This module is for you if you have a nagging feeling that you do not measure up to the person you ought to be. So many of us are carrying around a fairly constant feeling of what Lewis Smedes calls “not-good-enoughness.” We probably call this feeling guilt but really it is shame. I would suggest that few who read these thoughts have done much bold sinning... readmore

This module is for you if you have a nagging feeling that you do not measure up to the person you ought to be. So many of us are carrying around a fairly constant feeling of what Lewis Smedes calls “not-good-enoughness.” We probably call this feeling guilt but really it is shame. I would suggest that few who read these thoughts have done much bold sinning. And yet we seem to all share the same feelings of inadequacy and discomfort about who we are and how we live our lives.

We are going to spend some time during these three months learning to identify the leading candidates for shame. Based on work we’ve done many times there will be discussion about “true-self and false-self” because one is related to healthy shame and the other more on the unhealthy side. We will identify spiritual shame and social shame as we reflect on the choices we’ve made and the experiences we’ve had in years and times past.

There are many sources of shame so we can spend some time looking at our parents, our experience in the church and at ourselves. As is noted in the poem on page one by Mary Oliver, profound and significant changes can occur through the smallest gesture. If we are to be honest, we know that we cannot move forward toward much spiritual maturity if we are tied to shame. There is a life that is free of shame that waits for all of us as Christians.

It takes us a long time to be ready to let go of shame. For some reason it befriends us. We hope you are ready and that you will join us for these three Saturdays.

Cost: A love Offering

What I want to talk about now is the various ways God’s Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex, and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable. Remember how you were when you didn’t know God, led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did it? It’s different in this life. God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can... readmore

What I want to talk about now is the various ways God’s Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex, and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable. Remember how you were when you didn’t know God, led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did it? It’s different in this life. God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can. For instance, by using your heads, you know perfectly well that the Spirit of God would never prompt anyone to say “Jesus be damned!” Nor would anyone be inclined to say “Jesus is Master!” without the insight of the Holy Spirit.

God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful:

All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.

Cost: A love Offering

Teachers can only be teachers when there are students who want to be students. Without a question, an answer is experienced as manipulation; without a struggle, help is considered interference; and without the desire to learn, the offer to teach is easily felt as oppression. Therefore, our first task is not to offer information, advice, or even guidance, but to allow others to come into touch with their own struggles, pains, doubts, and insecurities __ in short, to affirm their life as quest... readmore

This module is for you if you have a nagging feeling that you do not measure up to the person you ought to be. So many of us are carrying around a fairly constant feeling of what Lewis Smedes calls “not-good-enoughness.” We probably call this feeling guilt but really it is shame. I would suggest that few who read these thoughts have done much bold sinning. And yet we seem to all share the same feelings of inadequacy and discomfort about who we are and how we live our lives.

We are going to spend some time during these three months learning to identify the leading candidates for shame. Based on work we’ve done many times there will be discussion about “true-self and false-self” because one is related to healthy shame and the other more on the unhealthy side. We will identify spiritual shame and social shame as we reflect on the choices we’ve made and the experiences we’ve had in years and times past.

There are many sources of shame so we can spend some time looking at our parents, our experience in the church and at ourselves. As is noted in the poem on page one by Mary Oliver, profound and significant changes can occur through the smallest gesture. If we are to be honest, we know that we cannot move forward toward much spiritual maturity if we are tied to shame. There is a life that is free of shame that waits for all of us as Christians.

It takes us a long time to be ready to let go of shame. For some reason it befriends us. We hope you are ready and that you will join us for these three Saturdays.

Cost: A love Offering