Saturday Morning Book Study

Last week we discussed hospitality in the church and how we welcome people. We liked the idea mentioned in the book about giving newcomers a loaf of freshly baked bread along with a little note of welcome. Lois has taken this on as a ministry and every Sunday morning before the service starts you will find her popping a loaf into the oven to give a visitor after the service. We have a little note to accompany the bread that says how much we enjoyed breaking bread with them and hope to do so again often!
This week we discussed prayer and how difficult it can be sometimes. We talked about barriers to prayer, such as busy-ness and dryness, or the feeling that God is very remote. We also discussed the idea raised by the author about our concept of God being shaped by people who influenced us (i.e. fathers) when we were growing up. Mostly our individual views of God were not shaped by adults in our lives; moreso by our own experiences.

Saturday morning book study

We did not get far in the book today! Our discussion focused on welcoming the stranger and methods of evangelizing. In the story of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus did not evangelize by immediately pointing out her sins or thumping her over the head with a bible (actually there is no mention in scripture of Jesus carrying a bible under his arm from town to town; there is only mention of Him reading from the scolls in the synagogues). The first thing he does is ask the woman for a blessing by asking her for a drink of water. When people come to join us in worship, our inclination ought to be to invite them to share with us what they have to offer to the community; in essence, we ask them for a blessing.