thoughts on a membership class day

thank you mr moth for reviving the dead as a dodo blog. :)

i enjoyed the article on charles and cami, as well as the exposition on how to zao membership class. :P

membership class was super xiong and going into it with 3 hours sleep is SO not a good idea. But I really liked all the reminders SkinnyPastor (TM Moth) was laying down on us about what it means to be a member of ARPC and more importantly, the Body of Christ itself. I really like the direction ARPC is going in - its renewed focus on dependence on God through prayer, the constant call to humility and servanthood, and rememberance of God's sovereignity.

At one point SkinnyP drew a little tree diagram to summarise the brief history of the Church... I was struck by how every branch and off-shoot of the Church was matched with a name: Martin Luther for Protestanism, John Knox for Presbyterianism, Wesley brothers for Methodist movement etc. etc. Always one man, placed within a nexus of change, playing the role of catalyst. One man probably unaware of the bigness of things to come, unaware of the greatness of changes to be initiated. LIke a viral plague, Christianity moved from Rome, to England, to Scotland, to America, to Asia and Africa. When SkinnyP talked about a little boat of English believers travelling to Germany just to find out what this Luther guy was about, only to return to start the Anglican church.....wow, can you imagine the small conversation that started that?

"Hey, you free next weekend to go up to Germany? I heard this guy has good ideas to reform the church" "Yeah, why not. It;ll be a bit tough - must leave behind my farm unattended and gotta blow my new horsecart savings but yeah, what the heck...."

Boom. Next thing you know, the Church of England springs up and sends forth a thousand missionaries.

I wondered about Jesus' constant refrain for us to Ask and we shall be given, Seek and we shall find. The context of his comments always lay in the asking of things that were for the glory and realisation of the Kingdom of God I guess.

So much in the world convinces us that our individual lives are small, petty, insignificant, pitiful little things. Even we christians find it hard to believe or dream about big things for God's purposes. We play safe, we work within our zone of safe predictability and never venture out for fear of disappointment.

Somehow these ordinary guys - Luther, Knox, Wesley - saw God's work needed to be done and went ahead to do them. I cannot imagine them predicting the changes in human history God set in place through them. How amazing to look back in your life and realise you were a part of God's plan in such a powerful manner.

I read a wise little comment today: "Don't ask God to bless what you are doing. Ask God what He is doing and go do it. For that already is blessed."

If we ask the things that are after God's heart, he will provide...he already has provided and is waiting for us to align our lives and decisions around his. It's so simple that it almost seems banal : Life perhaps is all about learning to Ask and Seek for the things of God. Then we will see a real outpouring of blessing beyond our expectation.

How amazing. How gracious. How divine :)