"Becoming Myself: The Master's Message for Mastering Your Life"
Hear 0 Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. You
shall love your neighbor as yourself. Mark 11:29-31.
1. Texts: Deuteronomy 6:1-9, Mark 12:28-33, Luke 9:57-62
2. Describe what "spiritual formation" means to you. Describe what for you has been most
significant in your own spiritual formation.
3. React to this quote: Eugene Peterson, a retired PC(USA) pastor and author of 34 books,
including The Message, the best-selling paraphrasing translation of the Bible, spoke
about the church and spiritual maturity as he reflected on Ephesians. Paul's letter to the
Ephesians is about "God's call and our walk," he said. "When they fit, we are growing up
in Christ." The relationship between God's call and our walk "becomes increasingly
personal and interpersonal. It includes others whom God is calling." Peterson continued,
"American churches are good at birth in Christ, but not competent when it comes to ...
that patient, unhurried work of growing up in Christ." "Some find church the most
difficult aspect of growing up," he remarked. "The church we want becomes the enemy
of the church we have" when we follow "ecclesiastical market analysts" that lead us to
"feast on the euphoria and adrenalin of new birth, but not matters of maturity and
holiness."
4. The old Cherokee story talked about "feeding" one or the other of the two "wolves" that
live inside each person. What does that feeding look like in your own life?
5. The Presbyterian Global Fellowship motto is "inwardly strong, outwardly focused."
How might this apply to your personal life? To the life of our church?
6. What is your response to this quote from Dr. Baca: "My vision for this church is that we
will continue to become a fellowship where every member knows what it means to
follow Jesus, where every member will have a personal plan for growing into spiritual
maturity by following Jesus, and where every member will have many opportunities to
express their love for God and neighbor through service to others."
7. The above quote from Mark is Jesus' restatement and expansion of the "Shema" of Israel.
This is what Scot McKnight calls "The Jesus Creed." Shema means "hear." What value
(or lack) do you see in a frequent and constant focus in your mind and heart on the words
of the Shema or Jesus Creed?
8. Ancient (and some modem) Jews wore a "phylactery," a copy of the Shema written on
parchment and bound to the forehead or left arm, and some had a "mezuzah," a small
metal cylinder with the Shema written on it attached to the upper right hand doorpost.
What things, if any, do you have to remind you of your primary relationship with God?
Week of September 9, 2007
The Village Church, Rancho Santa Fe
The Rev. Dr. Jack W. Baca
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