| CONTENTS Preface Prologue |
ANTIOCH WEEKEND LEADERS MANUAL |
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GROWTH |
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| Introduction
to the Antioch Weekend
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INTRODUCTION: Speaker: A layman, someone who has had experience with a plan of life and is committed to it, therefore probably someone older, a Senior, graduate student, or faculty member. Duration: 45 minutes Purpose: To presents a picture of a dynamic Christian life, giving an understanding of what union with Christ is and how it is a transforming experience. To explain in a practical way means to grow in friendship with Christ. Style: Enthusiastic and lively in presenting The Christian Life. Clear and explanatory about what it is - concrete and practical. Progression: The talk begins with a meditations on the allegory of the vine and the branches. The speaker continues the ideas present in Being a Christian. The emphasis in the introduction, however, is not on accepting Christ, but on growing in union with Christ. Christ is living in us, and His life in us should grow and trans-form us. The next two sections present the approach of the Union Weekend to growth in the life of Christ. Regular time given over to Christ in a direct personal way is needed if any growth will occur. Prayers, etc. are not Christianity, but without them a Christian life will be stagnant. In these sections, the idea of a plan of life is presented and use of the card is explained. The conclusion of the talk stresses the gradual transformation of the Christian life if he gives Christ a chance. The Christian life is something that should be getting better and better, stronger and stronger. The bulk of the time will be spent on section III.
THE OUTLINE: I. GROWTH IN LIFE WITH CHRIST (John 15:1-17) A. God has called us to live a new life in Christ 1. Christ lives in us. 2. In Him we have been adopted as sons of the Father, members of His body, living with a new life, in a new creation, as new men. B. This new life in us should grow and bear fruit. C. Growth in this new life is being taken over more and more by Christ and His love. D. The means to this growth is a personal union with Christ through prayer, study of Christianity, apostolic action, and community. E. The results of this life are joy, power, and effectiveness. II. THE PLAN OF LIFE A. As our ordinary life must be worked at, so our life in Christ must be worked at if it is to grow. B. Our ordinary life is not sporadic, but has a rhythm; so our life in Christ must be regular. C. We need a plan of life for our growth as a Christian. III. THE MEANS FOR GROWTH A. The means for growth (cf. wheel) 1. Prayer a. Morning and evening prayer b. Prayer period c. Mass d. The rosary and other prayers 2. Study a. The Bible b. Books on Christianity 3. Action a. Individual witnessing b. Apostolic projects 4. Community (will be explained on Sunday) B. Explain the use of the card. C. We must put aside time to grow in our life with Christ. IV. TRANSFORMATION IN CHRIST A. Our life in Christ is a process of growth until we are completely transformed. 1. Everyone is called to become a saint, to love (obey) Christ perfectly. 2. Each one will have a different program of the means of growth according to his stage of growth and circumstances. B. Christ will change us if we let Him. C. You are the salt of the earth, the light of the world. (Mt. 5:13-16)
THE COMMENTARY The talk on "Growth" is both a very sensitive and a very crucial talk in the weekend. It is sensitive, because the speaker is giving those making the weekend specific advise on how to live their lives. Moreover, there will be some who are making the weekend who have tried a regular program of prayer, etc. and have found it mechanical, difficult and unrewarding (there usual-ly be more of these if the weekend is being given at catholic college). Some even might have the idea that in the new state of the Church anything that they do not feel like doing is an in-fringement on their freedom and against the spirit of renewal. The talk is crucial, however, because unless those who make the weekend see the reasons for a regular program of growth and unless they begin to provide time in their life for growth in Christ, the Antioch Weekend will be a failure for them. The new commitment to Christ that they have made will die away, and they will soon find themselves back in the same kind of stagnant, unsatisfying, meaningless Christian life that they were in be-fore. This talk presents the practical implications of the whole second day of the Weekend ofr the life of individual. The speaker should approach the talk with confidence and speak from experience. At this point, most of those making the weekend will be looking for a way to continue what they have found. Moreover, they will be hungry for a more concrete description of living the Christian life. Any objections will be overcome by presenting the vision of the whole Christian life in which the means to growth have an organic place and also by testifying from the authority of mature experience to the value of the different elements on the card. If the talk is done correctly, those making the weekend will feel a much greater enthusiasm for the Christian life, because they see concretely how can it be lived - that it really is in reach as something alive and growing. I. GROWTH IN LIFE WITH CHRIST The opening section is meant to be presented as a meditation on John 15:1-17, the allegory of the vine and the branches. The speaker should read the passage and then talk about it. The attitude that should be conveyed is: "What a great thing it is that Christ has done for us in giving us a new life, in actually living in us, in making us new men." The main idea of this section is that Christian life is personal relationship with Christ, and it can be something dynamic and growing, something valuable. Most of the ideas in the first section are found in John 15:1-17; the new life of union with Christ in verse 5; the fact that this life should grow and bear fruit in verses 1-2; that growth in-volves prayer (verse 12); that the results of this life are joy (verse 16), and effectiveness (verse 5,8,6). In the back of everyone's mind will be a certain dissatisfaction with the Christian life. Most students have felt something missing, almost as if their Christianity was suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. They have felt a lack of vitality in the Church. The action has seemed to be elsewhere. The speaker should take this reservation into account and talk about it (perhaps even as a lead-in to the whole talk). He should make the point that this dissatisfaction has a good basis, because many people's Christianity, but rather in the fact that many Christians do not have a vital personal relationship with Christ. It might be well to point out that God is no happier with a lifeless Christianity than we are. Less so, in fact (see Apoca-lypse 3:15-22). The allegory of the vine and the branches is about the Church (Christian community) as a whole, and not just about the individ-ual is weak as a Christian, the whole Christian community will suffer. Moreover, the life of each Church (each Christian commu-nity) must be growing too. I. A. 1. Christ lives in us Many people may think of Christianity as imitating Christ, fol-lowing a way of life. It is much more. It is Christ living in us. A suggested verse to use: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal. 2:20). I. A. 2. In Him we have been adopted This section is meant to emphasize the new status we have in Christ. Once we have been baptized and we let Him have our lives, there has been a change. We are living a new life. I. B. This new life in us should grow and bear fruit Life is activity, a source of action. There is nothing stiller, deader, than a corpse. A corpse doesn't budge. A sign of life is growth, and a sign of Christian life is growth in Christ and bearing fruit as a Christian. This point can be presented by referring to the vine and the branches passage. I. C. Growth in this new life is being taken over more and more by Christ and His Love This point explains the previous one (B). It describes what growth in Christ like. It is also an explication of John 15:9-10. The more a person lives in the love of Christ, the more he follows His commandments, the more he is growing in Christ's life. Here is a good place to refer back to the previous talk, "Being a Christian." "Being a Christian" described the Christian life as union with God in Christ. It would also be a good idea to draw the throne diagram that pictures the life of a Christian. It will help people to remember the diagrams and also will help make the point clearer. I. D. The means to this growth The purpose of this section is to give a preview of the rest of the talk. Here the speaker points out that Christ, when speaking about the vine and the branches, indicates that there are some things which we have to do to maintain our life with Him. The speaker should not explain the items here. I. E. The results of this life... Christ promised that there would be a change for the better in the life of each Christian who lived in close union with Him. His life would be happy and dynamic. These things are the fruit of Christ living in us. II. THE PLAN OF LIFE We would go to any lengths to preserve our natural life. Our life in Christ is much more valuable than our natural life. Therefore we should be willing to go to any lengths to maintain and increase it. The second section of the talk presents the approach behind the Means card. It explains the necessity of a plan of life, that is, some kind of regular approach to maintaining our life in Christ. The third section of the talk will then present the card itself. II. A. As our ordinary life must be worked at.... This section is meant to convince the listeners that they have to put something into their life with Christ if they are going to get much out of it. Like anything - personal relationships, playing a sport or a musical instrument, studying - living with Christ takes an investment of time and effort. A suggested analogy to help make the point: Life must be main-tained. We are finite creatures. We do not have life in our-selves. We have received it, and we constantly are receiving it. We must do things (if we decided not to act, we would soon grow weak, wither away, and finally die). Similar things are involved in maintaining our life in Christ. It must be fed, sheltered, exercised. It cannot be taken for granted. If we neglect it, it will die. II. B. Our ordinary life is not sporadic The next step in presenting the idea of the plan of life is to introduce the idea of regularity. This too makes good sense. Those things which are an important part of our life are the things which are an important part of our life are the things that we give attention to regularly. For instance, if we were to talk to somebody once a year at most, we would not have much of a personal relationship with him. A suggested analogy: We have to regularly maintain our life or else we will die. We cannot stuff with food for two days straight and then not eat for two weeks. We cannot ignore exer-cise for years and then still expect to be capable of doing the things we did before. Life must be constantly, tenaciously, maintained and developed. Moreover, there is a certain rhythm to the way we maintain our lives, a certain regularity by which everything is done that is needed to keep us alive. We eat three times a day, sleep at nights, work at certain times, etc. The rhythm is not rigid or inflexible. Under certain circumstances, it is varied radically. Usually it is never exactly the same from day to day. But there is a general overall plan so that what is necessary is done regularly. The same is true for life in Christ. A Christian must maintain the life in Christ in himself constantly, tenaciously. It will suffer from being neglected. Moreover, there has to be a certain rhythm to our Christian lives as well as to our natural lives. There must be a plan in which has everything has its place and in which everything gets done. If we do not have this, we will find ourselves gradually getting farther away from Christ, gradually getting to be less effective as a Christian, gradually getting "out of shape" and weakening in the life which is the most impor-tant life. II. C. We need a plan of life for our growth as a Christian This is the conclusion of the section - that a plan of life is needed. Too many students have gone through their Christian lives haphazardly. They expect it to be there, even though they do not put anything into it. But they need some sort of regular way of growing in union with Christ. A plan of life is not necessarily rigid, or inflexible. But it is regular and tena-cious. There is an ironclad fact at stake - unless a Christian puts time and effort into his Christian life, Christ will never have a chance to "get at him" to transform him. A suggested analogy: If you liked a certain girl and wanted to develop a relationship with her, you would not just leave it to chance. You would set out to see her as often as you could, to get to know her, to do things which would please her. If we are serious about our life with Christ, we will do something similar. III. THE MEANS FOR GROWTH III. A. The means for growth In this part of the talk, the actual means of growth themselves are explained. The speaker should never give the impression that these are what it is to be Christian. They are not. Being a Christian is a living union with God in Christ, and it involves everything a person does. These are only means to maintain and grow in this life with Christ. But on the other hand the speaker should never give the impression of not valuing the means of growth. Each one of these things can make the difference between a weak, ineffective Christian life and a strong thriving one. The Means card is presented as a method of helping to form a plan of life. In addition, the various items on the card are ex-plained to help those making the AWE understand how to grow as Christian and how to form their own plans of life. These sec-tions are the most important ones in the talk, and should be filled with concrete, specific, practical advice. In beginning to explain the Means for Growth, the speaker should use the illustration of the wheel. The explanation of the dia-gram: The wheel - this represents the whole Christian life. The hub - the hub of a wheel is the source of power and direction for the whole wheel. It holds it together. The spokes - in order to transmit the power and direction to the whole wheel, spokes are needed. The hub of the Christian life is Christ Himself (on the throne, the center). The rim of the wheel is what we do all during the day, our full life. The spokes of the wheel are prayer, study, action and community these are means to put our whole life in contact with Christ, so that He can transform it with His power and direction. III. A. 1. Prayer In this section, the speaker should talk about prayer. What he says should mesh with pervious presentation of prayer in the AWE. He does not have to describe how to pray in the same way that the meditation of the nigth before did, but he should explain the place of prayer in the whole Christian life. He should also present some concrete methods that can be used to pray. A suggested way of presenting the importance of regular prayer: Our growth in the life of Christ means that we are being changed into new men. These means that our hearts, minds and wills have to be changed so that everything we do is the action of a changed man. Prayer changes our hearts, because it is in prayer that we learn how to love God. It is the same in the growth of any friendship or any personal relationship. The way our friendships grow, the way we learn to love one another, is through spending time together. If we are never in a personal contact with some-one, no friendship will grow with that person. Of course, the time spend with that person is not the totality of our friend-ship. We are not friends with a person only when we are with him. But it is during the time we spend with a person that our friendship grows. And it is during our time of prayer that our love of God grows. The speaker should emphasized that the time we use for prayer should be prime time, not left over time when we are, for exam-ple, to tired to do anything els. God deserves our best time, because there is nothing more important than He is. n explaining the different items under "Prayer", the most time should be given to explaining the prayer period. Moreover, the strongest, most emphatic recommendation should be given to having a daily prayer period. III. A. 1. a. Morning and evening prayer A Christian should begin his day and end his day with prayer to God. God deserves to be the first and last thing in his life. The speaker should recommend some sort of morning and evening prayer and explain how he does it himself. He should indicate that there are variety of ways of doing it (the use of two of the hours of the office should be recommended, Morning Praise and Evening song could be recommended, the morning offering should be stated as a good possibility, informal prayer can be mentioned as well). Later on he should recommend the use of the Consideration of life as Christian during evening prayer. He should point it out on the card and explain that it is a kind of examination of conscience. He should make a definite recommendation that each person write down something for every day of each this items. III. A. 1. b. Prayer Period The strongest recommendation should go to each having a prayer period. If each person has a period pf time of each day of some length that he spends alone with God, he will grow. If not, he will probably not. By a prayer period is meant a period of time spent with God for the purpose of coming to know Him better and growing in friend-ship with Him. It is not a time of study, but a time of commun-ion with God. It can be combined with evening prayer or with morning prayer, but it should not be leftout. A suggested way of presenting the importance of the prayer peri-od: It was said before that it is in the time we spend with someone that a friendship grows deepest and the fastest. When we want to form a relationship with a girl, we know that we have to find away to be alone with her, otherwise we will not be able to grow in personal love. The same is true of every deep friend-ship. Therefore, we have to spend time alone with God prayer. One standard reservation about personal prayer will be the effect of the new emphasis on community prayer and liturgical prayer that has come since the liturgical renewal. Some people will have the idea that liturgical prayer is enough or community prayer is enough. Some people even be using liturgical prayer and community prayer as a way of avoiding a confrontation with God (much the same way that we like to have other people around when we are avoiding a confrontation with someone). The speaker should in no way show a lack of value for community prayer or liturgical prayer, but he should state clearly that these are not enough. It is good to pray together as the family of God, but each member of the family needs time alone with the Father be-cause the Father has things to tell him individually and has a unique love for him. Sometimes the problem will be the people will not want to speak to God at all. They will be so much bothered by the idea of "Christ in others" that they will ignore Christ and put all their attention on others. They will point out that one way of loving God is to do good to his children. This is, of course, true, but they are living out any direct love of God. In this situa-tion the following analogy may help: Some people have been heard to say, the way I love God is by loving His children. This is a way of loving God. but how would you feel if your son refused to talk with you or spend anytime with you, but if he just insisted on loving his brothers and sisters, because he knew you wanted him to love them. You would probably be glad that your son loved his brothers and sisters, but you would probably also suspect that he didn't really love you. Otherwise, he would want to spend time with you and talk with you. It would be well to point out that Christ spent time alone with the Father in prayer. Two good passages to illustrate this point are: "And in the morning, a great while before day, He rose and went out to a lonely place, and there He prayed" (Mark 1:35). "But He slipped quietly away to deserted places for prayer" (Luke 5:16). 1.) The Bible meditation The speaker should point out that there are two sides to a con-versation listening and speaking. The same is true with our conversation with God. We have to listen to Him. There are a number of ways of listening to God, but the most important way is through reading His Word, the Bible. If it really is His Word, that means that this is the way to listen to Him. The speaker should emphasize the possibility of listening to God. One of the biggest difficulties in the minds of the many students has been the feeling that they know of no way of getting into contact with God and finding out what He is like and what He has to say. There is a difference between Bible meditation and Bible study. Bible meditation is a way of using the Bibles as a means to prayer. It can be done by reading a passage from the scripture and meditating on it, listening for what God has to say to you at this moment. Bible study is more systematic effort to get to know the contents of the Bible and of God's revelation. The speaker should suggest a method of Bible meditation. He should begin by emphasizing that it is important to read the Bible as message, perhaps thinking of it as a letter from God. Bible meditation will ordinarily begin by recalling to mind that these are God's words and God is attempting to communicate somet-ing to us through them. In meditating on the scripture, the following questions can be helpful: What can I see from this passage about what God is like? How should this passage affect my life? If there is time, the speaker might read a passage from the gospel and show how to meditate on it, and then read a saying of Christ's and show how to meditate upon it. A good passage to use in this section: "Man shall not live be bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Mt. 4:4). 2.) Personal Prayer The other side of a conversation is speaking, and this is what is meant be personal prayer - just speaking to God. Personal prayer is informal prayer alone. The speaker should be familiar with the meditation on Friday night and supplement and reinforce the meditation in any way that is necessary. The speaker should emphasize that rote prayer is not adequate. Rote prayers can be good, but each person also has to pray to God freely, person to person. The speaker should probably talk about the importance of personal prayer in his own life. 3.) The prayer period as a whole The speaker should give advice on how to make a prayer period effective. The following should probably be recommended: a.) To set a definite time - perhaps between classes, or before a meal. Many people find that the morning is the best time - before the rush of day. b.) To find a good place c.) To allow enough time. 15 minutes a day is probably a minimum. d.) To make the main goal of the period to know and love God better. III. A. I. c. Mass Mass is the main form of community prayer for the Christian. It is his best way of joining in Christ's worship of the Father. The speaker probably will not have to say too much about the Mass, since it will be talked about in the sermons. He should, however, stress that it should be a regular part of each person's life each week. He should recommend that each person go to daily Mass once a week at least. Those who are going to daily Mass once or more should think about going more frequently. Many students have found the Mass a frustrating experience up to this point. It has been simply an externalism, because they have not had much commitment to Christ or much desire to worship God. It would be well to point out to them that Mass can be a very different thing now that they have a new relationship to God. III. A. 1. d. The rosary and other prayers There are many other types of prayer. The ones mentioned so far are the ones that probably should never be missing in someone's life. Other types of prayer should be mentioned and perhaps explained briefly. The possibility of prayer with others should be stressed. Night prayer with a roommate, other guys in the dorm, or members of the family is frequently done and very valu-able. Prayer meetings and other informal gatherings for prayer should be common. III. A. 2. Study In this section, the speaker should presents the importance of study Christianity (not school studies). He is recommending the value of regular program of reading and learning about Christ and the Christian life. Without study, the Christian's life will lack depth and solidity. Moreover, for a student, such study is especially important since he is growing in secular knowledge without much growth in Christian knowledge. A suggested way presenting the importance of study. Our hearts have to be transformed in Christ, and our minds do too. We have to present our minds to God to be remade. We have to give them over to Him so that He can teach us and show us the truth. In the world, we are living in, we find that each day we are pre-sented with many values and many ideals. The world is constantly trying to tell us what is good and how we should live our lives. For this reasons we have to listen to God and study his revela-tion so that we know what is the truth. He alone knows fully what we were made for and what life is all about. He alone knows the true value of each thing and the way to live the best life. For this reason, we need to study regularly what He teaches us. A way of emphasizing the importance of learning from God: Frank Sheed in his book Theology and Sanity says that a sane man is a man who sees reality the way it is. Therefore, the only truly sane man is the Christian because he sees things the way God sees them, and God is the One Who knows how things really are. We, must, therefore, have God teach us about reality. "Grow man to what perfection he will, if he lacks wisdom that comes from God, he is nothing." (Wisdom 9:6) "Prayer brought wisdom. To God I prayed and the spirit of wisdom came upon me... Who else can show wise men the true path, check them when they stray? We are in His hands, we and every word of ours." (Wisdom 7:7-16). III. A. 2. a. The Bible This section is meant to emphasize the importance of the Bible as the primary source for acquiring wisdom. The Bible is not only a means of prayer it is the source of truth for the life of a Christian. He should study it to learn about reality and about his life. The speaker should make an effort to bring out the incongruous-ness of most student's neglect of the Bible. The believe it is the word of God, yet they give it little attention. The follow-ing might be one way of illustrating the point: If God were to speak in person at (Morris Civic' Auditorium, Conrad Hall, or some other local auditorium) on the meaning of life, people would fight to get in and hear what He would say. You would not want to miss it. God's opinion, after all is really valuable. Yet, that is basically what He did in giving us the Bible. And how many people neglect it. Another way of bringing out the point is the following illustration: We would really give a lot to find a book that would tell us all about the meaning of life and that we could trust. We know that we cannot trust the books we read completely, and yet we spend hours on them trying to learn what they say. But we do have a book that we believe is completely true and that tells us what life is all about. A passage that can be used to make the same point: "Jesus said to the twelve, 'Will you also go away? 'Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!" (John 6:67-68) The speaker should make the following recommendations for Bible study: 1) that they get a good translation (recommend the Jerusalem, the Phillips, the New English Bible, and the RSV, in that order. Warn them against the New Catholic Edition, the Douay-Rheims, the King James; 2) that they begin with one of the gospels (Matthew or John), Acts, and one or two of the epistles (Philippians or Colossians); 3) that they make use of commen-taries or books on the scriptures (this would vary on the background of the group). III. A. 2. b. Books on Christianity God does not speak to us and teach us just through the scrip-tures. Many other books can be of help. This section is meant to recommend types of books to read and specific books. Special mention should be made of the teaching of the Church. As Catholics, we believe that the Church authoritatively interprets to us what God has revealed to us through scripture and tradi-tion. The Vatican Council documents are the most important teaching for us to read now (recommend the Abbott edition). Mention should also be made of spiritual reading (it leads us to a greater love of God) as well as books of teaching. The speaker should explain about the books on sale, and if possi-ble should make specific recommendation of those that are on sale. (It is better to sale a few, only those that are most important for them to read, rather than to set out large collec-tion on all topics. It is good to give out an notated booklist). The speaker should point out before leaving the section on Study that reading is not the only way of studying. He should mention discussion groups and lectures. If the AWE is being given at a secular campus and there is a special program at the Catholic student center, it should probably be recommended. III. A. 3. Action In this section, the speaker should presents the importance of apostolic action to growth in the Christian life. He is not speaking about just any kind of action. He is rather recommend-ing a special kind of action. He is suggestion that they include in their lives certain activities that involve bringing others to Christ. There is no need for him to go into great detail on what to do. The talk on Sunday will explain apostolic action, and the speaker should say that tomorrow there will be a fuller explana-tion of this. The main purpose of this section is to point out that these things have an integral place in the growth of a Christian, and that each Christian should include them in his life. A suggested way of presenting the importance of action: not only do our hearts and minds have to be transformed in Christ, but our wills do as well. We have to grow stronger in our dedication to live the Christian life. Apostolic action (the effort to bring other to Christ) will help us to do this. It is a kind of exercise (sports). The same things true in our Christian lives. All activities can be Christian, but certain types of action build up our life in Christ. The efforts we make to bring others to Christ do this for us. The more we try to bring others to Christ, the more we will grow ourselves. It is possible to use the Dead Sea analogy to make the point stronger: There are two lakes in Palestine, the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The Jordan River flows through the Sea of Galilee and into the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee is very fer-tile and alive, but the Dead Sea, because it just keeps its water to itself, dies. The same is true of a Christian who keeps his life in Christ to himself. One objection that many will feel at this point is that they are not ready to bring Christ to others. They have to grow a lot more. The speaker should point out that they should do what they can, and it is important to make the effort, because the effort to bring Christ to other is one of the main means of growth. It is like the 12th step of AA. Part of the cure of alcoholism is reaching other alcoholics. The cure is not complete without it. The same thing is true with our Christian lives. Our cure will not be complete until we are reaching others. III. A. 3. a. Individual witnessing Each students will have a lot of opportunities to bring others to Christ. He should be alert to these and make use of them. The best way to make this point is for the speaker to tell some of his own experiences in individual witnessing. He does not have to tell too many, because the talk "Mission" will present many more. The experiences he relates should include talking to others directly about Christ. One of the experiences should make the point that there is a great openness to hearing about Christ and a great need (perhaps a story of how interested someone was whom he never though would be). III. A. 3. b. Apostolic projects One of the best ways of working for Christ is to join with others in some project pr group. The speaker should explain this possi-bility and describe some of the existing opportunities. He should tell what he is doing in apostolic projects. This too will be treated in "Mission", so there is no need to spend too much time on it. The speaker should recommend that each student spend at least a few hours each week in apostolic work. III. A. 4. Community Refer to talk given on Community. III. B. Explain the use of the card At this point the speaker gives out the Christian Growth card and explains it. It is just a means, but it is a means that has proven very helpful. He should ask them to look at the section entitled "Means for Growth in Christian Life". He should make the following points: 1. It is a kind of worksheet to be used in forming a plan of life. 2. Suggestions are printed on the card. 3. The lines after each item are meant to be filled in. At this point the speaker should give examples of how the lines can be filled in (for instance: Morning prayer - daily for 10 minutes, or Morning prayer repeat the morning offering daily). 4. There are blank lines of adding things suggested on the card, like saying parts of the office each day (can be added under Prayer). 5.Each item should be filled out in pencil, so that it can be changed. As you used the card, you will find that you will want to change your first plan. It is like a suit that has to be tailored to the individual and to the changes in this growth. If the speaker has not done so previously, he should call atten-tion to the importance of schedule in student's life. Everything is tightly scheduled, and time with Christ will have to be worked into the schedule. It is unavoidable. Therefore, in filling out the card, everyone should keep in mind the need to work the various things into his schedule. At some point in the talk, probably here, the speaker should make clear that he personally has found the card (that is, a plan of life) very valuable and that he has learned by experience the need of scheduling in his Christian life. The speaker should explain how he fulfills each item on the card that he is committed to. At the end of the talk, it should be clear that he has a plan of life himself and what it is like. Where the speaker does a lot more than can be expected of a beginner (when he spends over an hour in personal prayer, for instance,) he should avoid telling everything he does - he might, for instance, just state that he prays daily and that when he started, he began with 15 minutes a day. The speaker should not presents a forbidding ideal, although he should be reluctant to let those making the weekend see that he is doing more than they probably will be doing for a while. The personal witness to a dedicated Christian life is of great importance to the success of the talk. III. C. We must put aside time to grow in our life with Christ There is a fact of life which will make all the difference in whether a student will grow as a Christian or fade away as a Christian. It is the fact that it takes time to grow as a Chris-tian and time is the most precious commodity in a student's life. He will not want to sacrifice time for anything. This section explains to the students in plain terms that they have to sacri-fice the time. There is nothing more important in life. This section should be a commentary on the verse, "What good can it do a man to gain the whole world at the price of his own soul?" (Mk. 8:36). One type of objection that will be in a student's mind is what about my studies? Doesn't that come first? He will perhaps have been given the advice at some point in his life that his studies come first, that this is his first duty to God. The speaker should make clear that this is not so. He should say that if a student cannot fit in a regular program of Christian growth with his studies, that is a clear sign he should not be a student. God comes first, and our relationship with God comes first. If studies keep us from growing in our life with Christ, they sahould be sacrificed. What they lead us to is not as valuable as what Christ has to offer. Passages that make the same point: "I advise you to buy from me gold refined in the fire to make you truly rich, and white clothes to put on to hide the shame of your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so that you may see" (Apoc. 3:18). Paul is speaking about the prominent position he had in the Jewish world and how he gave it all up for Christ: "Every advan-tage that I had gained, I considered lost for Christ's sake. Yes, and I look upon everything as loss compared with the over-whelming gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I did in actual fact suffer the loss of everything, but I consid-ered it useless rubbish compared with being able to win Christ. How changed are my ambitions! Now I long to know Christ and the power shown by His resurrection" (hil. 3:7-10). Another point that should be made: The world keeps trying to tell us what is important. It keeps saying that all kinds of things are as important than our lives with Christ. It leads us to idolize our studies and a well- paying and important job. But this is a lie. Once we know Christ, we will have a new set of values. We will know that nothing is more important than He and lifew with Him. Passages that make the same point: "The kingdom of heaven is like some treasure which has been buried in a field. A man finds it and buries it again, and goes off overjoyed to sell all his possessions to buy himself that field." Or again, the kingdom ofheaven is like a mechant searching for fine pearls. When he has found a single pearl of great value, he goes and sells all his possessions and buys it." (Mt. 13:44-46) IV. TRANSFORMATION IN CHRIST The fourth section of the talk is meant as a conclusion. It is meant to emphasize that there will be a real growth, that we will be changed in Christ, so that Christ will live in us more and more. It is a reassurance of the value of what has been said in the talk. Christian life can be dynamic and transforming. Passages that express the theme of the concluding section: "We are meant to hold firmly to the truth in love, and to grow up in every way into Christ, the head. For it is from the head that the whole body, as a harmonious structure knit together by the joints with which it is provided, grows by the proper functioning of individual parts to its full maturity in love" (Eph. 4:15-16). A. Our life in Christ is a process of growth until we are com-pletely transformed. The emphasis in this section is on process. It must be stated clearly that there is a process involved. This means that the end result will not be attained overnight. But it also means that growth can be constant (maybe not in a straight line, but constant nevertheless). The speaker should avoid giving the impression that growth is necessarily slow. It can be very rapid, and if those listening expect rapid growth and seek it, they will finbd it. The tone of this section should be optimis-tic, leaving an opening for the miracles. A.1 Everyone is called to become a saint... The emphasis here is on "everyone" and on "saint"... "In the church everyone... is called to holiness according to the saying of the Apostle: 'For this is the will of God, your sanctification.' (I Thess. 4:3; cf. Eph. 1:4)" (CC, sec. 39). A.2 Each one will have a different program... It is not the amount of things we are doing that determine our holiness. Some can and should do more than others. Each person should consider what he can and should do to grow in union with Christ. B. Christ will change us if we let Him. The speaker should strongly emphasize that we do not change ourselves. Rather, Christ change us. The means of growth are ways of letting Christ at us so that He can change us. This does not mean that we are passive. But it does mean that we can count on a greater wisdom and power than our own for transformation. This is a good place for the speaker to give short testimony to the fact that Christ has changed his life for the better. The speaker should use the throne diagram to explain that it is Christ who will change us. He should point out that there is a difference between having Christ on the throne and being perfect. Christ cannot really transform us until we let Him have the throne. It is like having our car run out of gas and getting a can of gas from a service station. If we put the gas in the trunk or the back seat or the radiator, it will not do much good. We have all the power we need, but it does no good. We have to put it in the gas tank. The same thing is true of Christ. If we want Him to transform us, we have to let Him have the throne. We have to let Him have our lives (give Him permission, sign over our lives to Him). C. You are the salt...light "You are the earth's salt. But if the salt should become taste-less, what can make it salt again? It is completely useless and can only be thrown out of doors and stamped underfoot. You are the world's light - it is impossible to hide a town built on the top of a hill. Men do not light a lamp and put it under a bucket. They put it on a lampstand, and it gives light for everybody in the house. (Mt. 5:13-16). The talk ends by the reading of the passages and the giving of a commentary on them. The speaker should point out that we hear these passages so often that we are inured to them and do not realize how strong or starting they are. He is emphasizing the privilege and responsibility of being a Christian by saving: a) that the Christians are useless if they do not fulfill their call; b) that God cannot stomach the world without Christian in it does not taste good to Him; c) and that the world is in darkness if the Christians do not give it light! |
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