This Too Shall Last – Intro
Calvary Baptist Church
on October 14, 2020 10 Comments
Our Hope for the “This Too Shall Last” Series
As a church community over the last year we have experienced a number of church and leadership changes, in addition to all the changes brought on by the pandemic. In midst of these changes, there have been a number of discussions about doctrine, belief, and church membership, and inclusivity, and it is clear that these issues have created tension within our community. There is hurt, mistrust, broken relationships, loss of what was normal, and separation. We need to recognize that we can’t avoid what we think and feel, and we don’t need to hide it from others in our community. If we really want “more of Jesus”, and to become a healthy community, that we need to intentionally work on recognizing Jesus at work in our community, as we acknowledge these feelings and work through them together.
This series will be based on K.J. Ramsey’s book, “This Too Shall Last”. As a church community, we want to read and reflect on the themes of this book together, and so each week we will offer reflections on each chapter, journal questions and further resources. We encourage you to follow along, read the book with us and reflect on these questions and themes too!
Why, as a church community, do we feel this is important?
The natural human reaction to hardship and difficult feelings such as grief, anger, confusion, or mistrust, is CONTROL. We naturally feel the need to control our fear, our pain and our shame as a way of coping, but controlling those feelings won’t make them go away. We must first come to understand that we are not alone in our pain–Jesus understands our pain and even experienced human suffering because he was fully human– and he wants to transform us through our difficult experiences.
What is our hope for this series?
“Vulnerability experienced, extended, and received will be the communion bread and wine that continues to convert our dying, fragile selves into the unending likeness of Christ.” (JKR, Ch 8)
We want to create space for transformation to happen within our community, and we believe the first step is to become vulnerable–to be known and to know others without trying to control how we feel or how others feel, and allow Jesus to meet us, together, in our pain and brokenness. This process will be painful, and maybe even awkward at times because it requires us to take the hard steps of revealing our true selves. Vulnerability within a community takes practice. We believe that there will be transformation through the church “community” when we become open and vulnerable with each other.
Where can I find the book?
This looks really good Matt. Thanks for your leadership in this HUB series.
[…] “This Too Shall Last” by KJ Ramsey with us. Want to start the series from the beginning? Start here and check out our hope for this series within our Calvary community, and learn more about where you […]
[…] “This Too Shall Last” by KJ Ramsey with us. Want to start the series from the beginning? Start here and check out our hope for this series within our Calvary community, and learn more about where you […]
[…] “This Too Shall Last” by KJ Ramsey with us. Want to start the series from the beginning? Start here and check out our hope for this series within our Calvary community, and learn more about where you […]
[…] “This Too Shall Last” by KJ Ramsey with us. Want to start the series from the beginning? Start here and check out our hope for this series within our Calvary community, and learn more about where you […]
[…] “This Too Shall Last” by KJ Ramsey with us. Want to start the series from the beginning? Start here and check out our hope for this series within our Calvary community, and learn more about where you […]
[…] “This Too Shall Last” by KJ Ramsey with us. Want to start the series from the beginning? Start here and check out our hope for this series within our Calvary community, and learn more about where you […]
[…] “This Too Shall Last” by KJ Ramsey with us. Want to start the series from the beginning? Start here and check out our hope for this series within our Calvary community, and learn more about where you […]
[…] This Too Shall Last by KJ Ramsey with us. Want to start the series from the beginning? Start here and check out our hope for this series within our Calvary community, and learn more about where you […]
[…] This Too Shall Last by KJ Ramsey with us. Want to start the series from the beginning? Start here and check out our hope for this series within our Calvary community, and learn more about where you […]