The value is that church would be a "fellowship of the heart". One practice that helps us live out that value is "checking in" using SASHET. (SASHET is an acronym for six basic emotions: Sad - Angry - Scared - Happy - Excited - Tender) Clearly, SASHET is not just for adults. In fact, children seem instinctively
to want to talk about what is going on in their heart. And, they want to
know what is going on in our heart. SASHET allows young people to feel part of our house church gatherings. And, it deepens conversations around the family dinner table.
Here's what 14 year old Nathan had to say on the subject...
This is from Ken, in California...
“Hey John,
I just wanted to tell you that my five year old reminds us to do SASHET
around the breakfast table every morning. It has been good for us as a
SASHET helps create a true sense of family (even with seminary students!). In the LK10 Community we talk about a very simple equation that explains a great deal about house church. Church = family. While this is easy to say, it is often difficult to implement because our experience of church has been anything but family. (Hard to experience "family" in a gathering of a thousand people!) We've experienced...
Church = meeting
Church = performance
Church = organization
Church = business
But, in the New Testament, church was none of these things. Church was always seen as an extended spiritual family. In Roger Gehring's very important book, House Church and Mission, we read “... this concept of church as the ‘household of God’ (1 Tim. 3:15) incorporates two aspects: (a) the house or family is the fundamental unit of the church, and (b) the church is a social structure patterned after the household.” P. 7
So, if we understand how healthy families function, it will go a long way towards understanding how healthy NT churches function. And, healthy families are groups of people who are able to connect with one another on a heart level. SASHET is a powerful tool for creating that sense of family. In the video below, Hobby Chapin, church planter in Brighton, CO tells how he used SASHET to help a group of seminary students experience that "true sense of family". John
"Practice hospitality." Romans 12:13. Imagine you are going to a house church for the first time. It can be awkward (especially if you are a little introverted to begin with). What do you talk about? You wonder how this kind of church works. What are the "rules"? And, all of these other people already know each other. It's easy to feel like an outsider.
By starting the meeting by "checking in" with SASHET, everyone (visitors and regulars) are placed on the same footing. The "rules" are very simple. After one or two people share, you can quickly see how it's done. And, you can share at any level of vulnerability you are comfortable with so, you feel safe. SASHET moves the whole group beyond the level of "small talk". It provides an easy starting place for lots other follow-up conversations. In the course of one meeting, you are part of the community. No longer an "outsider".
"Hospitality is a fundamental function of the Jewish home. This practice is also central in the Hebraic heritage of the Church. Schooled in a rich rabbinic background, Paul inculcates this teaching in his readers... The term used in rabbinic literature for hospitality is hakhnasat orhim, literally "bringing in of guests" or "gathering in of travelers."... The rabbis considered hospitality one of the most important functions of the home... Guests were to be received graciously and cheerfully." Wilson, Our Father Abraham, p. 219-220.
Hospitality means opening our homes to guests. Perhaps even more important is the opening of our hearts to guests. SASHET gives us a pathway to do just that.
Tim Morris, a house church leader in Denver, share about the value of SASHET for himself and his house church. John
SASHET helps the church obey Scripture. "Weep with those who weep." Romans 12:15. Whenever a church of almost any size meets together, it's inevitable that there will be some who are sad. Some parent is hurting over one of their children. Someone has lost a job. Someone has experienced a death in the family. To live this life is to suffer loss. And, God intends that the community called "church" is the place where we receive support in our sadness.
But, often, church is the one place we have been taught not to weep. Put on a happy face! "How are you doing today?" "I'm fine. How are you?" People may be weeping on the inside but they may have learned that church is not the place (not safe?) to weep on the outside. As a result, we disobey the Lord's instructions for what should go on when we gather.
When we begin the meeting with SASHET, we find out who is sad this week. Then, we can obey Scripture and weep with them. This is the very nature of a healthy body. As Paul says in 1 Cor. 12:26, "If one part of the body suffers, every part suffers with it.
*Side note: And, of course, it is impossible to obey this command if the church is made up of 100 people, let alone 1000 or more. Walter Brueggemann on embracing the "darkness" of life...
"It's no wonder that the church has intuitively avoided these psalms (of disorientation). They lead us into dangerous acknowledgement of how life really is. They lead us into the presence of God where everything is not polite and civil... They lead us away from the comfortable religious claims of "modernity" in which everything is managed and controlled... The remarkable thing about Israel is that it did not banish or deny the darkness from its religious enterprise. It embraces the darkness as the very stuff of new life. Indeed, Israel seems to know that new life comes nowhere else." The Message of the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann, p. 53.
Examples of Psalms of disorientation and lament: 13, 22, 30, 35, 74, 79, 86, 88, 137
Interview with Desi Starr. Hobby is a house church planter in Denver, CO. In this short interview, he explains how the SASHET "tool" bonds a group and why he teaches it to every new house church that he plants. John
I have no idea if this lady, Brene Brown, is a Christian and she certainly doesn't quote the Bible. Nonetheless, what she says, rings true for me. "For connection to occur, we have to allow ourselves to be seen, really seen... Vulnerability is the birthplace of joy, of creativity, of belonging, of love... It's the starting place for being wholehearted."
My sense is that it has huge implications for how (and why) we "check in" (SASHET) with ourselves, with our friends and with the Lord. And, for how we do church. See what you think.
One of the reasons the church in Acts was powerful was that they met daily (Acts 2:46). But, most of our house churches only meet weekly. So, what do we do? We have to look for creative solutions!
One solution is the formation of CO2s (churches of two) within each larger house church. Another solution is the formation of a private Facebook group which allows the members of a house church to connect on a more regular basis.
We've also used Facebook groups as a way for the cohorts in the Foundation Courses (previously the Apprenticeship) to connect with one another. Many of us have been surprised at the level of comment that has developed in this context.
Rose and Desi Starr are house church leaders and cohort coaches in the Apprenticeship. In the video below, Rose shares what it has been like to be a busy mother of four little ones and still engage with her cohort on Facebook.
In this video, Tod Brown shares some important insights about how and why we use SASHET to check in.
John
My 16 year old daughter and I were walking on the beach the other day. She had been home from school for about a week as she had a bad acne breakout. She had become very depressed as a boy at school had been rather cruel to her, and she felt very ugly and wanting to isolate herself. This was in contrast to just 4 weeks prior when she had 2 prophetic words over her life at 2 different times of an Esther anointing on her life.
I had introduced her to the SASHET concept some time ago, so asked if we could do it as we walked back along the beach. She told me that she was excited, but also tender. She was excited that she had such a bright future with God as she revisited everything that had been spoken over her life. She was tender as she reflected on the pain in her heart about the acne/bullying, but after resting for a week she could see that becoming vulnerable by this situation had brought her closer to God. I asked her what she felt God saying to her and she felt Him saying He would heal her heart and she would be left with only scars, scars being a healthy reminder of both the wound and the healing.
It was then that we could "see" that what was happening on the outside of her body was a reflection of what was happening within. Stuff coming up and out as God was applying gentle pressure. As we prayed I felt Gods strong presence and healing, honouring her for sharing truthfully and for responding to His prevenient work in her life.
I am sensing how powerful SASHET really is. Tod said that staying to these 6 words forces us to go deeper. I am loving the word DEEP - "deep calls unto deep", and God meets us there. I feel such a desire on God's part to heal us deep within. He has been saying to me this week about His desire for "truth in the innermost parts of our being". I am moved by the depth that He wants to go with us, it is overwhelming and all consuming.
