Homework:

we’re working on memorising the beatitudes over this half term (Matt.5:1-9). There is only a couple of weeks left, so you should be beginning to firm up your ability to recite this passage without looking!

To Be A Christian: Q&A 290-299.

You can access the Audible edition here.

And the pdf version can be found here.

What one degree change could you make to your Sunday that would make the Lord’s Day more focused on the Lord’s agenda? What obstacles are there to making that change?

The idea of the one-degree change is a recurring theme in DTP. Except for a very few people, massive overhauls of life rarely if ever work. Our temptation when we get hold of an amazing idea about being a Christian is to try and change everything and to implement it as fully and as radically as possible. That tends to lead to an intense few days, followed by failure, and a permanent relapse. It’s not a good way to build a life of disicpleship.

A much healthier and sustainable - if less dramatic - way to approach spiritual growth is to make a series of one-degree changes over a period of months. A change in direction of one degree can get you to a very different destination over time. And if you make 4 or 5 such changes over a period of a year, you are travelling in quite a different direction.

So, what one-degree change can you make in how spend the Lord’s Day? Bear in mind that it might have ramifications for other days of the week too! It might take time to build it in, but be ready to discuss this in a couple of weeks.

and a cheeky little question ahead of our reflection on the 5th Commandment next week. Do you think the 5th Commandment belongs to the first table of the Law (1-5, teaching us how to love God), or to the second table (5-10, teaching us how to love our neighbour)?