In this issue:
i)    Challenging Circles - J. Carattini
ii)   How to have an effective quiet time - A.Farstad
Challenging Circles
Jill Carattini
 
The hometown of Jesus was a small village tucked between the hills of the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean, located away from the main centers of the population. The Gospel of Mark describes the first time Jesus visited his hometown after he had become a public figure (Mark 6:1-6). His public ministry had, up until then, been based largely in Capernaum.
 
The townspeople had undoubtedly heard stories. Whispers of miracles and strange events were being reported from neighboring cities. His teaching was different, authoritative. I imagine the people of his hometown took a proud interest in all of the murmuring, anxious to see why everyone was talking about Jesus, anxious to claim him as their own. Now he was coming back home and they were excited about it. Invitations to teach in the synagogue were usually extended to distinguished visitors; he was, no doubt, in many eyes the local boy done good, and now they would see for themselves.
 
According to Mark they were not disappointed. In fact, he reports, "they were astounded" (6:2). Making reference to the wisdom they heard and power they beheld, they clearly took notice that he was a man out of the ordinary. And yet, they couldn't take the man at face value, for it was not just any man; it was Jesus. They could not get past the fact that this seeming authority in front of them was Mary's son, the carpenter, the boy next door. And Mark notes, they "took offense" at him, stumbling over the commonality of the extraordinary one before them (6:3).
 
During his tenure as a professor at Magdalen College in Oxford, C.S. Lewis delivered a memorial oration to the students of King's College, the University of London. It was titled, "The Inner Ring." Addressing his young audience as "the middle-aged moralist," Lewis warned: "Of all passions, the passion for the Inner Ring is most skillful in making a man who is not yet a very bad man do very bad things."(1)
 
Lewis speaks of the natural desire to find ourselves a part of the inner circles that exist endlessly and tauntingly throughout life. He cautions about the consuming ambition to be an insider, and not an outsider, though the lines we chase are invisible, and the circle is never as charming from within as it looks from without. Like the taunting mirage the weary traveler chases through the desert, the quest for the Inner Ring will break your heart unless you break it. For "it is the mark of a very perverse desire that seeks what can not be had."(2)
 
Yet it is a desire that touches us all. The longing to belong is an intense motivator of human behavior. Still, one only has to watch a group of kids to see how easily our desire to belong is corrupted by our need to exclude. The inner circle is not inner if there are no outsiders. The invisible line would be futile if the majority was not on the wrong side. Notably, it seems an examination of playground behavior is one of the strongest proofs for the depravity of man.
 
The kinfolk of Jesus chose to belittle the depth of his teaching, the compassion of his hands, and the significance of his power because they could not see past the circles they were certain he was excluded from. Mark gives witness to the close ties between faith and healing, expectation and eyesight. They could not see Jesus for who he was because they were blinded by lines that told them what he could not be. "Isn't this Mary's son?" they scoffed in fear and disgust (6:3). Excluding mention of Joseph, their words were intended to belittle Jesus and his origins, to put him on the wrong side of the line with one who was sexually suspect.
 
And yet ironically, in pointing to Mary, they point to the miracle of the virgin birth, when God spoke life into a womb that broke the lines of separation and offered the world forever an invitation into his presence.
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(1) The Weight of Glory (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1980), 154.
(2) Ibid., 154.
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[Copyright(c) 2004 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. A Slice of Infinity is a ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.]
How to have an effective quiet time
Art Farstad
 
"What a beautiful service!" is a comment you often hear after a fine public worship gathering. But we shouldn't be solely dependent for our spiritual nourishment on weekly or bi-weekly services at church. We need "Christian" vitamins every day! It is appalling how many believers don't follow the advice of the (true) chorus:
 
*   Read your Bible,
*   Pray every day,
*   And you'll grow, grow, grow!
 
The object of this little study is to share some practical pointers on how to improve the quality and attractiveness of your own personal devotions--your daily "Quiet Time."
 
The Persons:  You and your Maker!
 
The Place:  A quiet place, preferably away from all electronic sounds, including the telephone. If you can be outside in a garden, on a hillside, by water, on a mountain--at least sometimes--grab the opportunity! Remember, God started humanity outdoors--in a garden. If, like this writer, you enjoy background music while working, studying, or reading, make this the exception: God deserves your full attention.

The Time:  Morning is best. Jesus met His Father "a long while before day light" (Mark 1:35). A morning "Quiet Time" will steel you for the stresses of the day. If you cannot possibly find time in the morning ("I'm not a morning person"), at least take a few spiritual vitamins, such as reading the day's devotional in Our Daily Bread from Radio Bible Class of Grand Rapids. (They're free.)
 
The Order of Service:
 
1.   A Hymn. Read (or sing, or play and sing, if you can!) a hymn a day. Go through a hymnal, song by song.   Which hymnal? Use the one your own church uses to start with, unless it is one that has mostly songs that can't stand on their words alone (i.e., just catchy tunes with repeated lines and not much content).
 
It will take you a year or two to get through a hymnal.
 
Next, for enrichment, buy or borrow one from a different tradition than your own (but not so different as to be apostate or cultic, obviously!). I recommend, for example, the classic British hymnal, Hymns Ancient and Modern [and Songs of Zion].
 
Keep in mind, however, that nearly every hymnal will need your doctrinal "filtering." Works for salvation can crop up in the most surprising places!
 
2.   A Devotional Reading. Try a short devotional reading before you get into the Word itself (one based on the Bible, of course!). Some days your regular reading may be in a section of the Bible that isn't immediately applicable to your day--a genealogy, perhaps.
 
I recommend: Our Daily Bread (Radio Bible Class), Opened Treasures by Frances Ridley Havergal (Loizeaux Bros.), One Day at a Time by William McDonald (Everyday Publications, Toronto, Ontario), and Daily Walk (Walk Thru the Bible Ministries, Atlanta, GA).
 
3.   The Word of God. Read your Bible reverently and prayerfully, expecting to find wisdom for that very day. The amount you read is not nearly so important as the meditative attention you give the text that you do read.
 
Is there a virtue to work on here? A vice to shun? A doctrine that bears study? An example to follow--or not to follow (plenty of rebels and sinners are written up in the OT especially!)?
 
Read the Bible before you pray, though a short opening prayer for guidance is wise. Let God speak first, then you answer in a simple heart-felt prayer.
 
4.   Prayer. I recommend you keep a "prayer book"--a little book listing requests and answers, including notations regarding when you began to pray for something and when it was answered. This will encourage you to keep at it. Get a little alphabetized address book that you can slip in your pocket or purse. Put in your family, friends, yes, your enemies (if any), those in authority in church and state, and pressing needs--finances, health, and the salvation of others. Have a mix of your own needs and intercessions for others. You may find your prayers for others get answered before your own needs!
 
5.   A Commentary. If you have time you can get some help on hard passages which come up in your daily Bible reading. Some one volume books are good. I recommend: The Bible Knowledge Commentary (Victor Books) and Believer's Bible Commentary by MacDonald (Thomas Nelson).* Both these sets have one volume per Testament.
 
Be part of a marvelous minority: Have truly biblical devotions every day!
 
As one who confessedly at one time let required Bible School studies sometimes "double" as daily "devotions," let me repeat the chorus with emphasis:

*   Read your Bible,
*   Pray every day,
*   And you'll grow, grow, grow!
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[Courtesy: The Author]
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