A Rock and A Leaf

Go outside.

No really, go outside was a portion of the instructions given by our teacher of the day, Lifeway’s Paul Turner. Then while we are outside find something to bring back in that illustrated our relationship right now with God.

A rock and a leaf is what Darryl and I came back in with to illustrate where our lives are at the moment with God. Which one do you think belongs to Darryl and which one belongs to me? And why do you think that?

We had a blast.

We learned a lot.

We made connections.

And we went outside.

And what a beauitful day it was! I LOVED the days at school that our teacher said, "Let's have class outside!" Today, I relived a special memory of my childhood.

Here is a quick run-down of some of those things I learned at the Lifeway Transform Sunday School Training.

First, when we arrive my husband informs me that the paper we received said the session would be interactive. Ugh! I know this may be hard for some of you to believe, but I like my cocoon, because it is MY cocoon, it is safe. Meeting new people can be uncomfortable and a bit intimidating for me, but like I said in my last post, lately God has been putting me in uncomfortable places. Then I thought if this is interactive then it could possibly mean competition and I am competitive. Then I became sad because I wore cute little sandals that are not conducive to the running that I envisioned I was going to have to do for my breathtaking win. Forget the fact that I have a total knee replacement that I should not be running on and especially in cute little slippery sandals, but hey I have to win, or so I think. Then when I saw the rest of the attendees walking in from the handicap spots I knew I had this! I hope you know I am joking.

Although I like MY cocoon, I really enjoyed meeting other like-minded people. All of this joy in meeting and greeting made me think of heaven and how we together will perfectly sing praises to the Lamb of God. The blood of Christ binds us together not just as brothers and sisters but fellow heirs to the coming kingdom that will never end. Eeek!! Excited!!

An opening video posed a question that has been echoing through my mind all day, “What’s the point of being in Christ if nobody sees Him in you?”

Think about that! Why not, just read it again...slowly...“What’s the point of being in Christ if nobody sees Him in you?” Yeah, what’s the point? Uncomfortable, again? Yes, I am. I fail miserably. So thankful for much grace!

We looked at trends; we talked about community and then came the paradigm shift. Another favorite of mine! Shifting from the pious, legalistic model: Behave/Believe/Belong to the virtuous, honorable model that Jesus illustrated of Belong/Believe/Become.  In other words, churches too often expect people to behave first before they believe and then they will belong. This cute little drawing illustrates what Paul Turner was teaching us.

 

Look at Jesus’ model, he brought in 12 different guys, even one that was pro-government and one that was anti-government and He gave them a place to belong. He then begins to teach them truth in a loving way, never judgmental and while Thomas still doubted he belonged. As far as behaving went: the disciples, just like us, are still are learning to do right, we are all still being transformed and here is a church word…sanctified. Another topic we discussed is speaking in terms that ALL can understand, for me, the big church word sanctification is summed up in that God is not finished with me yet, He is still working on me.

There is more, like “assumptions determine conclusions”…chew on that for a while and now back to my first question. Did Darryl or I bring the rock or the leaf to illustrate our current relationship with God and why do you think? Go ahead amuse us!