Hi Brothers and Sisters of TORCH!
After some adjustment and playing around with the controls, I’ve finally figured out how to use WordPress (or at least I know how to post now! Heh)
And it’s the same with the new LG! =) I know that it’s not exactly something new for most of you guys and gals in Torch, but with the recent changes and the merging of Torch and Kingsmen, I believe a new season awaits all of us in such exciting times.
As I was praying for TORCH a few weeks ago, God showed me a vision of a desert place, and all of us travelling in a old school bus across barren lands in search of a water source. I believe that God wants to make TORCH into an Oasis. An Oasis of His Word; a place of rest and restoration (R&R). Heh.
I believe that not only are we called to be a community, but a living organism, a “Body” as the Bible says, with Christ as our head. Check out what Paul said:
“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
- 1 Cor 12:12 – 27
Sorry for the “messy” passage, but hey the beautiful part of it all is in our diversity! We are all very different and unique, but are united because of Jesus. It will take effort from everyone to make TORCH a homely place that welcomes all. All of us must learn to open up and care for one another not only with words, but by our deeds. Remember the question I asked 4 weeks ago?
“As a Body, do we feel responsible for the other parts of the Body?”
I hope you guys have been thinking about this question, because this is vital to uniting the Lifegroup.
We are united when we show GENUINE concern and SINCERE love for one (1 Tim 1:5).
We are united when we look beyond one another’s flaw and highlight one another’s strength (Phil 2:2-3).
We are united when our own selfish demand for our own rights and pleasures to be fulfilled lie crushed as we seek to honour one another above ourselves (Phil 2:4).
We are united when we let love, not hate, flow freely in our Lifegroup as a Community of Saints. (Col 3:13-15)
As we travel across the dry places, may we find a shelter from the sun and heat of day in TORCH. And let us carry one another’s burden, so that Christ may be glorified in our acts of love.
I also make a personal plea for all your support. To tell you the truth, it’s not easy having the burden of the entire Lifegroup upon one’s shoulder. As God teaches me how to shepherd this “great people of God”, I pray I will not stand alone in this endeavour. Let’s put our hands to the plow together, for when we are united, we stand; divided, we fall.
May God be honoured, and may His love and light shine forth in us and from us!
“Once more into the breach!”
Shalom,
Dominic.
