Dishonest Manager – a tricky passage which challenges our attitudes to money and its management. Soon after we settled into the game it became apparent that our leader had doctored the Chance and Community Chest cards so that every time they came our way we had a financial/moral dilemma to discuss. What ensued was great fun – gentle participants turned into unlikely capitalists, competitive players suffered early and swift bankruptcy whilst others with an open heart stayed in character throughout the game responding to any dilemma with exemplary generosity of spirit. And amid the laughter there was much profound discussion about personal, national and international finance and the relation of faith to wealth.
Now if the learning style of yesterday morning’s group was Kinesthetic – that is ‘by doing’, the group I attended in the evening was more Auditory – that is ‘by listening and conversation’. This night time gathering have taken as their theme this term ‘Jesus The Jew’ and their sessions are based on a Bible Society booklet – yesterday we looked at Jesus and The Law – especially how it related in his day to divorce and wealth. Once again we were ably led by folk who had done excellent preparation. Although neither of these issues is easy the group batted around ideas and teased out the issues with each contribution being respectfully received and then developed. I came away glad to have been in their company – sharing in this honest struggle for truth and insight.
Call them what you may: Housegroups, Study Groups, Life and Faith Groups, Fellowship Groups, Cell Groups or Bible Study Groups – they have the same characteristics of meeting together with a smallish number, often in homes so with a greater informality, to be led but also to participate and contribute and...and...to develop friendship as we have time over coffee to talk of those inconsequential things which actually mean the world to us.
So this week I thank God for Life, Faith and Monopoly!
With best wishes,
The first one is revisiting the Lectionary passages we use on a Sunday morning – so having preached the sermon I thought it would be interesting to attend a group discussing it! But I was in for something of a surprise for this group is one that likes to do things differently. It’s led by folk who have super gifts of creativity – so one member told me as I left ‘every week we meet we do it differently’. So yesterday morning we played Monopoly! We did so after reading the passage from Luke about the Dishonest Manager – a tricky passage which challenges our attitudes to money and its management. Soon after we settled into the game it became apparent that our leader had doctored the Chance and Community Chest cards so that every time they came our way we had a financial/moral dilemma to discuss. What ensued was great fun – gentle participants turned into unlikely capitalists, competitive players suffered early and swift bankruptcy whilst others with an open heart stayed in character throughout the game responding to any dilemma with exemplary generosity of spirit. And amid the laughter there was much profound discussion about personal, national and international finance and the relation of faith to wealth.
Now if the learning style of yesterday morning’s group was Kinesthetic – that is ‘by doing’, the group I attended in the evening was more Auditory – that is ‘by listening and conversation’. This night time gathering have taken as their theme this term ‘Jesus The Jew’ and their sessions are based on a Bible Society booklet – yesterday we looked at Jesus and The Law – especially how it related in his day to divorce and wealth. Once again we were ably led by folk who had done excellent preparation. Although neither of these issues is easy the group batted around ideas and teased out the issues with each contribution being respectfully received and then developed. I came away glad to have been in their company – sharing in this honest struggle for truth and insight.
Call them what you may: Housegroups, Study Groups, Life and Faith Groups, Fellowship Groups, Cell Groups or Bible Study Groups – they have the same characteristics of meeting together with a smallish number, often in homes so with a greater informality, to be led but also to participate and contribute and...and...to develop friendship as we have time over coffee to talk of those inconsequential things which actually mean the world to us.
So this week I thank God for Life, Faith and Monopoly!
With best wishes,
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