Geese & the Gospel

Hebrews 10:24 reads

"And let us consider how we may spur one another towards love and good deeds..."

I would like to think that this could be apart of a summary of your small group experience.  I have always felt you girls kept me on my toes and pushed me towards good deeds.  I certainly felt my heart grow in order to love you more and more, as Christ compelled me to do.

I attended Latechurch with Hallie at some point last year and one of the sermon illustrations for the night has stuck with me all this time.  The sermon series was about the Body of Christ (the church), and how we cannot go it, the faith journey, alone.  God calls us to fellowship and communion, which we saw modeled through Jesus' ministry on earth not only to the people, but his ministry with the twelve disciples and his relationship with His three closest men (Peter, James, and John).   The pastor that night used a flock of geese to represent the people of Christ.  At one point he gave this statistic: geese that migrate with a group are able to travel 79% further than the goose that flies alone.  Point: The community spurs on us, encourages us, strengthens us, and helps us succeed in our journey.

1 Corinthians 12: 12-18 reads:


Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.


  Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being 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 stop being 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 placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.



Here are the points I really hope you walk away with:

1- You cannot live faith alone.  Yes, your faith is a personal relationship with God the Father through Christ the Son, shaped by God the Holy Spirit.  You have the ability to connect one on one with the Creator of the world through prayer, through scripture, through worship.  However, just as God Himself models community through His triune nature, He created our very being to desire community and to function in whole when you are apart of His community.  Together we can fly further, like the geese mentioned above.  

2- When you depart from the community, you are still apart of the body.  What is departure from the community?  Not attending worship services and lack of involvement in bible study, a small group, mission, service, the life of the church.  When you don't attend church (where ever you are during your college adventures) God is still there, worship still happens.  However the community is missing a part of their body (whether you are the hand, the foot, the nostril), and you are mission the Body.    

3- Why are you still apart of the Body?  You became a part of the Body of Christ, and are now a smaller part of a much larger being.   As said in the passage above you are an important part of the body, no matter how you serve the body.  When you allow your prayer life, your habits, your walk with Christ to deteriorate you are allowing yourself to be unhealthy.  And because you are apart of the Body others might see the Body of Christ as unhealthy, sick.  You could also risk spreading this to other members of the Body.  This is where your connections to small group can really help you.  Keep yourself healthy, and tend to the others in need.  Encourage one another, raise each other up in prayer, and serve The Body of Christ well.

4- Embrace the part of the Body God has created you to be, and the ministry he has called you to join.  That's how you serve the Body well.

5- Geese are cool.

Love to you all, H