Description
Each week through this series we have been encouraged to sow deeply in our hearts, actively working to cultivate the kind of Jesus-focused landscape we long for there.
In our first session we heard the call of Jesus to go out into the world in the same way the disciples were taught and equipped together in Matthew 10. In our second session we heard and acted on Jesus’ invitation in Matthew 11 to rest and refresh in him. Our third session called us into the heart of the matter, to think about the practices (holy habits) we are cultivating to deepen our faith and to check that our motivations and attitudes are in the right place. In session four we practiced returning to the path and exploring how and why we sometimes lose our way.
In this final session we take in the joy of feeding ourselves in both body and spirit as we continue our discovery of what it is to be a Pentecost people. As we conclude our five-week journey of checking in with where our heart is at, we open up some of the parables of Matthew 13. We explore how these stories provide us with food for our souls, nourishing us as we travel the path of Jesus in our daily living. Our reflection on the hidden treasures of the parables from Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52 is accompanied by the passage from Romans 8: 26-39. This is one of the most well known and loved pieces of scripture. A reading which underpins all the readings we have encountered in these five sessions – for nothing shall separate us from God’s love.
The lessons we have explored over the last five weeks are living lessons that can continue to grow and shape our faith. Some of the activities we have used to explore scripture and prayer are activities we can continue to use as holy habits either in our community or individually in our personal faith practices. May the act of carefully returning again and again to Check Your Heart, through the practicing of holy habits, enable us to live more abundantly and bear much fruit.
