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Eating Together
Please refer to the conversation cards sheet above.
Dwelling Together
Mark 6:30-34 (NRSV)
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34 As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
What does it mean to rest?
Where can I find rest?
What makes it hard to rest?
What can I learn about rest from Jesus' life and ministry?
Learning Together
General question: What is your first response when you think of putting aside time to reflect? Is it something you would look forward to, or does it feel like another thing to fit into an already busy schedule?
Theological Relflection: A Definition
Theological reflection is a process by which explicit connections are made between belief and practice…[it] provides the triggers which enable individuals and faith communities to recognise the inconsistencies between attitudes, assumptions and habits that have become embedded in their patterns of praxis, and the fundamental tenets of the faith they subscribe to.’
Thompson, Theological Reflection SCM Studyguide, p3.
- What are the key words and ideas in this quote?
Theological reflection is:
- A perspective – looking at an object or event in terms of God’s purpose.
- A skill – extending, examining, and informing this way of looking at things, through becoming more conscious of it and through broadening your knowledge of Scripture and tradition.
- A process – Helping you to make sense of experience in light of the Gospel.
Croft, S. and Walton, R. Learning for Ministry, 2005.
- Do you find the above ideas helpful or unhelpful?
Theological Relflection: Personal
- Theological reflection is essentially taking our experience, and reflecting on it in light of what we know about God.
- Hown, in that moment, did my actions reflect what I believe? If they didn’t, did they show a different belief and how can I change that?
- What marks theological reflection out from other types of reflection is the connection between theology and practice, and the way in which we allow our experience to change both.
This is not a new idea, but the label of theological reflection is. John Wesley used a framework called the Wesleyan Quadrilateral to explore these sort of ideas.
- Why is it important to take our experience into account when thinking about faith?
- What is it about the Bible that might suggest experience has been important to people of faith for a long time?
- What this framework and theological reflection try to do, is place experience as an important component in our thinking on faith, and in light of what Scripture tells us about God. Many of us may not be used to the idea of including our experience so highly on the list of tools in developing and reflecting on our faith. However it is an important
part of it. - Why is it important to take our experience into account when thinking about faith?
- What is it about the Bible that might suggest experience has been important to people of faith for a long time?
Marks of Good Practice in Theological Reflection
Heather Walton lists the following questions to ponder when considering good practice within theological reflection:
- Is it compelling, interesting, desirable, exciting?
- Does it strike sparks from the flint of tradition?
- Does it involve a real encounter with something that is alien to you? Does it emerge from a collision with strangeness or a stepping out into the unknown?
- Is it alarming and worrying? Does it leave you wondering what others might think?
- Does it touch the pain of the world?
- Does it contribute to healing, reconciliation, or justice?
- Does it have simplicity and grace?
- Does it seem to be drawing you closer to the heart of God?
- Does it help to glorify God and lead the participants to worship and love?
Walton, 2006.
Group Activities
Theological Reflection: Communal
Laurie Green developed the above diagram as a way of thinking about theological reflection as part of a process. He recognised that after the process of reflection was complete, a new reality emerged which would need it’s own ongoing reflective process and so on. This doesn’t mean that we should get stuck in a continual loop of theological reflection, but instead it should become part of our everyday existence.
How would you sum up the following stages? Experience, Exploration, Reflection, Response
Examples
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Example 1:
- You are part of a team overseeing a benefice of six village churches. The team is made up mostly of volunteers, with the support of the incumbent and some retired clergy. Each congregation is relatively small, and serving them all separately is time and energy consuming. You think it may be good to start the process of reflecting theologically on the possibility of bringing the congregations together into one worshipping community.
Example 2:
- You are part of a reasonably large church whose parish encompasses an area of significant deprivation and an area of relative wealth. The church building sits in the area of relative wealth. The youth worker has started a Friday night youth group which attracts a significant number of young people, many of them from the more deprived area. The young people who attend are quite rowdy, and a minority of them try to be disruptive bordering on anti-social. There has been some minor damage to the building in the time that the group has been running, and the incumbent has received complaints from residents about the noise.
Example 3:
- You are part of the leadership of a Messy Church that has proven to be very popular. You have been running for a year, and over that time have doubled in size with a very regular and committed group of families attending. While a core group of families are part of other congregations, many are not and feel a sense of community from their experiences of Messy Church. Your church has recently appointed a new incumbent who has attended a planning meeting for Messy and the following Messy Church. Afterwards she has met with the team again and said that she would really love to see some of the families in the main Sunday service so they can start to learn more about faith.
Praying Together
As we end in prayer, we take time to stop, to settle, to gather, to become conscious again of God’s presence… We ask the Lord to direct our thoughts to those areas that have arisen in our minds. I remember one person or situation that I have discussed or thought about during this session. Lead me to reflect on how my attitudes or actions need to change, or how I might need to challenge others with love… I light a tealight – to symbolize my holding this person or situation in prayer. I bring to mind:
- Where is God leading me in my thoughts and reflections?
- How will I seek to reflect His love in my actions and response to a challenging situation?
As we feel able, we share our responses and intentions aloud and we pray for each other, for God’s blessing and guidance…