Spiritual Homework April 29

Posted on Apr 28, 2020 in General, Spiritual Homework | 252

April 29, 2020

Hello, church!

This week I have included the servant profile form, another resource from The Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, some information about our weekly worship, a link to a unique and worthwhile speech this Friday at Harding and resources from Linda for your children. I hope you take the time to work through all of this information, but more than that, I hope that you are taking care of yourself spiritually during this quarantine. I hope you are well, and I pray for you often. Please let me know if there is anything that you need.

Peace,

Chess

Servant Profile

Yesterday, the Elders sent out an email with a servant profile form for you to fill out. It is important that we not only attend church but that we also be church. If there is anything that we have learned from quarantine and COVID-19, it is the importance of being church. Please take the time to read the email from the Elders and to fill out the form so that when we come back from quarantine we can continue our work of being church together.

This week’s Memory Verse

“He had been known to them in the breaking of the bread.” – Luke 24:35

This verse is the culmination of the road to Emmaus story and the focal point of this week’s word of encouragement video. We see Christ in our communion practices of bread and drinking the fruit of the vine, which is something I think artist Sieger Koder captures well in his painting of the last supper, which I’ve linked here for you to see. In the painting, Christ’s shadow is a cross over the bread and his face is reflected in the cup. Take a look at the painting, and let me know what other ways you see Christ.

Prayer Labyrinths

There is a very old tradition of walking labyrinths while you pray. In many old cathedrals you will even find a labyrinth mapped out on the floor as you enter. There is nothing magical about walking a labyrinth, but they do take time. I often hear that time, or the lack of time, is a hindrance to prayer. Therefore, walking a labyrinth while you pray makes sense as it requires intentional time set aside for prayer. You have to find a labyrinth, go there, and take the time to walk it. It will be hard to justify going to a labyrinth during quarantine, but perhaps you could find or make your own. Turn your neighborhood, yard, or garden into its own maze and walk it while you pray. For more on this, I again recommend The Spiritual Disciplines Handbook and its entry on prayer labyrinths, which I’ve copied and linked here.

Worship Discussion Questions

Each week we send out an order of worship that all of our small groups can use at their discretion. Some groups use all of it and others use some. Part of what we send out is a set of discussion questions that relate to the theme and scripture readings that go with the order of worship. In an effort to help you better prepare for worship, I will start including these scripture readings and discussion questions here for you to review before your time of worship.

Worship for May 3, 2020

Scriptures: Ps 23; John 10:1-10; Acts 2:42-47; 1 Pet 2:19-25

Question for Reflection: Acts 2:42–47 describes what life was like in the early church. How do these words guide today’s church?

Maikon Speaks at Harding

On Friday, May 1^st, at 11am Eastern time, Maikon Borba will be delivering his senior speech at Harding University (via Zoom), and you are invited to watch. Arlington first met and fell in love with Maikon many years ago as he came from Brazil to DC as a young adult to work as a nanny. The whole time he was here he spent his free time volunteering with our youth program—an experience that helped him formulate a dream of sharing Christ to Portuguese speaking people. After many years back home in Brazil teaching English as a second language, he decided to pursue that dream. As a church we have helped support Maikon and his wife Tati as they trained in Bible and missions at Harding. We will continue to support them as they move to Miami and open a mission to the large Brazilian community there. Please join us in supporting Maikon by attending virtually this speech at Harding.

https://zoom.us/j/862112912