Rocky gave me a lot of food for thought. But as a man who has worked in a society of rules and regulations for 25 years, alarm bells go off when I hear that the solution for ANYTHING is "Follow the Rules".
I do believe that the structure of the weekend is carefully crafted, and should be generally adhered to. However, God and his Word, in my humble opinion, have shown what man thinks of rules and what God thinks of rules.
Following the rules without prayer and listening can easily become worshiping the rules. We as humans are easily tempted to become the next set of Pharisees. And arguments as to the meaning of the rules make us likely to take offense at one another, which result in fractionation (we already have De Colores, Tres Dias, Emmaus, and I don't know how many other flavors).
Chiros and Chrysalis, wonderful ministries, came about by ADAPTING the rules to fit the sheep in need of feeding.
I agree that the structure we have, built through prayer and experience, should be used, with prayer and experience. But let's not limit God, who has changed the rules in mighty ways thousands of times to reach all of the children He loves.
Christ did NOT fit what we thought the rules are. And aren't we glad He didn't?
God Bless,
Ken
Just for clarifacation on the other groups (DeColores, TreDias,etc) Each one of these are related to donmination groups; DeColores - Catholic, (which the Methodists adapted the Walk to Emmaus from), Kiros - prisons, Chrylias - youth, etc. Each one working a similar format but subject reglious beliefs and barriers - prison. In DeColores, not everyone can participate in communion, only if you are Catholic. This was a stumbling block for the Methodists, so we adapted and since it was copyrighted material we had to change it enough as not to infinge. Over all the basic concept is the same; God loves us and we are sometimes unaware of that. As for the different groups, the cake is for the most part the same, the icing is of different colors, flavors and texture. ~GLYASDI - Roc
ReplyDeleteNot to stretch the gourmet metaphor too far, but God is the chef. The reason we pray before each walk and each board meeting is to leave God in charge of the recipe. And leave room for Him to change it if He wants to.
ReplyDeleteI support the board, I will be at the gathering, and I will follow Christ. :)
God Bless,
Ken