Once again my membership of the IVP book club has provided me with a book that has challenged my thinking in unexpected ways. Almost without exception these books have been ones I would not have known about let alone read, if I had not been a member the club.

Currently I am captivated by “ Practicing the Way of Jesus” by Mark Scandrette. I feel sure I will write more about this book in the future, but for the present in summary the author challenges his readers to ensure that we do not simply learn about the way Jesus lived. He encourages us take part in “experiments” to help us investigate ways of acting that reflect what we learn.

At New Life for the past 3 weeks we have been looking at Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well (John 4:1-42) and yesterday I suggested that we tried an experiment that is derived from my reading.

Here is the suggestion I made to them:

We have been learning about the way Jesus lived by his encounter with the woman at the well. How about we try something:

• With one or two friends or with your family read over John 4 once more.
• Talk together about the sort of boundaries and barriers that exist here in Pacifica. What kind of people are typically mocked or despised by your group?
• Come up with some ideas as to things you might experiment with to cross those obstacles
• Who would be the person or people that those who know you would find it most shocking to see you talking with?
• Commit to engaging in some way with someone who is very different from you culturally or socio-economically

Maybe you would like to try this over the next one or two weeks. If you do try it, please let me know about your experience and if you have any thoughts on the experiment let me know as well. I pray the each one of us will learn to, more fully, live what we learn about Jesus