Congrats, you have completed the challenge!

What could I do with the material on this blog?

Now that the 27 books in 27 days challenge is over. Be creative create your own challenge!
Here are some examples
1
Do a one-day reading retreat from Romans to Revelations
Get people to bring their computers and log on to a Facebook page.
Copy and paste the material from Word Up/ this blog according to a schedule and read the bible together. Talk about what you have learnt over meal times.
A possible schedule:


9am-10.30am    Opening prayer.
Romans (Read aloud in small groups)
10.30-11           Morning tea discuss Romans
11-12.30           1 Corinthians
(Have 4 people read four chapters over and over again. Person A chapter 1-4, Person B chapter 5-8, Person C chapter 9-12, Person D the rest. People can walk listening to each person. To illustrate division in the church)
12.30-1.30        Lunch discuss 1 Corinthians and do word art
1.30-3               2 Corinthians and Galatians ( Take turns to read to the whole group)
3-3.30               Afternoon tea and discuss
3.30-4.30          The prison letters Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians and Philemon. (Read alone on the floor/ prison-like conditions)
4.30-5.30           The 3 Ts over tea Thessalonians, Timothy and Titus. (Read while drinking tea)
5.30-6.30           Philemon and Hebrews (Read in plets ie triplets or quadruplets. Then pray over what you have read.)
6.30-7.30          Dinner discuss Pauline letters
7.30-8.30          Non-Pauline letters- James, Peter, John, Jude (Have 4 readers give an introduction of the author of each book and read the book aloud. People can walk around listening to each author)
8.30-10             Revelations over Supper ( Play audio reading)


2
An 8-hour Gospel Reading Marathon
Have a sign up sheet for people to read the gospels at different time slots in a high traffic area on campus.

9-10    Matt
10-11  Matt
11-11.30  Matt
11.30-12.30 Mark
12.30-1.30 Luke
1.30-2.30 Luke
2.30-3 Luke
3-4 John
4-5 John
If they are able to read with expression or drama that would be great. The idea is to introduce people to the Jesus in the bible.

or do it online
Get people to sign up to read one chapter each in whichever version they like, upload their video clip on an Facebook Page and organise the clips in the right order.

You could invite listeners/viewers to Christianity Explained, give them a Godzone or send them a video link to a dramatised Gospel video.

3
You could add the two together for a 27 books weekend away challenge.
Don't forget to include Acts ( 3 hours after dinner on the first day)

There are heaps of possibilities. Take it slow, read the bible with events included for a whole month or speed it up, with a 24/7 challenge where 27 books are read in 24 hours straight.  You could add material you find helpful to this blog.

Cheers :)

Mulling over 2 Peter 1:3-11

The Harlem Shake is flooding my Facebook this morning and as I reflect on 2 Peter 1:3-11, in a mad way, I am starting to find a connection. In this crazy, disturbing dance, one person starts dancing and everyone ignores him. The words "Do the Harlem Shake" are spoken and everyone starts dancing. In my mind, this speaks to me. Sometimes on campus, I feel like we are dancing alone and everyone ignores us. I then wonder, or scramble around trying to find the magic words, the prefect strategy, the right words to pray, the key to make everyone dance too.

Today's verse, tells us that God is the Logos, intercessor, music that we dance to. 

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." In cell group on Friday, we talked about looking high and low for the key to enter a house; not realising that we are already in the house. God has called you (Christian students, staff) to be on campus. He has given you everything you need to have life and godliness, to be part of one another in love (divine nature) and escape evil desires. Our inclination in TSCF is towards having a heart for the world (Global Reach), a depth of knowledge, and biblical understanding (Deep Thought), individual integrity, and loving togetherness (Undivided Life) and in sharing lives with others in authentic and legit ways (True Witness). God is already playing out this tune on our campuses, we need to hear it and dance to it. Yet, dancing takes effort. How are we to move our bodies? Randomly or suggestively like in the Harlem Shake?  Peter tells us how to "keep from being ineffective and unproductive".  5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.  Unlike the graded performance required by our studies, these eight qualities lay dormant in us, requiring us to allow God to make them come alive and move. Faith and love, begin and end this dance sequence. In the between, in any order, we are asked to be intentional about being good (courageous in standing up for what is right), knowledgeable (about the things of God and the world while knowing it is a false dichotomy), self-controlled (dying to self daily), never giving up, godliness (practically obeying and being aware of God in everything) and being kind. The "nearsighted and blind person" is the one who ignores the tune and doesn't make the effort to stand up and dance. So when does everyone get up and celebrate and move to the tune? 10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall,11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1: 3-11 Peter says it is when we are welcomed into the eternal kingdom that is already here but not yet. Thanks for joining me in my musings... eh. now let's dance?

A modern day epistle

epistle [ɪˈpɪsəl]
n
1. a letter, esp one that is formal.
2. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) a literary work in letter form, esp a dedicatory verse letter of a type originated by Horace
[Old English epistol, via Latin from Greek epistolē, from epistellein to send to, from stellein to prepare, send]
I suppose today, an epistle would look like this inspiring blog entry by outgoing Auckland EU president Zachary to the new committee. http://thelocutionaryact.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/lessons-on-life/

lessons on life

 

Feb4by truelocution

So, here are some thoughts on what I’ve learned from being involved in leadership in a Christian group at uni. They’re mostly pretty cliched and obvious, but I learnt them (or at least claim to have done so), so I’ll share them just in case they could be useful. After years of failure and frustration (amidst other things) with an eventual modicum of success, I think I have, at least, something to say about what not to do. I’m really pleased with what God has done through the group, believe that in the end it was a good use of my time, and look forward to seeing what happens now.

In a word, it’s all about direction – work out the way to go with the help of others, and go there whilst taking people with you. Actually, that is probably too vague to be good advice, so don’t base your life on it.
1) Put people first, or at least high up the list. Great programmes are pointless if people don’t get the point or are too tired to participate. That said, there’s a balance, and a lot of people could benefit from being pushed a little, so it’s not a great idea to immediately cave in to people’s natural apathy or laziness. A group which aims to ‘just hang out and be friends’ isn’t going to be hugely productive (some people will probably disagree with this, as it’s cool in Christian circles to prioritise ‘community’, but to me it’s fairly obvious that mere social groups without a goal are not going anywhere), but getting the scales even is a challenge.
2) There’s lots to do out there. The work of Christian ministry is never done, so please pick a task and get to it. Even try starting something new; there’s plenty of need for that. If you leave it to “others”, there’s a good chance it won’t happen or that they’ll burn out, or both. The God who upholds the universe doesn’t need us, but he does use us and recognising this is part of our function in life.
3) God uses the everyday small things as well as the big things. Making a small effort to chat with a person has sometimes been far more productive than things that many hours (and a few dollars) were invested into. HOWEVER, big events and programmes provide unique opportunities too and can produce unseen fruit, they just need some people around who are able to do the ‘small thing’ of connecting with others too.
4) If you do nothing you won’t be criticised. If you want to do something different than the status quo, to start with you’ll get a mix of flak, lack of comprehension, and merely being ignored (the default position). The movement from being ignored to being criticised can come with a small thrill, as at least they’re engaging! The shift from criticism or lack of comprehension to actual support is gold. Note, constructive criticism which provides real alternatives (and ideally is accompanied by offers of help) is great.
5) Don’t assume you’re on the same page as people – you’re probably not. “Communication is the key” and other such gems of obviousness. This was true in small and big ways within the group, within the wider organisation, and with the leaders of other groups; I think it would’ve helped to check people’s understanding of purpose and practice/method more often. You don’t want to find out at the end of the year that things didn’t work out so well because people privately disagreed on what is important.
So yeah, put first things first, and get to it. If you’re not sure what to put first, please do talk to me about it.

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