• Have some pens and paper and a basket or container to collect the paper

• Bring samples of a salty food, a sour food, a sweet food and a bitter food plus tasting spoons

Please be aware of food allergies.

The Salvation Army has adopted its five Mission Priorities, one of them being ‘Nurture disciples of Jesus Christ’.

‘[Discipleship is] about how we live; not just the decisions we make, not just the things we believe, but a state of being.’

Being Disciples by Rowan Williams

It is hoped that this session will encourage and affirm those who attend to continue living in a distinctive manner to the world. It naturally follows on from our Commitment Sunday thoughts of ‘Stand up, speak out’.

SHARE

We all have a wealth of experience! Ask members to write down on a piece of paper a job they once had – maybe something less well known by the group, like a Saturday job – or a job they would like to have had. 

Ask members to fold the piece of paper, place it in the basket/container. Draw out the piece one by one and then take turns to guess whose job it once was. Hopefully there will be some funny stories that accompany this sharing space.

TASTE

Ask a few volunteers who do not have food allergies to taste some of the food. Ask them to do this with their eyes closed, using a tasting spoon, so they can’t feel the texture. These items could include small pretzels (salty), a sour fruit sweet (sour), a piece of strawberry (sweet) and piece of dark chocolate (bitter). Ask the volunteers to describe what they are tasting. Can they identify the salty, sour, sweet and bitter flavours?

Thought

Each food has a particular taste, a distinctiveness that was (hopefully) easily identified as soon as our volunteers encountered it. As we live our lives as disciples of Jesus, are we as easily identified and distinguished by the people who meet us?

QUIZ

Can members guess the celebrities’ previous jobs? 

1. Which sunny actor, who also portrayed a penguin, was a hairdresser for corpses?

   (Danny DeVito)

2. Which whip-wielding actor was a carpenter? 

   (Harrison Ford)

3. Which queenly actor was a promoter for an amusement park in Southend-on-Sea? 

   (Helen Mirren)

4. Which actor and talk show host used to be a supermarket assistant?

   (Oprah Winfrey)

5. Which pirate actor was a telemarketer who made only one sale – and then persuaded the customer to cancel the order before quitting?

   (Johnny Depp) 

6. Which actor, who portrayed a nun, was a morgue beautician?

   (Whoopi Goldberg)

7. Which former Bond actor was a fire eater under the big top?

   (Pierce Brosnan)

8. Which former US president used to scoop ice cream? 

   (Barack Obama)

9. Which Titanic actor used to make sandwiches in a deli? 

   (Kate Winslet)

10. Which wrestler and actor used to be a dish washer? 

(Dwayne Johnson)

DANIEL

Daniel (chapter 1) stood up and stood out, and because of that, everyone from kings to co-workers turned to God. Daniel impacted all he worked with because he lived with a distinctive ‘flavour’ from that of the world around him. How did he do this?

He made a plan. 

Even in terms of food (v8), Daniel had a creative solution after he had decided what were his negotiables and non-negotiables. He kept healthy boundaries and put habits around them. Daniel’s habit was to pause and pray three times during the day (Daniel 6:10–28).

Daniel trusted in God’s ways. 

Daniel knew God’s truth and so he was not impressed by what he saw around him. Instead he held an eternal perspective, and he chose to trust God for what he could not see rather than what he could.

He knew his identity. 

Everything of Daniel’s own culture had changed because he had been taken into exile in Babylon – including his own name (1:7). But he still knew his identity. Daniel knew that he was loved by God, and he was secure in this. Perhaps we know we too are loved, but are we secure in that? Daniel, more or less, says, ‘Call me what you like, but I know who I am – I am the Lord’s!’

So what does this mean for us? 

What is our plan? How do we trust in God? Do we know who we are in Christ?

A couple of things to think about:

• Is there some way in which we can ring-fence our time to pray?
• Can we recognise that we are not defined by our job titles – not existing ones nor ones previous; instead we are his! It is not about what we do or don’t do – we are still God’s (1 John 4:4).

To live in a world but not of it (John 17:14–16) and to live distinctively takes courage. Is God calling us to be Daniels of this day? Living distinctively causes culture to be changed, and that ‘Kingdom culture’ starts with us. Let’s encourage each other to step into that.

How can we live differently in a way where others can taste something of the difference God makes?

• SASB 521 ‘Standing by a purpose true [Dare to be a Daniel]’

  • Lyric video by Parkwood SDA Church (2:31)

  • Lyric video (American kids’ voices) by Piano and Soul (1:28) 

  • Music video (no lyrics) by West Kenya Union (2:37)

• SASB 522 ‘Standing on the promises of Christ my King’

  • Brass instrumental lyric video by Pendleton Corps (3:07)

  • Soloist and piano lyric video by Scarborough Citadel (4:11)

  • Lyric video by Mark Parker-Randall (2:59)

• ‘Way Maker’ by Sinach

  • Gospel lyric video feat Sinach uploaded by IAN (4:58) 

  • Official lyric video feat Leeland by Integrity Music (3:23)

  • Live lyric video by Hillsong United (8:32)