Keeping Commitments 3)

Our group meeting always ends in group prayer but I wanted every member to be able to share from the beginning. So I split our study session into two parts.  Part 1 asked members to name a commitment they have to keep and, as I mentioned two posts ago, I began with my foot exercises. Certainly no one else named that issue (though two group members have suffered in the past).  As we went round the room people particularly identified commitments to family, especially grandchildren. One highlighted their belonging to a church choir, another referred to their list of friends with whom to keep in contact. Someone spoke about their commitment to a weekly church outreach programme involving young families in the village. And yes, there was honest disclosure. Someone described how their desire to move from couch to 5K run was a failed commitment!

|We reflected on these and many other kinds of commitments and placed them in four categories.        

First - our vows to God  

Second - vows in marriage, to family, to friends 

Third - required practical commitments like paying bills, maintaining contracts, getting to work on time, projects keeping appointments.

Fourth - voluntary commitments - involvement with others offering help, showing compassion, mercy, which are extra to duties of daily life.

Part 2 reviewed some set questions about Hosea's marriage modelling God's broken relationship with Israel yet his enduring love, and with this in mind focused on the list above.  Because God's love for us calls for our commitment to him to be so serious that it affects every level of commitment.  As one group member said: 'It really challenges me to think that everything that we do matters to God - all commitments at every level! '.

As we prepared to pray together one person shared how they were particularly burdened with a decision about further leadership involvement in the church.  About how difficult it is to discern at the fourth level how much more we should do in busy lives. 

We always value time together. I know this challenge about keeping commitments has a sharper edge as I plan my diary ahead. 

Keep Commitments 2)

My home group date is tomorrow and I admit I have been exercised about how best to approach the evening. Truthfully, the choice of Hosea as the set Scripture was a great surprise.  It's not the obvious choice when thinking about biblical help on keeping commitments! 

The prophets were an extraordinary group of people, inspired by God to challenge the people by word and sometimes in action. These actions were like action symbols where prophets vividly lived out the message. And Hosea ranks as one of providing the most unusual symbol - his marriage and children!  His message is a judgment on Israel which is in the throes of the last tragic years before Assyria overthrows the kingdom.  It's hard to believe how far the leaders and people have drifted from God's love and authority. All six kings in succession are disasters with 4 murdered, 1 captured in battle and only one succeeded by his son. The whole Northern kingdom has failed God in the great sin of  unfaithfulness. 

To demonstrate the message of their unfaithfulness, Hosea is told to marry Gomer. We have many questions about her because it's clear that whether she began as a good wife or not she became adulterous.  Some even suggest, a prostitute. The story of love, and one commentator calls this 'a love story that went wrong,' shows Hosea naming three children (perhaps two of them not his own) with symbolic names - all dire pronouncements on the future of Israel.  Incredible to think of naming children 'No Longer Love' and 'You are not my people'!  As you read on you see how his marriage and his words illustrate the rejection God feels as his people reject his love for them. 

The study guide sets questions about Hosea's marriage and how it demonstrated God's unfailing love in spite of hurtful rejection and asks  us how we might begin to imitate God in one of our commitments.  I shall report on how the group responds!

Keep Commitments

A brief follow-up to the last post.  It's not much to boast about but I can report that, so far, I have been disciplined in following my foot exercises. Are they making much difference to the pain? Well, not as much as I hoped but I have a long way to complete 12 weeks.  And the exercise plan emphasizes that I must not give up even when I feel better.

Yesterday, I saw the lady at church who first uttered the words Plantar fasciitis.  I told her that I too was suffering and had been given this action plan of exercises.  'Oh', she pulled a face. 'They're awful!'  'Like the one where you have to stand on tiptoe on a step and then lower your heel to the floor,' I replied, grateful for a fellow pilgrim along the way. ' Oh, I'm afraid I haven't done much of that stuff!' she said. 'I am just hoping that it will get better eventually.  I think it is!' 

So not a fellow pilgrim!  Part of me is not surprised she's given up because I have known several people who found the sheer slog of following physio exercises is not much fun.  And it really isn't!  It's also true that maintaining a pattern of discipline when there's little evidence of improvement demands real effort of will.

I was amused by a connection this makes with the next home group Bible study I am leading.  It's called 'Keep Commitments'.  In the study booklet leaders are told to begin the session by asking group members to name different commitments in their lives. Like: marriage vows, projects, appointment, bill-paying, due dates, getting to work on time, promises to children.  Encouraging a wide range of commitments, with some of them light-hearted, is intended to prod the group's thinking about the wide array of commitments in normal life and the way we handle these. In fact, group members should name commitments that are not named by anyone else in the group.

I shall name my plantar fasciitis exercises!  I think I shall be the only person with that commitment.  But I guess it will be a surprise to discover that the Scripture chosen for this study is Hosea 1:1-2:1,3.  Really? Next time.