People of the Way in Conversation

01 - 6 May - In conversation with each other 07 - 14 - In conversation amidst persecution and fear 15 - 21 - In conversation by the power of the Holy Spirit. 22 - 28 - In conversation with people of the way 29 - Through conversations - in time and eternity ​ People ask me why is the church today so fearful and defeatist? I think it is partly due to the fact that we seldom take time to speak to each other about what we have seen and what we have heard and what we have come to believe about Jesus for ourselves. Sometime, I think we don’t get the full implications of the Jesus conversations. By this I mean - the accounts of his life retold in the New Testament.  Its very name is a giveaway.  A testimony is an authenticating story. It’s meant to be an invitation to all to dialogue with God. The New Testament is not meant to be read as a monologue. You know a one way conversation. It is the reporting of and recalling of, many conversations between Jesus and his friends. It is also a recounting of conversations between the friends themselves. In other words, it is their testimony - conversations among themselves and with others that led them to believe Jesus was God come among us. The New Testament reader is also invited to share in the conversation and in doing so - to meet Jesus. This month Sanctuary First is going to focus prayers and reflections on 21st century conversations that have changed the world and brought about stories of transformation. When Jesus speaks to a person and asks, “Can I live in your story?” He asks this question because he wants to transform the outcome of our lives. The first disciples lived through a period of trauma and fear. The way they sustained themselves was to keep telling each other the stories they knew to be true about Jesus. It is such an important thing to begin to tell each other about our stories of faith. In doing so we begin to build up each other’s faith and as we tell our story we discover a renewed confidence gained from the reliving in the telling. “People of the Way in conversation with each other” 1 John 1. 1-4