Class and Class Meetings

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Tom Bolton

I cancelled (or postponed) my Sunday School Class on Steven W. Manskar’s wonderful   book, Accountable Discipleship: Living in God’s Household, this past Sunday, because we did nor have enough participants–it was me and one other! But I will still push forward to lead this class in the next year, because I am convinced that the book is important, and the class is going to be great.  There is also an excellent journal with the book, that I have adapted to use in the 6 week class.

I also have read several blogs the past month that relate very much to the topic of classes and covenant groups.

I particularly appreciated Teddy Ray’s blogs about early Methodist class meetings, starting this past week:  Teddy Ray:  How Is It With Your Soul?

Ray introduces the 4 questions in this entry and continues the discussion on the 27th.

He says:

Something the early Methodists were most known for was their “class meetings.” Some people call these the original church “small groups.” Many believe that they were the key to the early Methodist movement’s success and spread.

I think you can gain a lot by being a part of a group like this today. It has been the most important part of my own growth in the past five years.

He goes on to note,  “In early Methodist class meetings, the leader asked everyone, him/herself included, about the condition of their souls. The groups I have led or participated in have used these 4 questions:
1 – How is it with your soul?
2 – Have you done all the good you could and avoided all the evil you could this week?
3 – How have you availed yourself of the means of grace?
4 – How can we as a group best pray for and support you?”

I have sought to develop a group, and hope to do so this Fall.  The closest I have come is with some of my colleagues from Faith Alive.  I have struggled to find enough men to include.

Manskar had a course at Garrett this year that sounds excellent:  Planning for Renewal.  He includes in the description, “Church renewal in the 21st century will come when the church realizes it does not exist for the personal benefit and blessing of its individual members. The church exists to equip Christians to participate with Christ in God’s mission (missio Dei) of restoring shalom to the world and its people.”

I would have loved to have taken that class too!

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Optimism

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Tom Bolton

I enjoy being a member of Optimist International. When I was a teenager in 1970 and into   1972, several men in the Janesville Noontime Optimists invited me to meetings, watched out for me when I needed some guidance, and encouraged me through the stages of the Oratorical Contest. They influenced me in ways that have affected me all my life.
Now I am a member of the Milwaukee Metro Optimist Club, and I am pleased to support some great activities that build up youth in my community.  It is a great group.
I just came from our Chapter Meeting.
I love sharing the Optimist Creed with my cohorts.

Promise Yourself (The Optimist Creed)

Promise Yourself….

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all of your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Optimist’s Creed contains affirmations that may often get you motivated and give you the inspiration you need to remain focused and live a successful and abundant life. 

The Optimist Creed was authored in 1912 by Chistian D. Larson, appearing in his book Your Forces and How to Use Them. It was adopted as Optimist International’s creed in 1922. Many have found inspiration in The Optimist Creed. In hospitals, the creed has been used to help patients recover from illness.

Our Mission:
By providing hope and positive vision, Optimists bring out the best in kids.

Our Vision:
Optimist International will be recognized worldwide as the premier volunteer organization that values all children and helps them develop to their full potential.

Purposes:
To develop optimism as a philosophy of life utilizing the tenets of the Optimist Creed; to promote an active interest in good government and civic affairs; to inspire respect for the law; to promote patriotism and work for international accord and friendship among all people; to aid and encourage the development of youth, in the belief that the giving of one’s self in service to others will advance the well-being of humankind, community life and the world.

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On a Parable

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Tom Bolton

I wrote this poem early Monday morning in reflection on the Parable about the Lost Son.

Angry and Outside the House

I too was angry and outside the house,
Toiling on days I would have wanted to just hang out,
and hearing my boss when I wanted to be home,
and hearing some clients who would not hear me.
I heard the ways of this world,
and not looking ahead,
I could not rejoice.
My parties were there, but somehow fake.
My hugs were there but clasped weakly.
My smiles smiled, and were they bright?
Poor me, poor me, I can’t quite say it,
But it is with me still, and
He sees it and she sees it;
I am all about me,
and the anger rises.
Angry at family? Angry at colleagues?
Angry at work? Angry at this World?
Angry at me.

And then in the quiet,
in the back of the room,
He invites me in.
“You are always with me.
Everything I have is yours.”

Let us celebrate my brother.
He was dead and now he is vibrant and pure.
In this community, he
Lives.
And I am alive, anger lost.

(c) Tom Bolton, Milwaukee, July 23, 2012

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Today in Christ

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Tom Bolton

I wrote this early Sunday morning after my morning devotions. I have been reading much from my Bonhoeffer library, and I believe I had been reading the 107th Psalm on Sunday too. I think I was influenced by my general contemplation on silence as well; it has been on my mind recently.  I see too the influence of my celebration of the new ministry of one of my friends from Divine Intervention.

Today in Christ                 

Today I am in Christ,                                                
Not only in Grace,
Not only in Faith.
Today I give thanks to God because he is good,
and my faith is filled with mercy and love,
and I am with Christ today.
I am in and of Christ. I rejoice!
We use this grace divine, and in one accord,
join ourselves to Christ, our Lord.
Through Jesus’ power, today we live and die in the body.

Having wandered so many years and so many days,
Am I now rescued from my troubles?
Troubles are still there, but
Seen from Christ’s eyes,
These troubles seem here and not in our Lives.
He changes deserts into lakes in our times.
He changes the ignorant into teachers and physicians.
He changes alcoholics into bright-eyed missionaries.
He changes the Lost into the New-Found.
He changes me into the Body.

Today I am in Sabbath, and I am quiet.
I listen.
Let me, when I am too wise to know it,
When I am too smart to pay attention,
Let me, when I am wise in the Word,
Let me understand and share the Lord’s blessings.

(c) Tom Bolton, July 22, 2012, Milwaukee

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Money Squirming

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Tom Bolton

John Meunier had us all squirming about money and social principles yesterday. I think that is good for us, so I’m pointing in that direction this week. I’m thanking John too.

Here is a link to his blog on Methodism and Money.

And here is a dramatic presentation of John Wesley’s Eighth Sermon on the Sermon of the Mount, with Wesley portrayed by actor Mark Topping.

I was happy to read this blogging by Meunier this morning.

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal; For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” Matthew 6:19-23

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Bonhoeffer on Community Health

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Tom Bolton

I have been subscribing to a 40 day devotional on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his wisdom this
past month. The daily email comes to me from Bible Gateway and I have greatly valued it.

Today, there was this message from Bonhoeffer:

Every act of self-discipline by a Christian is also a service to the   Rev. Dietrich Boenhoeffercommunity. Conversely, there is no sin in thought, word, or deed, no matter how personal or secret, that does not harm the whole community. When the cause of an illness gets into one’s body, whether or not anyone knows where it comes from, or in what member it has lodged, the body is made ill. This is the appropriate metaphor for the Christian community. Every member serves the whole body, contributing either to its health or to its ruin, for we are members of one body not only when we want to be, but in our whole existence. This is not a theory, but a spiritual reality that is often experienced in the Christian community with shocking clarity, sometimes destructively and sometimes beneficially.  —  Life Together

This connects to the scripture passage from Romans 12, which we often contemplate;

For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. Romans 12:4-5

I was left particularly contemplating this question:

What are the implications of Bonhoeffer’s assertion that, “we are members of one body not only when we want to be, but in our whole existence”?

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Homelessness Information in Milwaukee

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Tom Bolton

Homelessness Information in Milwaukee

There is excelent information in this report to help us understand the issues surrounding homelessness in Milwaukee County.

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