Ben Askew

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Copy of Receive and Release

Learning to Receive

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I find it incredibly encouraging to remember that even Jesus had to regularly find ways to sustain his ministry. The gospels make it really clear that he certainly didn’t constantly give out, but rather lived in a rhythm of receiving and releasing. In fact if you have time why not grab a notebook right now and see if you can jot down the ways in which you remember Jesus receiving support,  sustenance or encouragement from God or others? I’ve got a list of at least 12 ways in which he was sustained (I cheated, it’s in a book) – see how many you can find.  I’d love to see what you come up with!  

Life as God’s representative can be draining!  The very act of maintaining hope in the midst of some of the difficulties and challenges we see in our lives and the world around us can be hard enough. We’ve talked in the past about people who go from be to do, not do to be. That means we live out of our identity as God’s beloved children. We look for ways to receive his love, presence and affirmation, and we then naturally release that to others. We allow God to bless us, and we pass blessing on to others. We seek places where we can meet God, and we lead others to join in. 

The places where you can be free to receive from God and the people who encourage you to grow are incredibly important. They are what gives you the sustenance to live as his follower. Have you still got that notebook?  Good – write some of the times and places where you meet God – on your own, with others.  Do you have regular patterns that help you draw near? What is working well for you and what could do with a bit of change?

Jesus says: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Next week I’ll share some thoughts about specific practices that might help with this, so if you have something that you know works for you let me know – perhaps it will be an encouragement to others!

Copy of Receive and Release

Moving on to the second rhythm

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It’s been great to talk with some of you about your experiences of blessing others.  I’ve enjoyed hearing stories of encouraging texts,  answers to prayer and blessing adventures. 

One thing that a few people have said to me is that the simple discipline of blessing is actually quite hard.  It’s tricky to remember to pray for someone each day.  It’s sometimes tough to respond generously to people.  It’s hard when we do something we think will be a blessing and it is not received as such by others.  It can be challenging to keep practising generosity when we’re not sure about our own resources.   To keep doing these things we will need to draw on God’s generosity.

All this moves us nicely onto our second Rhythm:  Receive and Release.  We want to be people who receive God’s presence in our everyday lives and who are able to share it with others.  Jesus called his disciples to come to him and rest, and he sent them to go into all the world.  If we want to be a blessing to others, we will need to learn how to let God bless us.

This second rhythm encourages us to make space in our lives to worship, pray and draw near to God.  And it encourages us to share the things that God is saying and doing with others. 

As we start to think about this rhythm consider this:  Which things most help you encounter God in your day-to-day life?  Is it prayer in the morning, reading your bible, worshiping with others?  At the start of Lent how can you make sure you have space to receive from God each day and week?  And how can you release what he is giving you to others?

Unforced Rhythms

The Blessing Challenge

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How is it going with the Blessing Challenge I set last week? I would love to hear what God is doing as you take on this rhythm.  It always takes a bit of time to learn a new practice so I think it would be good to keep going with this challenge.  Here is a reminder of what I asked you to do:  

Part One – Pray Blessing

Choose 3 people in your life and pray a blessing over them every day.  If you aren’t sure what to say you could use these words based on the blessing God taught Moses and the priests of Israel and say for each person in turn:

“Name, the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine on you and be
gracious to you. May you sense God looking towards you and giving you peace.”

Part Two – Be a Blessing

After you have prayed for each person ask God: How can I be a blessing to these people this week?

Here are 2 tips to help you go further.

1.  Involve Community. These kind of practices are easier when we make ourselves accountable with one another. Find a family member, friend or someone in your household or community. Share one another’s people, pray together for them and chat about the ways you are planning to practically show generosity.

2.  Remember it’s hard to bless when you judge or bear a grudge. You may find that this
exercise is exposing some things in you that God wants to deal with. Don’t let that get you down!  Bring those things to God and ask him to show you how much he loves you, how good he is and how you can change. Again, talking with someone you trust could really help with this!  

Blessing in Communities

Next week is a 4th Sunday – there will be no Central Gathering. How could you practice blessing in community? Talk with those in your Kairos Community about the people you connect with and see if you can come up with a plan.  

Unforced Rhythms

Take Part in a Blessing Experiment

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We’re going to keep going deeper with our first rhythm, generous blessing.  

This week I want us to try an experiment together that involves a challenge to declare and demonstrate blessing. Are you up for that?  Good.  

First of all, picture the network of relationships you are part of: friends, family members, colleagues and neighbours. Try and think of all the people you are in regular contact with. If it helps, write names out on a piece of paper and map the network out.

Now choose three people from that group that seem to get your attention. 
The challenge is to go on a journey of blessing with them.  There are two parts to that journey.

Part One – Speak Blessing

Pray a blessing over each of these people every day this week.  By that I mean spend a little bit of time on your own declaring God’s love, goodness and care for them. Feel free to come up with your own words but if you are stuck why not use these words based on the blessing God taught Moses and the priests of Israel and say for each person in turn.

“Name, the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. May you sense God looking towards you and giving you peace.”

Part Two – Be a Blessing

After you have prayed for each person ask God: How can I be a blessing to these people this week?  

Notice what you feel the Holy Spirit saying and act on it in the week.  If you need a bit of inspiration have another read of last week’s email, or look at these 5 blessing ideas from Verge USA.

I’d love to hear what God does in you as you do this, and any stories of blessing encounters you end up with. I’d also love to hear what else is stirring in us as we engage with this rhythm…if you have a story, let me know so we can encourage each other.

Unforced Rhythms

Going Further with Generous Blessing

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I wrote last week about our first rhythm: Generous Blessing. 

Generosity is a natural response to God’s goodness to us, and an effective way of spreading good news!  What kind of difference could we make if we became known in our neighborhood as people who were characterised by compassion?

How can we practice generous blessing as individuals and communities?  In what ways could you serve others, give of yourself, or seek good for someone at your own cost?  Here are 5 things we could do to develop this rhythm amongst us.

Be Blessed

We practice generosity because we are loved and blessed by God.  Do you regularly experience God’s love in your life? I have found that I am better able to receive God’s blessing when I am looking for it. I have developed a habit of writing down 5 good things in my life each day. This has helped me notice what God is doing around me and also made space for more blessing.

Use words

We know our words are very powerful.  James says they can bless or curse.  Choose to speak generously and gratefully.  Tell people the good things you see in them. Write encouraging notes or letters. Be deliberate about using speech that builds people up.

Take initiative

Often, I have caught myself saying to people “let me know if there is anything you need”.  That is not an attitude of generous blessing!  Much better to take initiative.  Pray for a friend and neighbour, ask God what you could do to bless them and then do it.

Go practical

Share what you have with others and don’t be embarrassed to be very practical. Bake a cake, offer to babysit, put some cash in an envelope and post it through a letterbox, drop round with a prepared meal.  The more you start to think about it, the more ways to be generous you will see.  Remember that small steps accumulate and can be much better than big gestures.

Make it spiritual
Blessing is a spiritual act where you demonstrate and declare God’s goodness in a person’s life by praying for or with them. Why not choose 3 friends and set a time to ask God to bless them and awaken them to his love each day? 

One last thought…it’s hard to bless when you judge or hold a grudge!
The further you go with this rhythm the more you will see that unforgiveness and judgement really get in the way of our ability to bless others. Jesus is very clear – don’t judge, and practice forgiveness.  As you grow in generosity be ready to let God reveal to you ways in which he wants to help you also grow in mercy and forgiveness.

So, what is God saying to you about this rhythm, and what are you going to do about it?  Start some conversations with God and your community.  

Gospel Stories (1)

January Sermons

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This term at our gatherings we are journeying through some of the stories of Jesus encounters with those around him in the gospels.  You can listen to or download our sermons from January’s Central Gatherings below.

The Visit of the Wise Men – What do you See?  Ben Askew

The Baptism of Jesus – Who are you?  Ben Askew

The Wedding at Cana – What is God doing?  Andy Wilson.

Unforced Rhythms

The first Rhythm – Generously Bless

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This term my emails are going to focus on practicing a rhythm of GRACE. This week I want to introduce our first rhythm – Generously Bless.

“Through you all nations will be blessed” Genesis 22:18

We are called to reach outwards towards others and to see all peoples blessed!  We seek to do this in practical and spiritual ways embracing generosity as a way of life.

Encounters with Jesus were often joyful events full of blessing: the wedding at Cana, the miraculous catch of fish, the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus taught his followers to share what they had, even if it was only a little, and to expect God to increase it. Imagine the difference we could make if we all lived that way!

It is so much easier to explain to others what grace is like when we demonstrate it!  Blessing and generosity are practical ways we can show others what it means to be loved by God and invited to be his friend.

Roy Godwin, the director of the Ffald-dy-Brennan trust writes a lot about blessing.  He says this:  “Having a heart to bless will challenge the judgemental mind-set that can colour how we look at those we live with and among.  We can become a ‘grace first’ people.”

A blessing is more than simply doing something nice for someone and it is more than praying something good for them. It is a declaration and demonstration that God loves them and wants to be involved in their life. It could look like serving them, it could be supernatural: like praying together for healing. It could be very practical and down to earth: like preparing someone a meal.

Blessing never comes with a catch, a blessing is freely given. But we can be confident and clear that we bless in Jesus’ name and as a result of the good things God has done for us.

Next week I’ll send some practical ideas about ways you and your community could practice generous blessing.  For this week use these questions to start a conversation with God and one another.

  • How could you regularly serve those around you?
  • In what ways could you practice generosity and blessing to one another?
  • How could you speak blessing over your neighborhoods, your colleagues and friends?
4th Sundays are for

It’s a rhythm of GRACE

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Last week I wrote that as well as good principles we need to find practices that can help us grow in strength as disciples and missionaries called to follow Jesus and build community.  We accept this idea in most areas of life. We wouldn’t ask an athlete to complete a marathon without many miles of training.  We wouldn’t expect a musician to perform a great work without hours of practice. This is also true of our life together – if we really want to become a church of disciples who see God use us to make new disciples, that will be greatly helped by developing monthly, weekly, maybe even daily practices.

The rhythm of GRACE: Generously blessing others, Receiving and releasing God’s presence, Asking questions and telling stories, Celebrating often and Eating together provides a simple way to talk about and take steps forward together to build community. Remember that this is a rhythm of grace.  Life with God is a gift from Him, community is a gift, and any practice that enables us to get a little closer to him or a bit more confident sharing our faith is a gift. It all relies on His work and generosity to us.

That is not to say there is no room for our work.  Dallas Willard famously said “Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning.”  The more we practice our faith, the more we do things out of love for the God who loves us and takes steps forward, the better we will find we are able to hear God, to serve him, to live with hope and joy, and to see community growing amongst us.

Next week we will start to look at the first of these practices – Generous Blessing.  This week consider this question – what step is God putting in front of you that might grow your life as a disciple?

This talk of effort leads well to thinking about our 4th Sundays.  How can you use yours to build community?  While 9am Communion meets every week, Central Gatherings only take place on the first 3 Sundays a month. This is to give those of us who connect to this gathering a bit of time with which to build community. How are you going to use it?  It’s time to be taking some new steps, trying things out, putting in a bit of effort again. So how might you use your next 4th Sunday (27th January) to help build community?

There are a few things you could already join in with:

  • The Kairos Fairfax team are running their monthly Lazy Sunday drop in and would love you to be involved.
  • 9am Communion is a warm, friendly and prayerful place to meet others and worship.  On the fourth Sundays we include prayer for healing in the gathering. You could come and receive prayer for yourself or on behalf of someone else.
  • Eat Pray Love Community are eating together. You would be very welcome to join them.

Alternatively you could have a go at something yourself.  One simple step would be to get a couple of other households together for some food and conversation.

How are you going to use your 4th Sunday?  I’d love to hear your plans.

Copy of Copy of Unforced Rhythms

Introducing the Rhythms of Grace

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Last term we spent a lot of time training. Kairos Community leaders gathered together to listen, talk and plan.  Now is the time for us all to begin again to get on with the work God has called us to of loving God and building community.

Some of you have a clear idea of the community you would like to lead to be part of, others are not so sure and will need some time to see what develops and decide what they want to join. Both approaches are fine and we need to go at the timescale God has given us.

Whether you are raring to go with a Kairos Community or are still feeling hesitant I want to encourage you to learn to liveas community as well as joina Kairos Community.  For a number of years we have organised ourselves around principles of discipleship and mission. I think we have come to see more recently that in order to learn and grow we also need practices.

Development usually comes from small steps and simple practices that when repeated and accumulated lead to big change. In Matthew 11 Jesus encourages his followers to take on his yoke. In John 14 he describes himself as a way.  He invites his disciples to imitate his actions as well as believe his words. Again and again throughout history movements that have developed rules, rhythms and practices have found their ability to befriend God and join in with His work has been strengthened.

At the Base Camp weekend I introduced to our leaders the rhythm of GRACE.  5 sets of practices that will build up our muscles and enable us to live in Jesus’ way as individuals, in our households and as Kairos Communities.  These 5 practices are:

Generously Bless– regularly look for other people we can serve, love and show God’s goodness to in generous ways.

Receive and Release– regularly let ourselves receive God’s presence with us as we worship and pray, then share that with those around us.

Ask questions and tell stories– practice curiosity and empathy in a way that helps build connections with people and let our lives be formed and speak of God’s great story.

Celebrate– let joyful celebration, parties and thanksgiving often happen around us.

Eat Together– welcome friends, neighbours and strangers to table with us and share food together.

I’ll be writing about each of these in my emails over the next few weeks and encourage each of us to take some steps and try some experiments that develop these practices in our lives. They are a rhythm of GRACE, part of God’s gift to us to enable us to more fully live as his followers.

Which part of this rhythm already intrigues, encourages or challenges you? Why not start some conversation with God and those you share life with about how you could develop practices in that area? 

The idea of a rhythm of GRACE comes from John McGinley’s brilliant book:  Mission Shaped Grace

Copy of One Another

One Another – the next two talks

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In our Central Gatherings this term we are exploring some of the One Another statements from the New Testament and asking what we can learn from them as foundations for building community.

Share Hospitality with One Another

In this talk Andy Wilson and Liz Shores explore the idea of hospitality,  of being welcomed by God and of sharing food with one another.

 

Admit Your Faults to One Another

In this talk Darren McClintock shares about the importance of mercy,  forgiveness and truthfulness in any community.

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