Scenes from the first day in Sydney

Scenes from the first day in Sydney
D, the Opera House, and the Bridge

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Growing into the full maturity of Christ... and off for ten days in Gerroa!

At our first conference with Adrian Lyons, the tertian director, there was a passage from our morning prayer that struck me as essential for all people who follow Christ. It is from Paul's letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4. What strikes me is the call to not only live as disciples who seek to imitate Jesus, but more to become the living presence of Christ in the world. I invite you to read this passage below:

Ephesians, 4
I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,
2
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love,
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striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace:
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2 one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call;
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one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
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one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
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But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
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Therefore, it says: "He ascended 3 on high and took prisoners captive; he gave gifts to men and women."
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What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended into the lower (regions) of the earth?
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The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.
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4 And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers,
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to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, 5 for building up the body of Christ,
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until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, 6 to the extent of the full stature of Christ,
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so that we may no longer be infants... Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, 7

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from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the body's growth and builds itself up in love.
If you have thoughts about what it might mean to grow into the full maturity of Christ, please share your comments!

Today the fourteen of us leave Pymble, north of Sydney, for a villa house at Gerroa, on the beach. It won't be all fun and games as we will spend a good part of each day telling our story, inside and out, and building a deeper sense of community. As the 12 tertians are coming from many corners of the world, I imagine that our experiences will be quite diverse! And then along with the sharing, there should be a good amount of beach time, frisbee, BBQ, etc. All this to say that I will be offline until the 1st of February.

By the way, if you haven't found the recording of the Kookaburra on the site, not the one listed the maniacal laughter of the Kookaburra, but the other one, give it a listen. You have to wait until the middle of the recording for it to really get going, but it's a kick!

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