home group? church? ekklesia? gathering? horde?

so sunday was our second "official" meeting. it was our first time meeting on a sunday. we started with 45 mins or so of talking and eating. then b read from Acts 2 about the early church meeting in people's homes and such. it was a good point to reflect on every time we start the "church" stuff. i talked for about 45 mins on the importance of solitude and silence. the questions and observations were really insightful. the last 45 mins or so was spent actually practicing silence and solitude. good stuff! the feedback from sunday has been positive. but of course the hearing of the word and the doing of it are very different things. it will be interesting to see what long-term impact there is on the group, especially as we grow into new areas of mission and accountability. i was encouraged by the relative diversity apparent in a group of 15 people. hopefully, we'll be able to reach some others who aren't plugged in anywhere else. for me, the most recognizable "take away" message was a process of viewing the world and our interactions in it like this: 1. Stop -- make space in your day/life/moment for God and for others; 2. Listen -- concentrate on listening to and attempting to understand God and to the person speaking to you; 3. Consider/Think -- don't just let the words roll off you, actually consider them, weigh them in your mind and heart; 4. Speak -- then your heart is better prepared to impact those around you through your mouth. the two passages of scripture that illustrated these things to me the best were Psalms 46 "Be still and know that I am God" and Ecclesiastes 5 "God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few" i'm praying that we take this thing to the next level and actually have most of the people involved in the group at a participatory level. i want to start on a book study, but i'm not sure where everyone else would be with that.