covenant: a standalone
hey gang - just a few short reflection questions this week as we take a breather from hosea, before diving straight into JUDE.
#1 why are covenants important? is the statement we signed this weekend a "real" covenant? or, just some kind of symbol? is there a difference? does god view our rituals with as much gravity as our 'personal' prayers?
#2 why do you think we chose to "team teach" this weekend?
#3 please give us some feedback on the creed/covenant itself. did it resonate with you? did you find meaning in the phraseology? was there something became clearer to you while signing/reading it?
thanks, everybody - please remember to remain in prayer for westwinds and for us as leaders!
- david
#1 why are covenants important? is the statement we signed this weekend a "real" covenant? or, just some kind of symbol? is there a difference? does god view our rituals with as much gravity as our 'personal' prayers?
#2 why do you think we chose to "team teach" this weekend?
#3 please give us some feedback on the creed/covenant itself. did it resonate with you? did you find meaning in the phraseology? was there something became clearer to you while signing/reading it?
thanks, everybody - please remember to remain in prayer for westwinds and for us as leaders!
- david
posted by david mcdonald at 4:47 AM
3 Comments:
Yikes David...this is the fourth time i have sat down to answer these questions and i still don't know what to say. Uuugh, the stress of it all. :)
Yeah, covenants are important. They give a reference point for the future...hope, security, clarity of knowing what to expect. I think for me, a covenant allows me to walk forward in faith.
My opinion of last weekend's signing was that it was an outward symbolic act of an inward choice...my choice to "give myself to the journey of knowing and following Jesus and his way" in order that "i may experience the full life God desires" for me, his child. I understand that i am not intended to walk this journey alone, but with other broken persons who like me are responding to God's initiation of relationship (covenant).
Is there a difference between the symbolic and the "real"/ rituals and personal prayers? God judges the heart and knows it well, so I would say He is up to speed before any ink ever flows on to paper or any effort is put forth into a gesture of connecting.
You taught well this weekend. I enjoyed the "free flow" aspect of the team approach. Your markers pretty much sucked, but what you all said and how you said was good. Why do i think you chose to teach that way? To give depth of perspective on a layered topic and show that you, as our leaders, are united in leading up forward in this journey....?
I like what the covenant said, though quite a mouthful. I have yet to find this concept of journey more succinctly/creatively put than how Mar's does it with their directions. Though there is deeper liturgy for each direction, one can get it by just knowing the arrows. The premise is here in our covenant, just a bit wordy and potentially overwhelming for those new to this journey.
I think that would be my only "wish for other" from last Sunday - that in general the three of you would have greater simplified the covenant pictorally (sp?) or with symbol. THough your pictures helped explain the historical context of covenant (which was good) it left us with just words for our covenant. Could there have been a way for you to tie in the picture concept all the way through, from covenant teaching to the covenant presenting, bringing the mode full circle?
Thanks and blessings. Gotta run to class.
Becky V.
cool - glad you enjoyed the team teaching!
it's always a great experience for us to do something like this together, and the process by which we prepare for such a presentation teaches us as much about ourselves as anything else.
cheers!
I am sitting down (again)to try to put words to last weekend's message. I am grateful to the three of you, John, Randy, and Dave, to give us "your piece" and collectively complete the whole picture. Great stuff!
To me, covenants are important. A time to reflect on my purpose, with intention. See where I have been... to see where God may be leading me next... to allow God to move as He chooses. As I listened to the ipod to try to put into words what I would say, I realized that there was a whole lot of information said...that it will take time to digest! I hope that what you each said can be interwoven into messages again to put it before us--there was alot of information to digest:) What was presented was not only factual but emotional. Moving out of my seat to sign this covenant means that I must move forward -
to be willing to search, listen and act on what God may be saying to me personally, and to what He may be saying to Westwinds as a body. I have the choice to move, I have a decision to make.
I think that rituals, symbols, and personal prayers all come down to our "heart condition". Rituals do not impress me and I don't think they impress God. God is most concerned about our heart condition. God sees and knows us --he knows our intent and he is the only one to judge us. For me, personal prayer, and having symbols helps me to continue to be connected to God in powerful ways.
A visual is a reminder that I am Christ's child in this world. Brings me back or keeps me in His path I think.
I think the covenant is wordy, but clear. I think it does identify with anyone, no matter where we are in our faith walk . It is simple, very good that way.
Thanks guys again for encouraging our "gray matter" to communicate with our hearts; and bring conversation between me and God front and center.
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