If you were to place Kim and me in separate rooms and ask us the question, when was the time you most experienced spiritual growth and nurturing, I believe we’d give the same answer. In just a moment, I’ll know we’d give the same answer because I’m going to tell you what I think the answer is.

But first, that scenario reminds me of a story. I think I read this in Reader’s Digest’s Campus Comedy. Four college sorority sisters spent the evening before an important test partying rather than studying. Waking up the next day and realizing they were totally unprepared for the test, they devised a story to buy them some more time. The story involved being out of town, having to drive to campus for the test and having a flat tire that prevented them from making it in time for the test. Stopping by the professor’s office later that day, they explained their "dilemma." It appeared their ploy had worked when the professor graciously made arrangements for them to take the test the next day. When the four girls arrived the next day, now having been more responsible about studying for the test, the professor took them to separate rooms he had arranged for each of them so that they might take the test in private. As each girl opened the folder containing the test, they were stunned to read the first question, "Which tire was flat?"

I think, if you were to put Kim and me into separate rooms and ask us the question, when was the time you most experienced spiritual growth and nurturing, I believe we’d give the same answer. That answer would be two times when we lived in Greeley and the common denominator in those two times would be small groups. We participated in two small group experiences—one was a couples Bible study and the other was a discipleship training small group experience put out by the Navigators. In both those small groups we experienced times of study and discussion about matters of faith. We experienced times of nurturing—in our families (we all had children being born during that time) and in our social lives (enjoying other activities together). We still meet with some of the people from those groups. We also experienced moments of accountability, sharing areas of struggles in our lives and discussing appropriate ways of responding. A time when I most experienced spiritual growth and nurturing in my life was when I participated in a small group.

And that is the invitation for you today—to encourage one another through the fellowship, faith strengthening and nurturing experience of small groups.

Last week we referred to the mark of membership from our Book of Order’s list of nine marks of membership, "Living responsibly in the personal, family, vocational, political, cultural and social relationships of life." That mark seems appropriate for today as well. However, I like better the way it is expressed as a mark of discipleship from the book Power Surge. There it says one of the marks of a follower of Christ is Be in relationship to encourage spiritual growth in others. I like that, but I would add, and yourself. The relationships of small groups is a ripe environment for encouraging spiritual growth in others and in our own lives.

The letter to the Hebrews is, in essence, a letter of encouragement. The author is writing to a group of people being persecuted for their faith and he is encouraging them to hold on tight to their faith. His audience is Jews, "Hebrews," who have accepted Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. Within a community of Jews, they are being persecuted for their beliefs, much like the persecution Paul brought upon the early Church, made up mostly of Jews, before his conversion. The author is seeking to encourage these Jewish Christians in their faith, to not go back to the practices of the "old covenant" now that Christ has brought a "new covenant." That is the reason for the Old Testament imagery throughout the book of Hebrews and in our passage for today: the Most Holy Place at the Temple and the curtain that separated the Most Holy Place from the rest of the Temple. The reference to the high priest and the duties he would perform for the people. In the new covenant brought by Jesus, the sacrificial system ended with his sacrifice on the cross, the curtain tore in two at the time of Jesus’ death upon the cross. Therefore, Jesus permanently took on the role of the high priest. "Don’t go back," the author encourages his readers, "to a faith profoundly inferior to the new covenant brought in Christ."

The key in the author’s encouragement? That his readers would "not give up meeting together." It is more than an encouragement to meet together in worship, although it is certainly that as well. Meeting together in worship is important. But the encouragement is more than that. It is also an exhortation to meet in small groups, to experience the faith strengthening encouragement of small groups. In small groups, we grow in our faith as we are reminded in our study and discussion of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. It is also more than an academic exercise. Small groups encourage practical applications of our faith as we explore with others in our group putting our faith to work in the various situations we face in life. In small groups, we encourage each other to "hold unswervingly to the faith we profess" as we walk with each other through difficult times that shake our faith. In small groups, we "spur one another on toward love and good deeds" as we share in our group situations we’re facing where loving someone else is difficult. The faith sharing that takes place in small groups brings greater love to our marriages, our families, and our friendships. And small groups "spur one another on toward love and good deeds" as the group explores mission activities in which to participate together.

I remember one activity that our couples Bible study participated in. Someone in the group was aware of a family going through a difficult time. The group explored ways to help this family anonymously, including buying groceries and leaving them on their front porch.

The best environment for encouraging one another in our faith is small groups. Thus the invitation for today—to encourage one another, encouraging one another to hold unswervingly to the faith we profess, to encourage one another toward love and good deeds. You’re invited to participate in the small group experience of Companions in Christ, living out the very meaning of those words, being Companions in Christ; you’re invited to participate in the small group Bible study experience of Disciple, living out the meaning of that word—growing more and more as a disciple of Jesus Christ. You’re invited to form your own small group experience around the study and discussion of some resource in Christian faith—there are literally thousands of possibilities out there. You’re invited to encourage one another, to be in relationship with others to encourage their spiritual growth…and your own.

Let’s take a moment of silent reflection to consider where we draw our encouragement from…and how we encourage others.