WHAT I DID FOR THE WEEKEND...

A dialogue between Rev. Julian Heaton and Julie Withers. Used as a sermon at St Cross, Knutsford 28th April, 1996.

Julie, you were away last weekend. Where were you and what were you doing?

I was taking part in a Cursillo weekend in Bollington near Macclesfield. Cursillo is spanish for 'a short course' and the weekend is a short course in Christian faith and life.

Were you doing this on your own?

No, there were several of us coming together to lead or staff the weekend, and several who were coming as participants.

So, part of a team St Paul says that different people play different parts within the Body of Christ. What parts within this weekend did you play?

I was a leader of a small group of people who were doing the weekend for the first time and I had to give a talk.

You gave a talk! The Church sometimes seems to do a lot of talking at people. Did those who came just listen to talks? Was it like an endless sermon with different voices?

No, although it could very easily have been! Apart from listening to talks, we discussed what we had heard in small groups. We also shared meals together, spent time in prayer together and joined together in worship. We also had fun together.

It seems that more than just learning, you and those present did a whole variety of things. In fact, I have to tell you that on Sunday afternoon, I saw lots of smiling faces, lots of laughter and joy and the odd tear or two.

Is Cursillo all about having a great weekend, or is there more to it than this?

It is much more than having a great weekend (although it is that too!). It is about ordinary Christians being encouraged to grow through prayer, through study and experience and through action in their relationship with the Lord to enable them to live out their Christian lives in the real world.

So, it is, if you like, a way of kick-starting people who are already Christians, and giving them a way of living out their Christian lives in an effective way. This is clearly important.

It is important because there is a great value in learning in small groups, especially as we journey together and grow together, becoming a close Christian community loving and caring for each other, trusting one another, building our fellowship.

When is the next weekend?

October 24th --- 27th at Foxhill in Frodsham. They are held twice a year in April and October.

Julie, people are often suspicious of events like this. They think that it is for 'keenies,' for everyone else, not for them. It is strange, is it not, that people invest in all sorts of time and energy in their hobbies, and their outside interests, but feel that the church will be able to supply their every need within the hour or so of Sunday morning worship. So, if you were going to give a plug to encourage people to go on Cursillo, what would you say was the really important part of the weekend? What does it offer by way of experience that is unavailable in the busy-ness of ordinary life?

Through the fellowship, being in close Christian community it became possible to experience the total loving acceptance of God, the realisation that God loves ME. This may sound arrogant but those on the weekend, staff and participants experienced this and were moved to tears. It is so often hard to actually FEEL this love of God in todays world although we may talk about it. We build so many barriers around ourselves. I am convinced that God breaks through to touch us at Cursillo. This can be shown by the response of the people on Cursillo. As the sense of God's presence increased they became less afraid to talk to Him and about Him to each other.

They all grew in their knowledge of the presense of God and confidence in their faith. They blossomed. For example, during times of prayer for our small group, at first we sat a little tentatively in silence. But as we sensed God's presence and acceptance of us during the weekend, members of the group were able to say aloud what they wanted to pray about, whether that was just a name or a little of a situation. No-one was told that they should pray out loud --- it just happened.

Let us go back just a moment.

You talked about the model of Christian life that Cursillo gives as being based around the three headings of Prayer, Study and Action. It seems to me that in one sense, this is nothing remarkable. It is what Christians who have been effective in their discipleship have always done. What is special and important is that the Cursillo approach actually articulates this and encourages Christians to do it. As vicar, what excites me about this particularly is the stress that is put upon community, upon Christians working together, praying together, studying together. Is this simply pie-in-the-sky, is this something that happens in other places, or is God saying something about the way that Christians ought ordinarily to live?

I don't think it is pie-in-the-sky --- A family grows together and supports its members learning from experiences and this is what a Christian community should do. We might all live in different houses but we can all come together regularly to pray, to learn and to grow in God and in faith supporting one another as we do.

Julie, thank you for telling us about the weekend. I also went to the closing service of the weekend when you were a participant rather than a member of the team. Thinking back to this, what precious moment from that do you think back to and which still sustains you?

On my Cursillo I thought I knew how much God loved me, I knew He accepted me, but to really feel this, to experience His love and total acceptance that was the most precious thing, it gave me an inkling, a taste of the height, breadth and depth of God's love for me and for each one of us and that still sustains me and gives me a buzz.

Julie Withers

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