chapter 1: genesis
Growing up around youth group, I learned about God's love and how He cares so deeply for us. I learned that we are to love others and part of loving others had to do with being kind. I also learned about the feelings that come with God impacting our lives, but then something changed. I came across a statement by T.S. Eliot: "Christianity is primarily a matter of thought and not of feeling."
I sat in my Church and Society course at Azusa Pacific University, and started to really think through the passage in Matthew 22.37, where Jesus quotes Deut. 6.5: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." The passage reminds us that our faith has everything to do with our feelings, our beings, and our thoughts...all of it connects, so faith requires us to think through our faith...these thoughts hopefully will lead to feelings that push us to act.
In our book discussion of, Serve God, Save The Planet, we talked about the changes that the author and his family went through. J. Matthew Sleeth took his family from a large home to a smaller place; he got rid of their dish washer and unplugged their dryer; and he put in a chicken coup and vegetable garden. We talked through the feelings that we felt at the thought of changing our lives as drastically as he did. Some feelings that came out were frustration, fear, and anxiety.
In the end, we ended with a challenge...
Sleeth, at the end of the chapter, talks about how an act he witnessed in Rome made an impact on him. He talked about how the words shared in Italy that same summer were long forgotten, but the generosity of a nun to a begger will last in his mind. Think through your actions this week...how does what you do impact those around you? What do your actions actually say about you and the God you love with all your heart, soul, and mind?
