| CONTENTS Preface Prologue |
ANTIOCH WEEKEND LEADERS MANUAL |
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Being A Christian |
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| Introduction
to the Antioch Weekend
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INTRODUCTION: Speaker: A student --someone who has matured somewhat in his Christian life Duration: 45 minutes Purpose: To give a portrait of the individual Christian by presenting a clear picture and a living example. Style: Clear - to present an understandable picture With testimony - the personal witness of the speaker With dedication - revealing the dedication of the speaker to God Joyful - at the consideration of the Christian life Progression: Section I presents inadequate ideas of what it is to be a Christian in order to better understand an adequate notion. Section II then presents a full notion of what it is to be a Christian. This along with the testimony of the speaker is the main body of the talk. Section III then presents the characteristics of the Christian life. It is a life of faith, love, joy, peace. Section IV gives a short presentation of how life in union wit God trough Christ is maintained, through prayer, scripture, sacraments, community, works of charity. Finally, Section V focuses on a particular overflow of the Christian life, the apostolate. Once we know in a living way what it is to be a Christian then we naturally want to spread this to all men who were all created for the fullness of union with God in Christ.
THE OUTLINE I. THERE ARE MANY INADEQUATE IDEAS ABOUT BEING A CHRISTIAN: A. For example: 1. Being a Christian is being a "pillar of the Church". 2. Being a Christian is being a "solid citizen" 3. Being a Christian is keeping on the "right side of the line." 4. Being a Christian is being a "nice guy". 5. Being a Christian is "updated". 6. Being a Christian is "loving others." B. These ideas are inadequate because, while they contain some elements of what it is to be a Christian they make the mistake of taking a part of what it is to be a Christian and making it the whole. II. BEING A CHRISTIAN IS UNION WITH GOD THROUGH CHRIST. A. It is union wit God... "You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind wand with your whole strength. This is the greatest and first commandment." (Deut 6:5; Mt. 2:38) 1. Being a Christian means loving God with our whole heart. 2. Being a Christian means loving God with our whole mind. 3. Being a Christian means loving God with our whole strength. B. It is union with God through Christ. 1. Christ is our only way to union with God. 2. Being a Christian means letting Christ become our Lord. a. turning to Him for forgiveness b. putting our lives completely under his control, doing what he wants c. loving him and wanting to serve him. III. BEING A CHRISTIAN IS GOD'S GREATEST GIFT TO US -- THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE, THE TREASURE IN THE FIELD. (MT. 13: 44-46) A. It is a life of faith B. It is a life of love C. It is a life of joy. D. It is a life of peace. IV. WE LIVE WITH CHRIST IN A. Talk to him - prayer B. Listening to him - Bible C. Receiving Him, His forgiveness, his Spirit - sacraments D. Living in union with him and others in him - Christian community. E. Serving him by serving others - works of charity, mercy. V. BEING A CHRISTIAN INVOLVES SPREADING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE A. If we realize what the Christian Life is we will share it. B. We want all men to live the Christian life. 1. God calls all to live in union with Him - this is why we were created. 2. The Christian life is the greatest gift we can bring to men. C. We strive to make all men Christians. 1. We are generous and will spare no efforts to bring men to Christ. 2. The love of God in our life is overflowing. THE COMMENTARY: The atmosphere of the weekend has been changing and the students are becoming more and more open. The Community talk will have perceptibly increased the idealism in the group and they will be much more receptive. This talk, Being a Christian, now shifts the emphasis of their considerations to the individual believer and his response. This talk should bring them to the point of making their own personal response to God. The students should after, or even during, this talk begin to make the transi-tion to putting God first in their lives. In fact, after this talk the idealism, self-surrender, and spirit of charity of the students should begin to shine forth even more than after the preceding talk. The speaker by his personal testimony stands as a concrete embodiment of the talk. He is not a holier-that-thou type, nor is there any indication that he is anything better than the candidates, a sinner. But he does stand as one who has turned to God through Christ and whose life has been changed because of this. He stands as one who has begun to experience the true value of being a Christian, one who has found the pearl of great price. I. THERE ARE MANY INADEQUATE IDEAS ABOUT WHAT BEING A CHRISTIAN IS: The talk begins with inadequate ideas about being a Christian in order to better present a clear notion of what it is to be a Christian. The list of inadequate ideas is not meant to be an exhaustive catalog of all the possible misconceptions about being a Christian. Rather only a small number of inadequate ideas is presented because these are the most common. This section of the talk should be too long. Concrete details are used to build up a portrait of a particular view and the details are presented sympathetically enough that the students recognize them as real possibilities, real people. However, each portrait should be no longer than it is in the commentary. In presenting the inadequate ideas a spirit of charity should be active, attacking only defects and not persons. It should not seem to the candidates after the talk that there is no one in the Church who lives Christianity. If a critical and negative tone is used it will seem this way. Also it must not seem that not only those who have made an Antioch Weekend live up to the pic-ture presented. Avoid the attitudes of Christians superiority. Of the inadequate ideas listed perhaps the most common are "pillar of the Church", "right side of the line", and "loving others." However, this is not a hard and fast rule. In differ-ent environments these various inadequate ideas work out differ-ently. For instance, it has been our experience that on Catholic campuses "pillar of the Church" and "solid citizen" are very often combined as one view while on secular campuses they more often tend to be separate. We have also found that the "nice guy" attitude is more common on some campuses while the "updated" attitude is more common on other campuses. This is all something that the speaker should be able to ascertain about his environ-ment and perhaps he will want to combine some of the characteri-zations or drop from the talk one or more of them because they are not very prevalent. However, it has been our experience that "pillar of the Church," "right side of the line," and "loving others" are attitudes that occur almost everywhere in the present day Church. I. A. For Example: (inadequate ideas of being a Christian) 1. Being a Christian is being a "pillar of the Church." One who has this view is probably involved in Church organizations, maybe being the head of a committee. He is probably a server, commentator, or usher at Mass. He sometimes goes to weekday Mass and probably reads a Catholic magazine or newspaper. He chums with the priests or sisters and he has probably thought about going to the seminary. He thinks this is what it is to be a Christian. 2. Being a Christian is being a "solid citizen." One who has this attitude probably support student government, is concerned for the welfare of his country and is planning to be a good parent seeing that his kids get good schooling, playing ball with them and so on. He is looking forward to working in a profession making a respectable contribution to society. He probably reads a newspaper or newsmagazine. He thinks Christianity is telling him to be good at being a middle class man. 3. Being a Christian is keeping on the "right side of the line." The one with this view is concerned with the minimum requirements. He says he's content to get to heaven "just under the wire." He goes to Mass on Sundays, makes his Easter duty. He stays out of mortal sin, except when he doesn't and then he goes to confes-sion. He figures out how far he can go with the girl and is concerned with his own salvation but doesn't care to know how other people are doing. He probably sits in the back of the Church and leaves in a hurry. He thinks that to be a Christian is to keep on the "right side of the line." 4. Being a Christian is being a "nice guy." The one who has this view tries to be affable, holding doors for people, being friendly, not out to hurt anybody. He would probably stop to help a woman change a flat tire and work on projects like cleaning up the Church. He doesn't cut people down and he doesn't take asides. He kids around a lot and generally just gets along with everyone. He thinks this is what it is to be a Christian. 5. Being a Christian is being "updated." The one who thinks this probably reads National Catholic Report-er, Rahner, Cox, Novak. He likes experimental liturgies and says he "appreciates the world." He doesn't accept what he is told by an institutional Church but thinks things through for him self. He wants Christianity to be "meaningful" and "relevant" and he is probably impatient for renewal. He thinks that to be a Christian is to be "updated." 6. Being a Christian is "loving others." There are two types here, the personalists and the social - - activ-ists. They both genuinely try to love others. The personalist thinks that personal relationships are the essence of Christianity. He likes the Mass mainly as an experience, the dialogue homily, the kiss of peace, the coffee and donuts afterward. Perhaps he reads Chardin, Buber, and Fromm. The social activist may take part in a tutoring project and has read the social encyclicals. He wants men to become "fully human" and speaks of seeing Christ in others. He perhaps thinks that Gandi was one of the world's greatest Christians. He also might join the Peace Corps. These two think that to be a Christian is to "love others." I. B. These ideas are inadequate The speakers need not develop this point. It will be sufficient to simply state it. These ideas are inadequate because, while they contain some elements of what it is to be Christian they make that mistake of taking a part of what it is to be a Christian and making it the whole. There is nothing wrong with being a server, supporting the Church, supporting the Community, obeying the commandments of God, being nice to others, keeping up on theological thought or loving other people. In fact these are all good things. What is wrong is simply taking a part of what it is to be a Christian and making it the whole. II. BEING A CHRISTIAN IS UNION WITH GOD THROUGH CHRIST This section presents the adequate notion of what it is to be a Christian. This section along with the witness of the speaker should receive the most time of the talk. To be a Christian is not just to go to devotions, obey rules, get along with others, or even just to love others. Rather, to be a Christian is to love God above all things. This involves a living relationship with another person, Jesus Christ. To be a Christian is to direct our whole lives to God through Christ, to seek Christ, to develop our relationship with Him. II. A. It is union with God "You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind and with your whole strength. This is the greatest and the first commandment." (Dt. 6:5; Mt. 22:38) This section will develop the first part of what it is to be a Christian union with God. The students will look on Christianity more as a set of principles than as a relationship with a person. They know a lot of things that a Christian should do, and might, for instance, speak of the teachings of Christ, the principles of Christ. For them Christianity is a way of life guided by a set of principles. This section approaches that problem by focusing on Christianity as a relationship with God. It is in terms of a relationship with God that the various elements of Christianity make sense. It is this relationship with God that is to Chris-tianity. II. A. 1. Being a Christian means loving God with our whole heart. To love God with our whole heart does not mean that we just love Him with great emotion or affection. What it means is that we have made the fundamental decision to put God first in all things. We have turned our hearts to Him and this attitude is at the basis of all we do, What guides all our actions is the pri-mary desire to please God. To harden our hearts to God is to be reluctant to go along with God, to have the attitude that we don't want God to interfere and so we keep Him at arm's length and don't put our trust in Him fully. Loving God with our whole heart means putting God first in our lives, trusting Him, and living our whole life to please Him. Loving God with our whole heart means putting God at the heart of our lives. II. A. 2. Being a Christian means loving God with our whole mind To love God with our whole mind means using our minds to know and understand what God has told us about Himself and our relation-ship to Him. It means listening faithfully and attentively to all that God has revealed to us and accepting confidently all that He says. Loving God with our whole minds means knowing and accepting to plan of God, changing our way of thinking and ac-cepting God's view of why we exist and how we are meant to live. II. A. 3. Being a Christian means loving God with our whole strength. This means more than loving God every intensely. It means using all that we have for God, our abilities, our belongings, our prestige. Our "strength" means "all that we have". When we love God with our whole strength we do not limit Him to just a part of our lives. Loving God involves using all our resources, all our power, all our life. Our purpose in all things is to please God and it is to this that all our effort, all our strength is di-rected. II. B. It is union with God through Christ. 1. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. It is only in Christ that men are reconciled to the Father. This should be clear from the talk The Work of Christ, and need not be developed much here. II. B. 2. Being a Christian means letting Christ become our Lord Letting Christ become our Lord is more than intellectually agree-ing with all the dogma about Christ. One could accept all the dogma without letting Him be Lord, without turning one's life over to Christ. This is explained in the talk with the diagrams: Each of the circles represents a person's life. In each life there is a driver's seat or throne-the controlling center of the life. On that throne someone or something sits and the directs the life. In the life of the person on the left the ego is on the throne. The smaller circles within his life are his inter-ests. He simply picks and chooses between the things that he is interested in. The cross represents. In his life he may take Christ as one of his interests (the cross inside the circle) or he may not want to have anything to do with Christ or perhaps he has never heard of Christ (the across outside the circle). The person represented by the circle on the right has let Christ become his Lord. It should also be clearer now why it is possi-ble to agree with all the dogma about Christ and not have Him on the throne of one's life, not let Him become Lord. The speaker should draw the diagrams as he explains them. It would also be good for the speaker to stop after drawing and explaining the diagrams to ask the students to consider for themselves whether they have ever asked Christ to become their Lord. He could ask them to consider this and pause for 30 sec-onds while they do. II. B. 2. a. Turning to Him for forgiveness The speaker now explains some implications of what it is to let Christ become Lord. The first is forgiveness. Christ is the one who can heal us by forgiving all our sins. It is likely that several of the students will have obstacles to accepting Christ's forgiveness and two of the more important of these should be briefly treated. 1) The idea that "Christ wants me only when I am strong." This is the attitude that we have to be perfect or at least very good before Christ is willing to accept us. But He is the one who said, "It is the sick not the healthy who need the physician," and "I came to save the sinners not the righteous." 2) The idea that "I am too bad to be for-given." One tends to say to himself "He can forgive everyone else but not me-sin is just to deep in me and I know it. "This is like the experience of going to confession time afte time with the same sins and feeling that we can never change. But the cross of Christ is powerful. It needs no apology and it needs no improvement. In the sufferings of Christ all sin has been over-come no matter how bad it might seem to us. Letting Christ become our Lord, then, means turning to Him for forgiveness. II. B. 2. b. Putting our lives completely under His control This include trusting Him for details, not worrying, knowing that He is serious when He says, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's will. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows" (Mt. 10:29-31). To follow Christ is to do what He wants. The Lord is the one who is master, who directs those under Him and has the right to, simply because He is Lord. To let Christ become Lord is to put our lives under His control, to do what He wants. II. B. 2. c. Loving Him and wanting to serve Him Our service is not begrudged because we are serving someone we love. As in love relationship a man doesn't gripe about having to do things for his girl-he wants to do things for her because he love her. In fact, he would be disappointed if there were nothing he could do for her. So it is in a relationship with God. We love Him and so we want to serve Him. These four things are what is involved in holiness. To be holy is to trun to Christ for forgiveness, put our life in His control, follow Him, and love Him. Personal witness of the speaker Here the speaker tells how he came to put God first, accept Christ, and what this has meant to him. This may be handled in any one of three ways. First, the speaker may include examples from his own life with the points in section II as he goes through them. Or he may go through all of section II and then give his own story. Or, third, he may go through section II and go back and give his personal story with the same structure as the points in Section II. Whichever way he handles it there are several things that should be remembered. Since he purpose of the talk is to give a living witness to what it is to be Christian this section of the talk is highly impor-tant. It is the personal witness that will give this talk power and make it one of the most important in the weekend. The personal story of the speaker will contain three parts: 1) the state of his life in relationship to God before he began to direct his life to God, 2) how the change came about, and 3) the results in his life now lived in union with God. The third part maybe handled as part of Section II or as examples in sec-tion III. The third part is the most important. It is this that will shine as a light before the students and attract them also give their lives to God. The change from the first situation to the third need not be dramatic, need not be the story of a great conversion. Changing one's life to God's plan is usually a process in which there may be high points but in which there are many points that are impor-tant and many that take place over a period of time. The person-al witness is the story of a major change in one's life to God. This also means that the speaker should be someone whose story is not too far removed from the lives of the students. If he is a converted dope addict and ex-convict they will probably be quite edified but may not be able to identify with him. The personal witness of the speaker should not be iin generali-ties. To tell the students that things have been "great" since he became a Christian does not communicate very much. Giving specific instances from his life and explaining each of the points he makes is what gives life to this talk. The speaker should tell incidents, give details. His witness should also not give the idea that the Christian life is a bed of roses or that all the problems are solved. Further, he should not be preaching. He is not telling them how to lives his and how orientation to God has made a difference. This whole talk should be simple. The more complicated it is the more it will lose in power. It presents what it is to be a Christians and shows the response of man to Christ, total self giving. Finally, it is not appropriate for the speaker to be critical or negative. His purpose is not to throw cold water on other people or groups but to highlight an ideal: the ideal of being Chris-tian. III. BEING A CHRISTIAN IS GOD'S GREATEST GIFT TO US Being a Christian is the pearl to great price, the treasure in the field. (Mt. 13:44-46) This section develops a picture of the fruit of being a Christian, the love, the faith, the joy, and the peace. Being a Christian is the pearl of great price for which it is worth selling everything else that we have and are. III. A. It is a life of faith Being a Christian is life of faith, trusting and relying and confidently on God. One can have confidence for this whole life that God is leading him and that nothing happens to no avail. This does not mean that he always sees why things are happening but that he relies on God. Things are safer ni God's hands than in our own. He loves us more than we love ourselves and He knows what is good for us. Because God is all powerful we can accept His promises not worrying about our future. III. B. It is a life of love Being a Christian is a life of love, loving God and being loved. Him. It is God who first loved us. He was willing to die for us. This was the greatest manifestation of His love for us, that He was willing to descend to earth and die to bring us back to Himself. Experiencing this love gives birth in us to a new love. Our relationship become new, our love is deeper because we are in Christ. III. C. It is a life of joy The joy flows out of the love. We are joyous because He loves us and cares for us, because we can rely on Him. The joy come from the presence of God. This joy is not essentially an emotion. Rather it is an attitude. Joy is the attitude of the man who knows that he has been redeemed and that he has a union with God in Christ. III. D. It is a life of peace This is the true peace that comes from knowing that our lives have meaning and purpose. This is the peace of complete confi-dence in God's love and help. There is still suffering in the life of the Christian but there is a deep peace that knows that the suffering too has its purpose in his whole life for God. IV. WE LIVE WITH CHRIST IN: Being a Christian is living in union with God through Christ. This section is short since the ideas in it will be developed at length in the following talk. A. We live with Christ in talking to Him-prayer. Relationship don't develop if people don't talk to each other. A husband does not just do things for his wife, he also spends time with he, talks with her. It should be the same way with God. We talk with Christ in prayer. B. In the Bible we listen to Christ. We are fortunate. God has given us the Bible. We are able to listen to Him and to know His plan. God is not silent. He has given us a way to have contact with Him in the Bible. C. We receive Christ, His forgiveness, and His Spirit in the Sacraments. The sacraments are very important in our lives in union with God. They are Christ's direct action in our lives, His coming to us, His forgiveness of our sins, His impartation of the Holy Spirit to us. D. We in union with Christ and with others in Him through the Christian community. This was developed in the previous talk. We do not live the Christian life in isolation but in union with others in Christ, praying together, talking together about Christ, working together for Christ. E. We serve Christ by serving others. Christ has called us to perform works of charity and mercy. In fact He has told us that we are just fooling ourselves if we say we love Him while we hold something against our brothers in Christ, or while we treat others without love. How can we say we love God who we don't see it if we don't love those whom we do see? Serving Christ also means telling others about Him. V. BEING A CHRISTIAN INVOLVES SPREADING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. This last section should be given enthusiastically. It should not be too long, in fact rather short. One's enthusiasm for spreading the Christian life is a good gauge of how important it is to him to be a Christian. This section, if given with dedica-tion, will reflect back on and solidify the rest of the talk. If the speaker is genuinely desirous of spreading the Christian life it will confirm all the things that he has been saying. This section would be a good place for the speaker to use some example. V. A. If we realize what the Christian life is we will share it When we know that the Christian life is the pearl of great price we will naturally want all men to share it. V. B. We want all men to live the Christian life 1. God calls all to live in union with Him-this is why they were created. Their lives will not be complete until they are in union with God. 2. The Christian life is the greatest gift we can bring men. Since it is the thing that is best for them, then it is what we should most want to give to them. V. C. We strive to make all men Christian The point here is in the word "strive." When we realize the number of men who know Christ depends on how much Christians are willing to do for them we will be generous and spare no effort to bring men to Christ. The love of God simply overflows in our lives and we are willing to strive, to work in order to give the Christian life to all men. Men give their lives to all sorts of thing: money, power, fame, pleasure...They can begin to give their lives to God if we left the love of God overflow in us and bring us to share the pearl of great price with other men. |
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