Baptism as the Beloved Child
Assignments
In each of the next four weeks, take one of the four words - Taken, Blessed, Broken, and Given - and savor what this means for you/how you experience the truth of each word to share with your small group.
On page 26, Nouwen writes, "You are the Beloved," and all I hope is that you can hear these words as spoken to you with all the tenderness and force that love can hold. My only desire is to make these words reverberate in every corner of your being - "You are the Beloved." Write up two pages, to be shared at your next meeting, on your sense of being the Beloved.
- Prayer Assignments - One each week
Pray for discernment concerning your membership in this group.
Pray on a daily basis for two other members of the group (your small group members?).
Knowing Myself as the Beloved Child of God - Prayer Assignments
As you embark on this program, you will want to devote yourself more seriously to a daily quiet time of prayer, bible reading, and reflection.
We understand these disciplines not as Christian "shoulds" or "oughts", but rather as practices that keep the doors of our hearts open to God's transforming grace. Spiritual disciplines in themselves have no power to heal or transform; they are merely what keep the doors of our hearts open to God's power which does the healing and transforming.
Week One
GRACE: To know myself as the beloved child of God
Begin each period of your daily prayer by reading a portion of "God Loves You" in Letters of Direction
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 139 (the psalm for the entire week), Luke 15:1-7
Picture daily occasions when 1) You have delighted in the presence of another person. 2) Someone has delighted in your presence.
Hold the image and feeling of delight throughout the day.
Week Two
GRACE: To know myself as the beloved child of God.
Begin daily prayer by reflectively reading a portion of "On Beginning with Ourselves" in Letters of Direction
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 139, Isaiah 43: 1-7
QUESTION FOR MEDITATION:
Can I recall a sacrifice that another has made because of love for me? If there is such an occasion, how did the presence of that person make me feel? In what ways can two live more fully in that way?
Week Three
GRACE: To know myself as the beloved child of God.
Begin daily prayer by reading a portion of "Forerunners" in Letters of Direction.
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 139, especially verses 7-12; Luke 15: 11-32
QUESTION FOR MEDITATION:
How does it feel to be absolutely loved and adored? (Possibly uncomfortable?)
Week Four
GRACE: To know myself as the beloved child of God.
Continue to read small sections in Letters of Direction.
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 139, especially verses 23-24; Hosea 11: 1-9
QUESTION FOR MEDITATION:
How have you been loved, even in the face of your own rebellion, disobedience, willful rejection of the other? Bring one such memory to God and imagine God saying to you "How can I give you up?" What emotions and feelings do you experience?
Close with the prayer of verses 23-24 in Psalm 139.
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