You and everyone in your group very likely has hurt, disappointment and regret that they somehow, deep down, are waiting to get better.
Use this group time to not only commiserate, but to try and identify how we live with unmet wants and needs in our life, and how we embrace them and live through them. As it is, the Kingdom is both here and not yet here. We must live in the tension.
Thaw
- Garage sales, graduations, end of school year, weddings, plus all the normal family, serving, work and hobby stuff; how is the pace of life?
- What is different between your pace of life now and how you interpreted your family's pace while you were growing up?
- What changed about human nature, if anything, that it should be so different?
- What keeps it the same for those that think it hasn't changed?
- What most stuck with you from Sunday morning?
Read
- Luke 13:10-13
- Thoughts?
- This woman may have been visiting because Jesus was in town. But it's more likely this was her town and this was the synagogue she attended. What makes someone keep showing up to synagogue, church or small group after 18 years of waiting on something that doesn't seem to be coming?
- What is it in our minds that makes us stop moving and living when we have pain and disappointment looming over us for so long?
- How would it change our lives if God simply said he cared, even if our circumstances didn't change?
Leader note: It may be worth discussing that it's hard for us to tell if God cares when our circumstances don't change. Many of us measure love by the ease of our existence. Lead the group to consider that what seems to be the most important matter during our suffering (which, of course, is the pain of our suffering) oftentimes seems less significant in hindsight. We know this. Without painting God as an insensitive taunter, wonder aloud with the group about suffering in the context of our long existence and the strength that comes from it, no matter how unendurable it seemed at the time.
Read
- Psalm 13:1-2
- Psalm 13:5-6
- Thoughts?
- Look at verse 2 and verse 5. Sorrow and rejoicing in the same heart. How does this work?
- How can the ideas of God's "unfailing love" and "where are you, God?" go together?
- Why do our sorrows often feel more real, and more a determiner of reality, than when things are going well?
- Why do we forget blessing during sorrow, but anticipate sorrow during blessing?
Discuss
- The Bible speaks of living in rhythm, ceasing from work, sabbath, etc. But it's also built on the idea of walking through the valley of the shadow of death, or perseverance, of hope and of not quitting. Discuss the paradox of, regardless of how wonderful or dire the circumstances, being called to never stop moving, and to making sure we completely stop some times.
- How does misunderstanding these ideas cost us?
- How does getting them backward happen, and how do we make sure that we're not stopping when we should be going and visa versa?
Apply
- How does this group, our families, our church, play a role in naming and facing our sorrow, but also not letting our story be defined by it?
- What are you waiting for to change/improve, at the expense of perhaps finding life now, in the midst of struggle?
- Respond as a group to this quote:
"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." Annie Dillard
- What would it look like for you to be a joy-filled, life-eminating person from now on? Think about your answer for a moment.............. Now identify all the ways you pointed to issues outside of yourself. As frustrating and invalidating as it may sound, these issues are not actually in your way to becoming a joy-filled, life-giving person. Whether they improve or remain, you may take your pains, disappointments and regrets with you into life anytime! And the world will be that much more inspiring.
