Well, week eight is complete.  This week revolved around the nature of ethical uniqueness from a NT perspective - specifically by looking at passages in the Sermon on the Mount.  The video for this week can be downloaded here .  For those of you who read my blog, two of the folks interviewed this week are from Jenny's Java Joint - which I blogged about a couple of weeks ago.

Here's some reflections on this week. 

People got back on track, for the most part, with the work outs - that was nice.  It was also nice to see how folks continued to invite people to come to worship this past Sunday to complete week seven's work-out (it shows how folks weren't just smiling and nodding when I told them it wasn't an option).

The disconcerting thing about discussing week seven's work-out was how several people instantly went into "defense-mode" as I recounted the largely negative first impression that my friends had.  In all three groups I had folks say, "I can't imagine that they'd see that."  It shows a profound lack of ability to put ourselves in the shoes of folks who come into the community who have no "church background" - which is precisely who we need to be putting ourselves in the shoes of if we're going to make a good first-impression with.  I guess I'm just jaded, we can risk (and I do mean "risk") defending ourselves when we're clearly fulfilling our mission and baptizing folks on a regular basis.  Until then, if someone says something that critiques what we're doing, we need to listen first and defend much later.  We'll keep getting reports of people's first impressions in coming weeks, I'll share them (the two others that I got back so far were more positive).

The funny thing about my friend's visit, though, after how I talked in the groups about important a first impression is to making sure that folks feel welcomed and know that they matter - my friends came back to worship without telling me they were coming!  On the one hand, how cool is that?  On the other hand, it ruined my object lesson on why we need to re-train our greeting staff.  Given the fact that some folks came back to worship - I think I'll stick with "how cool is that?" and re-train our greeters anyway.

Week eight's study was, I believe, a bit of a key moment in the progress of BE.  Folks seemed genuinely challenged and encouraged by the notion that it really is our calling to live by the ethic that Jesus gives in the Sermon on the Mount (we read Matt 5:1-16 and Matt 5:43-48 as example passages).  The idea that loving our enemies was, especially eye-opening when we put it back into Jesus' historical context.  Loving enemies meant loving the Romans.  Nowadays we've got trouble loving people "on the other side of the aisle," and Jesus was calling his disciples to love a hostile foreign power that had taken over their land!  It's amazing what context can do for Bible reading.

The nice thing about this study is that it really hits the accelerator for the back end of the movement.  Week nine (Insurmountable Perseverance) ties in nicely with both the theme of week eight (Ethical Uniqueness) - while at the same time continuing to draw the link between the Tanakh and the New Testament.  For several folks, the connection between the two testaments of Scripture is being made for the first time - and it's interesting to see what happens with that new found awareness in the future.

The other nice thing about BE that I've noticed is that I'm seeing new folks in worship.  As I said, my two friends  came back for a second go-round even though they saw some disheartening things during their first visit.  At the same time some folks who have moved into the area and are starting to frequent worship.  BE has not been about getting folks to come during to progress of the movement (even the invitation given during week seven wasn't about getting folks "plugged in" as much as it was about listening to their outlook on what we do).  BE has always been about a redefinition of evangelism from a Biblical Perspective and opening people's eyes that they can do this.  Yet, we seem to be drawing some folks in, mostly "churched" folks at this point - but by the time this ends I do hope that some folks get a vision for local "ethnoi" (what Tom Bandy calls, "micro-cultures") that we can work out the Gospel with.  Like I've been saying, if I get 10 sold-out folks we can make a go of this.  Ten folks who throw caution to the wind, look at some cultural assumptions about the nature of life, evangelism, and church and call them "lies," and decide to walk with Jesus no matter what.  Perhaps we'll get 'em yet...

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