CREEDE HINSHAW: Retirees welcome the call to group life

Small group life may be the lifeblood of the church and these opening weeks of 2015 might provide the impetus for some of you to join or form a small group for the purpose of increasing holy habits, deepening one’s faith and finding trustworthy friends.

For almost my entire adult life I have participated in small weekly groups. Some were prayer groups and others were Bible study groups or groups centered on issues of social justice. Some were composed of all laypersons (except this pastor as leader) while others were clergy groups who prayed together and explored what it meant to lead a congregation. Many of my closest friends are people with whom I have studied, prayed, laughed, wept and grown in the faith. I would be the poorer by far for having avoided such groups.

One of the most meaningful groups I participated in was a group of 6-8 preachers who gathered weekly to sharpen our preaching skills. One of us preached a sermon to the rest of the group who afterwards critiqued the delivery, the theology and effectiveness of that sermon. Those preachers became very dear friends; one of our group was eventually elected bishop and I’m giving our group the credit for his election!

It is not easy to commit to membership in a small group. Whereas in a worship service a person can “hide” in the pew and avoid relating to others, in the small group sooner or later each member is laid bare, called upon to participate, expected to be present and authentic.

Methodists have no claim to exclusivity when it comes to small groups and the 21st century version of Methodism might reveal that some Wesleyans have forgotten our roots. But at our founding we were an exponentially growing movement of small groups of men and women, lay led, who confessed sin to each other, sang hymns, studied the Bible and prayed. Lives were transformed and the church was revitalized.

When I first retired I no longer participated in a small group; I needed some solitary time. Part of me wanted a break from the obligation and demands of being faithful week in and week out to any small group of people. But before long I felt the urge, first faintly and then more insistently, to gather in a weekly group with others. And so I contacted a group of men with whom I’d previously met when I served as their pastor.

They, too, apparently welcomed the call to return to group life. Back when we all worked our meeting time was of necessity 6:30 a.m. each Tuesday. Now that most of us are retired we meet at the more relaxed nine o’clock hour at a local bakery where we drink coffee, eat pastries and discuss a religious book one chapter at a time, ending with prayer. Longer of tooth and grayer of crown, the relational and spiritual ties binding us together remain vital and real.

Creede Hinshaw is a retired Methodist minister living in Macon.