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An interesting observation in Tim Chester's book A Meal with Jesus suggests that many churches have a charade of a Holy Communion : Holy Communion should be a feast of friends shared with laughter, tears, prayers, and stories. We celebrate the community life that God gives us through the cross and in the Spirit. We can’t celebrate it with heads bowed and eyes closed, alone in our private thoughts and strangely solitary even as we’re surrounded by other people. To be sure Chester is not ruling out that Holy Communion can have periods of quite reflection, though such quite reflection is not found in the gospel accounts or Paul's letters. But any such reflection is better practiced within the context of what Chester rightly notes as "laughter, tears, prayers and stories".  I would add songs because there would have been much singing in the Upper Room! 

This week I am kindling ' Be A People Person : Effective Leadershio through Relationship ' by John C Maxwell. He has a great chapter on how to be a person people respect. A key part of having respect is "failure proofing" your life through listening for the “alarm bells” in your life. Here are Maxwell's 10 questions every leader must ask to help spot those warning signs. 1. Is My Personal Walk with God Up to Date? Every leader should be able to answer the question, “Do you have a word from the Lord that is up to date?” or “What have you been learning recently from the Lord?” We should have something that God is teaching me us today. 2. Am I Keeping My Priorities Straight? Countless numbers leaders have become “successful” only to discover the tragic price for their success was a broken marriage or loss of health. At some point along the road to success, their priorities shifted. Our priorities must be God, family and vocation - in that order.

The most dangerous idols for all of us are those that are easily Christianized. Selfishness is most dangerous when it masquerades as service. Self-focus is most powerful when it dons the costume of love. Earthly treasures are most seductive when they take on the appearance of spiritual need. Idols do their nastiest work when they wear the latex mask of God. PAUL DAVID TRIPP This is a stinging statement! It is worth coming back to time and time again. Too often we think we are serving God when in fact we are just serving ourselves. The problem is that we are convinced we are serving God.

I find that mere change of scene always has a tendency to decrease my faith at first—God is less credible when I pray in a hotel bedroom than when I am in College C S LEWIS I think what he seems to be saying is that community matters for holiness. The more we grow deeper in fellowship with others the stronger our faith becomes. Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire. He breaks out against all sound judgment.

11 questions to help you identify, understand and deal with the struggle of sin in your life. One way to use them is identify a particular sin (e.g sexual temptation) you struggle with - and then ask the questions. But you can also take your life in totality - and work from there. 1. Where and how do you regularly set yourself up for failure? 2. Where do you tend to make foolish choices? 3. Where do you expose yourself to things that are not helpful? 4. Where do you tend to tell yourself that you’re okay when you’re not? 5. What are the things you say to yourself that allow you to remain hopeless? 6. Where do you look wrong in the face and do it anyway? 7. Where and when are you most susceptible to give in to temptation? 8. Where are you asking physical, emotional pleasure to satisfy your heart? 9. In what ways do you tend to minimize your struggle? 10. With whom are you being less than honest? 11. Are there moments when you still allow yourself to question God’...

It befits those who possess sound judgment to recognize that they have received wealth as a stewardship, and not for their own enjoyment; thus, when they are parted from it, they rejoice as those who relinquish what is not really theirs, instead of becoming downcast like those who are stripped of their own - St Basil the Great ( Source : On Social Justice)