This year the women of our church met together for a weekend of reflection on the greek word Teleios. It was our first time having our Women's Ministry off site, gathering on Saturday at Jefferson Memorial Forest. This time together was unique in that we had breakout group sessions, heard teaching from women in our church, worshipped together through liturgy and music, but also had quite a bit of time to sit alone with the Lord and be still to hear from him.
Our Deaconess of Women's Ministry, Robin Polk, had this to say in regards to what the Lord laid on her heart while planning this retreat.
Last fall when the women studied the Sermon on the Mount I was struck by the way of life Jesus was calling his followers to. We all know that this way of life is countercultural to how the world tells us we should live, but as I read and studied I found myself feeling more and more that it was also countercultural to how the majority of Christians live.
I was especially struck by Matthew’s use of the greek word Teleios, which is usually translated to "perfect" but some would argue can be better translated to whole or complete. Jesus calls his followers to a life of wholeness, which includes wholehearted devotion to him.
In a world of social media influencers and 24 hour news cycles we are constantly being told what our eyes should be set on and what our ambitions should be. I wanted the Women's Retreat to be a weekend where we could recenter our focus on the Lord. Hear from him what he wants our eyes and hearts set on and learn more about what it means to pursue him with our whole hearts for our whole lives.
On Friday, we looked together at Matthew 5:42 where Jesus says, "You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." Robin talked about how a better definition or translation for that work "perfect", or in the Greek - Teleios, is "whole", "complete", or "virtuous". To be Teleios is to be Whole. Our heart is the source of our thoughts, feelings, and choices, and all of those are meant to reflect him.
In Matthew 5:21-48 Jesus goes through a series of teachings saying "You have heard it said, but I say." In other words, I'm going to teach you a better way than what you have been told. He is inviting us into an invitation to flourish.
We ended this session with three main takeaways:
- We are saved by grace and grace alone. Ezekiel 36:26
- Living wholeheartedly is a lifelong process. Philippians 3:13-15
- Becoming wholehearted involves both human effort and the work of the Holy Spirit. John 15:5
When we gathered in our breakout groups on Saturday at Jefferson Memorial Forest, we walked through James 1 together and practiced diving into the text and understanding it together through interpretation and application. Each of the three groups had about two hours of wresting with the text and seeing how God is continuing to call us into this way of wholeness in him. How his way is better is a way of flourishing.
Our second time of teaching by one of our members, Nora Allison we took at look at the lives of King Solomon and King David. We saw from Solomon what a life that wasn't whole, a heart that wasn't whole, looks like. Solomon knew what God wanted of him, but he clung to his own desires anyway. The creep into sinfulness and the longing for sin for Solomon wasn't instant, and the same can be true for us. And in the end, Solomon's life wasn't a life of flourishing.
But then we had David as an example and saw that a life that was wholly devoted to God, that wasn't pulled to love other things. Even when David sins against God and others, God hears his cries for repentance and restores him. We can be encouraged by this because God has promised to do the same for us. He told us in Ezekiel 36 and Romans 5 that he will give us a new heart. He will remove our hearts of stone and give us a heart of flesh that can be made whole in Christ.
Ultimately the lesson that we learned from looking at these two lives is that a life of being wholly devoted to God will be a life of peace.
Jordan Kavuma
Manager of Storytelling