KE Week 2 - Blessed are those who mourn

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4)

God promises to comfort those who mourn, no matter what we are mourning.  Maybe you mourn for a friend far from God, or maybe your mourn because of sin in your heart.  Maybe you mourn because you feel the weight of someone else's pain and suffering.  Take this week to think how God has shown comfort to you or someone you know.

Again, pick one and leave a comment about the experience.

1)  Watch the video "99 balloons" on youtube.com.  Consider how a child's short 99 days of life drew a community together in mourning.  Think about how the kingdom of God came to the parents, friends, and family.  Share the burden of mourning by getting helium-filled balloon and letting it go for those who are mourning.  If you are mourning, let it go as a symbol of the promise that God will comfort you.

2)  Go to tinyurl.com/cxljo8.  View the University of Heidelberg's Global Conflict Panorama.  Choose one of those areas to learn more about.  Pray for those who are mourning in that situation.

3)  Provide comfort to those who serve in the armed forces by sending a letter, package, or card.  

Go to: any soldier.com/wheretosend and follow the instructions under "what to send" and "how to send".

4)  Attend a hospital visitation with your pastor or youth pastor.

5)  Handwrite a letter to someone in your life who is struggling with a hopeless or depressing situation. Text them a prayer or give them a phone call this week.  Listen to their story and do your best to comfort them. Try to keep in mind that God will be doing a lot of comforting through you; it's by Christ that you can do all things.

6)  Ask three people what sins they think are most prevalent in our nation's population.  Then spend your quiet time this week allowing God to break your heart for those sins. 

KE Week 1 - Blessed are the poor in spirit

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven - Matthew 5:3

I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbors.  Do you know your next door neighbor? 
   - Mother Teresa

The experiments for this week:
(the study suggests each person within the group picking one and sharing about the experience):
     
1) Fast from food for a period of time as a way of making yourself aware of its physical and
emotional ownership over you.  Think about how important food is to us; then reflect on
Christ's suggestion that life is more important than food.

2) Skip a meal and use the money to go grocery shopping; then donate everything to the local food
pantry.  Try to buy things you would like, not just the cheapest stuff on the shelf.

3) Try being generous this week.  Instead of spending extra cash on new clothes or music, spend it
on a friend who doesn't have as much as you.

4) Sleep on the floor for a week.  Think about how life might be different if you didn't have a
comfy home.  Remember, with less of you, there is more room for God

5) Go to alexslemonade.com and give a donation to help fund cancer research for dying children.
Those who are sick often see God's kingdom much differently than we do.

6) Minimize your use of electricity - books instead of TV, line dry instead of tumble dry,
candlelight instead of 100 watts.  Consider donating to your electric company's poverty account.

7) Find something you feel that you can not live without and give it away.  Practice what it means  
to be dependent on God.

The instructions are to pick one but I am feeling extra ambitious and will go with numbers 2 and 6 (I just turned the lights off in my office).  I will post an update later in the week.

The Kingdom Experiment

The Kingdom Experiment was published in 2009 with a follow-up youth edition in 2010.  I stumbled across it while looking for some lesson planning material for the youth group here at FUMC.  The cover was trendy and it was on sale so I picked it up.

The format is for a small group to take part in an 8 week study on the Beatitudes.  Each week provides a couple of discussion topics but also challenges each person to take on an experiment in living out the week's topic.  For instance, The topic: blessed are the poor - one of the experiments is to skip a meal and use the money saved to contribute to the area food pantry or sleeping on the floor for a week as a lesson in what it is like to not have certain comforts.

I have developed a plan (the follow through is yet to be seen) to go through the book as my devotional time for the next 8 weeks or so and journal my progress on my blog.  Life happens so I may adjust this plan according to school, travels, etc.  I also invite others to follow along with me through this journey and share their own experiences along the way.

For the sake of simplicity, Oct 22nd will be the start date and I will start a new chapter each monday.