Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Cheese Dip and Church Ladies - Session One

Well we kicked off our summer Bible study with three of us here at my house on Tuesday night. We had some great food--Amanda, that queso rocked--and some great conversation! We reviewed our memory verse for the summer and decided we couldn't hang with the competition for the best memorization idea. Our best idea was to put it to the tune of the Barney theme song because Kristi said she heard once that the tune helps developmentally delayed kids learn (leave it to two speech therapist-one turned behavioral interventionist-and a physical therapist to come up with that one).

We discussed our personal struggles with being closer to God and realized that many of our struggles come from our deep history in religion. "Do I fully believe God is capable?"..... "Do I compartmentalize my faith?"........ "Am I close to God, or am I just going through the motions?"....... "How do I share, and teach, and give without becoming bogged down in it all?" Who knew that growing up in religion could be so hard? Correct me if I am wrong, ladies, but I feel that although we are all from different "seasons" of our lives, it is evident that our struggles are common. We are each modern women, unable to accept the "church lady" identity, but hungry for a closer walk with God and understanding our place in the religious world.

I did my first two days of homework and am excited to start discussion on what our modern day idols are. It was interesting to me to realize that not all of these idols have to be negative things. I've also always pictured "idols" as being tangible, but in our study, they are described as something operating as our god..... something we want "too much". It can be a physical object or a property, a person, an activity, a role, an institution, a hope, an image, an idea, a pleasure, or a hero. What are some things that you feel can hold us captive on this earth?

6 comments:

Kristi said...

I'm so proud of you for doing your first two days of study...now if we can just get that verse memorized. I do love how three people can be a part of the same discussion and all take something different from it. God's pretty amazing, isn't He? I'm looking forward to seeing where this journey takes us, and I'm glad you're along for the ride.

Amanda said...

The queso did rock and I shouldn't have brought the leftovers home with me. Too tempting!

I am enjoying the homework. I have found myself wanting to get ahead because I so want to know more. I'm having a hard time identifying my idols. Not because I don't think I have any, I'm just having a hard time putting my finger on it. I'm leaning toward a need for control. I think I take too much on myself and don't trust God to have His way in things.

That's where I'm at. I hate that I'll miss next time!

Stephanie Anderson said...

Amanda,

Funny, I'm having difficulty identifying my big idol, as well. I even asked Rob to help me. And strangely, the one I listed was lack of contentment and a need for control.

Kristi said...

I got my big idol...and a few smaller ones as well. You two probably figured mine out before I did. Can't wait to discuss further. After doing two days of homework, I'm actually engaged in this process and not avoiding it. Should be interesting...

Stephanie Anderson said...

Kristi,

I don't know...... your "idol" (if you picked the one I figured) could take on many different forms. I'm wondering what you called it.....

Steph

Kristi said...

How's your scripture memorization coming?