ALPHA / CHRISTLIFE
ChristLife
Each Thursday in St Brides Hall at 7pm
Week 1 - video below:
Week 2
Our second video presentation and discussion was entitled “Hearing God in Scripture” and we hope you had an opportunity to share your thoughts on how we can incorporate scripture into our daily prayer lives.
We believe that God’s Word is powerful, is personal and prunes us. When we read God’s word, He is able to speak to us in a way that shapes and directs our lives.
Week 3
Our third video presentation and discussion was entitled “The power of the Sacraments.”
It focused primarily on the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
Sacraments are visible signs of an invisible grace and our catechism defines grace as “free undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God.”
Ally Ascosi in this video told us of the four steps of the sacrament of Reconciliation – Conversion, Confession, Penance and Absolution.
We are told that Jesus is the Bread of Life and that the Eucharist nourishes us by the Lord’s supper. We experience intimacy with Christ and are given grace for the journey.
Week 4
Our fourth video presentation and discussion was entitled “Forgiving One Another.”
In this video Jesus calls us to forgive one another. In Matthew 6:14 we read “For if you forgive others their failings, your Heavenly Father will forgive you yours, but if you do not forgive others your Father will not forgive your failings either.”
Week 5
In our Thursday evening presentation entitled “The Spirit-Empowered Life” we were told that we really do need the power of the Holy Spirit to live as a disciple of Jesus.
Jesus began his own public ministry with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit at his baptism and the early church began her ministry with a similar outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost
Retreat Day Videos:
Our 3 video presentations on our retreat day were entitled “We are at war: The World”, “We are at war: The Flesh” and “We are at war: The Devil.”
These videos explored the three primary sources of temptation and evil that we, as Christians face in our daily spiritual lives.
“The World” asked us to consider what our expectations were of a Christian life and drew a comparison between a cruise ship and a battle ship, asking if the ship in which we were sailing was on a “clear and noble mission” and if the “crew were equipped to succeed.”
It referred to the systems, values and cultural attitudes that are opposed to God’s design. It highlighted that the good things that originally come from God can be distorted by the world so they no longer point to and lead back to God.
“The Flesh” described how human nature has an inherent inclination towards sin manifesting itself as personal moral failings such as gluttony, anger, sexual immorality and lust. We must remember however, that because of Jesus we have the power of the Holy Spirit to resist the temptations of the flesh.
The third video presentation entitled “The Devil” represents for us the real, personal and spiritual force of evil. The church teaches that the devil is real and is the “father of lies.” The primary strategy of the devil is temptation and deception which disguises evil and leads people away from God.
Week 6
During this video Ally Ascosi reminded us that we must be motivated by a desire to imitate Jesus as our model and that discipleship requires us to follow after Him.
The heart of a disciple is one that has been transformed by Jesus, leading to an inner change that extends outwards.
Ally shared several different “hearts” that the Lord wants us to have as disciples.
Week 7
It was great to see so many of you last Thursday evening for the final video presentation in our ChristLife series entitled “Going on with the Lord.”
In the series we’ve discussed the practical disciplines of grace and truths that are important to transform our worldview and reflected on what we are learned in the “Following Christ” course and the ways we have grown as disciples of Jesus Christ.
We are called not only to be disciples, but to make disciples and ordinary people like us can make a difference by continuing to grow in loving God and others. Our mother Mary is a fantastic example of how to live as a missionary disciple and one that we should try to imitate.