Mark 15

In chapter 15 of Mark, we come to the last quoted words of Christ.

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

In chapter 16 there are words recorded, but they are known to be additions added as late as the second century. More on that later.

As a group discuss the message and the implications of Mark concluding his work with these particular words in Christ's mouth, and what that might say to us, his followers.


Thaw

• Who is traveling and who is staying for Thanksgiving? (Is the group meeting next week? Special plans?)

• What has stayed with you from this Sunday?
• How did Sunday add to the overall experience of the series?

Read

• Philippians 2:5-8
• Thoughts and impressions?
• How does this passage line up with your view of the power of God in Christ?

Leader note: Be sensitive to people talking about Christ only being this way then, but will come back in domination. Remember, "he's the same yesterday, today and forever."

Read

• Mark 15
• Thoughts and impressions?
• Why would Christ reference abandonment in the moment he knew was coming?
• Why would fulfilling your calling, and more significantly, loving others so completely, turn out so badly?

Discuss

• Has there ever been a time in your life where you have felt controlled by someone? If so, did you a) try and control them in return, b) distance yourself to get free of it, c) allow them to do it, retaining control by staying aware of their behavior, d) submit to it, not knowing what else to do, e) lash out and fight their control or f) other? Describe your experience.
• Why are love and control considered by so many to be mutually exclusive?
• What makes someone want to control others?
• What has to happen for that person to begin believing love has any lasting power?
• How would you help someone who believed in control begin to believe in love?

Leader note: be sensitive to all the advice on this last question being veiled forms of control. The trick is, we love controlling people, if even at a safe distance depending on how severe their behavior is. But we do not try to control their thoughts and actions. To control a controller in the name of converting their minds to a more loving disposition is the exact wrong thing to do. Everybody loses.

Apply

• How can this group be more, appropriately vulnerable?
• How did the previous answer sound like a loss of control?
• How did the previous answer sound like the conquering of deep-seated fear?

Read

• Psalm 22:1-5
• Think about your relationships, personal and professional. In closing, spend a few silent moments thinking of the ways you might be too fearful to relinquish control, influence or manipulation over them. Think of what you believe the consequences to that would be. And then allow yourself the slow process of beginning to let go of others. To risk love and others-centeredness and taking years-long samples to measure your eventual success. This is a key to freedom and enjoying life. It's intimidating, but it appears to be the last message Mark saw fit to give us from Christ's mouth.

Mark 14:32-42

sur·ren·der

\sə-ˈren-dər\

: to agree to stop fighting, hiding, resisting, etc., because you know that you will not win or succeed

: to give the control or use of (something) to someone else

It's not merely giving up. It's being mindful enough to realize that not everything should be a fight. And even when it is a fight, it should be for people, not against them. This isn't a rule but simply a new conscious set of decisions to slowly replace the default of pushing, defending, resisting and lack of peace.

Use the discussion questions below to discuss the message and other thoughts and ideas it stirred.

Read 

• Mark 14:32-42

Discuss

• What has most stayed with you from Sunday?
• In what specific areas did you feel challenged?
• What did you learn about yourself, God or others?
• What are the hang-ups about surrender? Where does it seem hardest or most unrealistic? Explain? 
• Have you ever felt after fighting for something that it wasn't worth it, even though you got what you were fighting for?
• In what ways are we expected to fight, with no regard to whether it is good or wise?
• How can this group be a helpful place to awaken to the distinction between quitting, winning and true surrender?

Mark 14:27-31,14:66-72

If faith is only defined as the solid, unswerving, unmistaken parts of us, we're in trouble.
We're also without any example to follow. No one has ever pulled off definitions of faith like these...

In your group time, see if you can not only share who you really are, and who you really aren't- but also how the imperfections of our lives also serve as part of what we mean when we talk of our faith. The part we usually hide is typically the part God uses most to shape us into the flawed but loving men and women God intended.


Thaw

• What is something you have learned in the last week?
• What is something you find yourself complaining about the most?
• What is something worth celebrating, on any level?
• What has stuck with you most about Sunday morning?

Read

• Mark 14:27-31,14:66-72
• Thoughts and impressions?
• Why is Peter scared for his life? 

Leader note: Nobody in your group knows Jesus Christ and his teachings about resurrection as well as Peter. And yet, when it was no longer a concept but was a physical thing to embrace or deny, be bailed. Make sure the group understands that Peter had more to hang his faith on and still chose basic self-interest. And for this, Christ never unleashed any wrath or disdain on him.


Read

• Read these stories and see if you can find a modern equivalent for Peter's behavior and seeming thought processes in you town life.
• Luke 5:1-8
• Matthew 14:25-30
• Matthew 16:21-23
• Mark 9:2-7
• John 18:10-11
• In what ways do you see yourself in the kinds of thing Peter got wrong?
• Why would Jesus include someone like this not only in his circle of friends, but as one of his leaders?
• Why do Peter's faith, impulsiveness, love, doubt, agitation, etc. all belong in the telling of the "first Christians"?

Read

• John 21:3-17
• Thoughts and impressions?

Discuss

• How does Christ reconcile with Peter, and for whose sake is the reconciliation offered? Explain your thoughts.

Apply

• In what ways might God be trying to get you to stop perfecting yourself and instead use your "imperfections" as part of the story?
• In what ways might God be trying to get you to stop making other people perfect themselves so they can experience the story God is up to in all of us?
• Are there ways that you indemnify with Peter's story, and yet only present to others the very best? 
• How can this group be a place safe enough to tell people the underside of our stories, such as Mark and the other gospel writers included about Peter?

 

 

Mark 14:-10-25

The Last Supper scene is iconic to say the least. Not in the least because it gives us a recurring reminder of what Christ's heart was like. The giving of himself to friends and enemies, to the righteous and the sinner alike.

Use this group time to discuss not only the passages included, but what we learn and relearn from Christ in the taking communion, together.



Thaw

• What kinds of plans do you or your family have this fall that you're looking forward to?
• How many Autumns have you spent in North Carolina, and how are they different from where you lived before?

• What most resonated with you from Sunday morning?
• What key points or ideas have stayed with you?

Read

• Mark 14:10-25
• Thoughts and impressions?
• Read v18-21, then discuss why there is seemingly no bread or wine withheld from anyone in v22 and v23.
• Contrast v11 and v22-23. What label would you put on the two different men?

Discuss

• Which label hangs over your relationships with others more, the label you gave Judas or Christ? Explain your answer.
• If you feel more like Judas in your dealings with others - one who embraces self-interest more than others-centeredness - how do you react thinking Christ hands the bread and cup to you anyway?
• Thinking creatively, Jesus hands his disciples bread and says this is my body. Paul refers to the community of followers as "body". In effect, Jesus could be heard as saying two things simultaneously. This is my body, and this group receiving it is my body. Broken and broken. How does communion remind us that we all need to receive and give grace, the sacrifice of the broken Body for the broken body?

Read

• 1 Corinthians 11:20-30
• Thoughts and impressions?

Discuss

• Worthiness is a tricky concept. Knowing that love of each other, across the divides and hierarchies instituted by human beings, is in view- how do you understand v27
• Outside of the sacrament of taking communion, in the rest of our week, what does the application of what v27 teaches look like?

Leader note: Discuss ways we handle the presence of Christ in an unworthy manner as we work, play, buy, travel, talk, etc. It means far more than how we conduct ourselves during the literal eating and drinking of the elements, or one might argue it means nothing at all.

Apply

• The taking of bread and the cup not only celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, but are checks for us, the body, in our relating to each other no matter what seeks to divide us. How can your group celebrate communion as a way of remembering the Judases and the James and Peters sit at the same table, each invited to become like Christ? Monthly? Weekly? 

Leader note: Taking the bread and the cup together isn't necessarily a solemn moment of silence. Consider having a regular rhythm of communion in your group, a moment dedicated to talking about ways each is learning/discovering forgiveness, grace and oneness while eating the bread and drinking the cup. A COUPLE IMPORTANT NOTES- many in our church come from a background where only certain men may preside over the elements, and only in a consecrated setting. This is to be respected. We don't want to, in the name of unity, dismiss someone's desire to be as honoring as possible. Feel free to contact me in the comments below for ideas on how to handle this tension from a theological/psychological/philosophical standpoint. Additionally, feel free to use grape juice or wine. In the latter case, only if you have put in the work and time to know whether struggles with alcohol exist within your group.

Mark 14:3 What's Loudest Goes Unsaid

Use these unformatted general discussion questions, message points and key texts for your group time.

• Mark 14:3 ESV
• Mark 15:1-2 ESV
• Luke 7:37-39

"God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, clouds, and stars." ~Martin Luther

"I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station through which God speaks to us every hour, if we only will tune in." ~George Washington Carver

Questions:

What most stuck out for you about Sunday morning?

What were the key points for you in the message?

Sometimes Don't Listen for God's Voice 

Your Words are the Least of What You Say

Listen to the Whole Person

What was the "one thing" you took away that seems applicable in your own, personal life?

What did you learn:

*About God?

*About yourself?

*About others?

What changes in thought and in style-of-relating might be necessary in light of what you've learned?

What are the hindrances to transformation, and what do we do about those?

What role can this group play to help you take steps this week and beyond?

"What marks us in the eyes of our enemies is our loving kindness. 'Only look,' they say, 'look how they love one another' " Tertullian, 2nd Century Christian historian.

Mark 12:25-44 Seeing After You Saw

Humility can be described in multiple ways. One good way is to say that humility is the acceptance that there is far more important information left unknown than known, and therefore the person reserves final judgment.

Use this group time to discuss the idea that all the concrete, fixed ideas we have about others, God and ourselves might need readdressed. As Christ insists, we must re-see and re-see and re-see, or we will be fooled by mere appearances.

___________________________
Thaw

• What is something on the calendar for October that you are looking forward to and something that you are not looking forward to?

• What most stuck with you from Sunday?

Read

• Mark 12:25-44, 13:1-4
• Thoughts and impressions?

Leader note: Help the group see the pattern (which appears in other places in the New Testament as well) of Jesus alternately saying "don't dismiss, don't be too easily impressed, don't dismiss, don't be too easily impressed."

Discuss

• In what ways do we assume things about others superiority?
• In what ways to do we assume others' inferiority?
• Even though we don't consciously believe in these judgments, in what ways do our lives and habits reinforce that they are in fact true?

Leader note: Take for instance our physical appearance. It's certainly no sin to look nice. But how many of us say beauty is skin deep and yet spend most of our thought and resource on our external? We can therefore consciously affirm that what matters is the unseen, yet behaviorally we contradict our affirmation. We do this with money and possessions. We do it with the shape and color of others. We do it with stereotypes. We do it by having the same view of people for decades, leaving them no room to change as we have. In this, we actually dismiss each other and get easily impressed by each other and miss out on the True story underneath.

Read

• Acts 1:24
• Acts 15:8

Discuss

• The word being used here is Kardiognostes or Heartknower. What peace or anxiety arrises when you consider God is not one to see us as we see ourselves, but instead sees our whole story, our intent, context and the whole scope of reality left unrevealed to other people?
• What does God's true seeing into the hearts of men and women tell you about the Love of God for all people?

Apply

• Understanding Christ's words about neither being dismissive or too easily impressed leaves us with little to say. What changes in relating to others do your foresee as you begin to see past appearances and really know people?
• How do you imagine it would affect your job or your style of relating to people if you began refusing to "make up your mind" about others?

Leader note: Interestingly, there are times where making your mind up quickly about someone serves as a survival instinct. If someone is a threat to you and you take to long to decide this, it could cost you big. But 99.99% of our existence is not under real threat. Even when it feels so, emotionally speaking, our survival is almost never on the line. So "making up our mind" about someone may not be a sign of our psychological strength, but rather a sign of our fearful insecurity about others and what they might do to us if we don't hurry up and get them categorized.

• How would it change your faith if you began to pry yourself back open and allow God to teach you new things about what you thought was not open for discussion?
• How can this group help itself collectively to slow down judgment, to be quietly humble, and to really be able to see in the way the Heartknower sees?

Leader note: this affects how we speak (or don't) of politicians. How we think of those against whom we hold protracted grudged and bitterness, how we size up whoever "them" and "they" are, how we think of our faith against varying expressions of it, etc. This will be extremely unpleasant for some in the group, as living in abstractions takes far more mental work than the easy (laziness?) of just having your mind made up.

Mark 13

It's been an important week for everybody. Especially for those who have taken steps of faith via baptism, forgiving others, letting go of anxiety in the fact of death, and more.

Spend some time as a group recounting the last few days, particularly for those who were baptised a week ago, and then discuss the texts below.

General Discussion

• What stuck with you most from Sunday?
• What decisions did you make, or did you feel like you want to make?
• How different is the Christ of your current understanding compared to your previous understanding, or what you've heard from others?
• How would your life be different if you began living in the ways of grace and peace and forgiveness and love more fully?
• How can this group help you participate in the Life of Christ?
• How can this group work together better as a reflection of the Life of Christ?

Mark 12:18-34 You're Standing in It.

Read the selection from Mark 12 as a group (Mark 12:18-34).
Then discuss what Christ is doing not only in the minds of the religious leaders, but in the observers' as they contemplate just what it is to have faith in God.

Then discuss what it looks like to follow this Christ, whether from a starting point of no religion, or being steeped in it from youth. Christ's invitation is a stark contrast against all or preconceived notions, and it's important to, individually and as a group, ask whether what we are doing and who we are is what the Son of God is up to.

Discussion questions:
What stuck with you most from Sunday?
What decisions did you make, or did you feel like you want to make?
How different is the Christ of your current understanding compared to your previous understanding, or what you've heard from others?
How would your life be different if you began living in the ways of grace and peace and forgiveness and love more fully?
How can this group help you participate in the Life of Christ?
How can this group work together better as a reflection of the Life of Christ?

Mark 11:27-12:17

Jesus was kind and patient. Compassionate and gracious. After all, his yoke was easy and his burden light. But if you crossed him, you got parables about being destroyed and a wit so sharp you might not survive an exchange.

But is this really the case for everybody?

Spend some time reading the text and understanding his points made to the religiously powerful (especially in light of his impending death just days a way at the hands of those he speaks to.) And then be reminded that this is how he confronts the power systems in his name, but not necessarily us. The difference is huge.


Thaw

• How is your schedule and pace now that September is here?

• What most has stayed with you from Sunday morning?
• When you think of God looking at you, how do you describe it? Angry? Disappointed? Disinterested? Happy?

Leader note: you will come back to this idea. Invite people to hang on to their image, as well as any others that were shared.

Read

• Mark 11:27-12:17
• Thoughts and impressions?

Discuss

• Christ seems to have little patience with the powerful, but not just because of their power. How would you describe the difference between Christ's feelings toward the religious elite, and those sinners who are lost in their foolishness?
• Which are you closer to?
• Going back to the question about God looking at you, and how God feels about you: does Jesus' tone in this selection match how you think God feels towards you, or is it different? Explain.

Read

• Romans 2:1-4
• Thoughts and impression?

Discuss

• How does this passage compare with your conception of God, and how God transforms our lives?
• Some might think something like, "sure God uses kindness to bring us to repentance, but there are limits. If kindness doesn't work, God will be unkind if that what it takes." Why would this be the case, and what examples might there be?

Leader note: This is a heavy idea. You may find that the only example your group can conceive of where God doesn't seem kind in order to get someone to change would have to do with something pertaining to justice; Where one is hurting/victimizing the other. This is no surprise. A good parent is kind to her children, and kind to the neighbor children. But in the middle of a bloody fight, or where one is tearing toys from another's hand, that parent steps in with appropriate intensity that in the moment doesn't seem kind. But, this is kindness, because doing nothing would be unkind to both kids. Justice will then likely be the only category someone can provide, and it's perfectly common sense. (Keep in mind the above example is an illustration. However, Christ, even in justice issues, seems neither to choose aggression or apathy. Instead, Christ offers and teaches another option, loving enemies, and creatively remaining non-violent when violence seems to be the only option. This isn't a law, but a way always sought by his followers). 

Apply

• In what ways would your practice of faith change if you believed there was kindness for you in God's heart, rather than annoyance, anger and impatience?
• How different would your sharing of faith be if it didn't have angry ultimatums, but was humbly confident that there is grace and kindness for all of us, no matter what we've done or how dogged by guilt and shame we feel?
• What would it look like for you to pass this heart on to others in your life in your attitudes and behaviors?
• How can this group become a place of kindness and change, even in the midst of challenging each other, properly confronting issues, etc?

Mark 11:1-10

Some people walk into a room thinking something like, "Here I am."
Other people, far fewer, walk in and think, "There you are."

The first needs acknowledged, noticed. Needs to have the power. Needs to be needed.
The second likes some of that stuff, but has tamed the beast and can defer energy to others. The second is far more equipped to love and serve and to enjoy life.


Spend some time as a group discussing, each of you, whether you are more "There you are" or "Here I am".

• Where did you learn this?
• How has it affected your relationships?
• Who are the people in the group that best exemplify one or the other?

Read
Mark 11:1-10

What most stuck out for you about Sunday morning?

What were the key points for you in the message?

What was the "one thing" you took away that seems applicable in your own, personal life?

What did you learn:

*About God?

*About yourself?

*About others?

What changes in thought and in style-of-relating might be necessary in light of what you've learned?

What are the hindrances to transformation, and what do we do about those?

What role can this group play to help you take steps this week and beyond?

Mark 10:32-52 Where's The Glory?

This week may very well serve as a sequel to last.

Incorporate your discussion from your last group time and follow up with some of the insights and themes. You may encounter new ideas, but don't feel unsuccessful if you're all right back in the same ideas again. Mark expands on the the idea of "first must become last", humility and the condescension of power. It's a message we've apparently needed to hear a lot over the last few thousand years.

----------------------------

Thaw

• What were you doing this week 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago?

• What most impacted you from Sunday?

Read

• Mark 10:32-52
• Thoughts and impressions?
• Why were the people shushing Bartimaeus?

Leader note: this moment may or may not run parallel with the disciples rebuking people for bringing lowly children to Jesus a few paragraphs back.

• Why didn't Jesus tell him "follow me", instead telling him to just "go"?

Leader note: be sure and contrast this with what he told the Rich Young Ruler earlier.

Discuss

• Who do you know that seems to always have time/energy/consideration for others, even if it seems to take from them?
• What do we learn about Christ as we see him pause his journey toward Jerusalem to interact with someone who a) was obviously not well respected, b) was unclean and therefore unfit to interact with by any serious religious person heading to the Holy City c) couldn't reciprocate anything?

Apply

• In what ways does the course of your daily life contradict the values in your heart?
• What can be done about this, especially in light of the fact that guilt is neither useful or from God?
• Why do we have so much disdain for suffering, difficulty, inconvenience, etc. when we all recognize in hindsight, that's where all the good stories and all the deepest lessons are found?
• How can this group be a catalyst for becoming the kind of people who step into others' reality?
• How can your group, working perhaps with other groups, help build momentum toward our church becoming a people who willingly, fearlessly overlap with others and their difficulties?

Mark 10:13-31 Camels Make Terrible Quilts

If you make this passage only about money, and this one man, you're missing it.
There are all kinds of reasons we don't fit through Kingdom gate.

Use this discussion time to find attachments and demands in your lives. We all have them. The variations only have to do with quantity. And each attachment is a reason we aren't finding life to the full. You can expect some people to come right out with it. Others may have a harder time. Keep in mind that these sorts of conversations most typically serve as a step, not the whole movement toward letting go.


Thaw

• What are a few things you have learned/relearned this Summer?
• Have there been disappointments?
• What has gone well?
• How would this Summer be different if you were able to have no expectations (good or bad)?
• 
  

Read

• Mark 10:13-31
• Thoughts and impressions?
• What from Sunday morning stands out as you read through?
• Considering the setting, why does Christ mention leaving "home" and "family"?

Leader note: It may be worth reminding the group that Christ isn't advocating abandoning loved ones as a litmus test for faith. Paragraphs earlier he affirmed fidelity in marriage, the value and sacredness of children, etc. Generally speaking, he is referring to a state of mind, not a state of geography.

Read

• Matthew 7:13-14
• Luke 12:15
• Thoughts and impressions?
• How does this fit with how we have structured our society?

Leader note: Many people interpret Jesus' words about few finding the narrow path as "most people will go to Hell!" Try not to get distracted. Suffice it to say for now that if this were the case, it essentially positions God as mostly not victorious, and sin being ultimately a little too much for God to handle. If it's helpful, think of gates in the first century to reinforce the picture Christ paints. Wide gates with throngs of people moving through to say, shop for themselves or see a gladiatorial game. Something popular. A narrow gate, such as might be in front of a synagogue or the home of a poor widow, sees far less people passing through it. But the latter contains the object of Christ's greater concern. The first reinforces selfish ignorance or "destruction", the second leads to life. Few choose the second.

Discuss

• Other than material things, what are some things that we keep/possess/invest ourselves in?
• How do these things get in the way of the peace Christ invites us each into?
• Why does dropping something we know creates tension and stress and division seem so scary, or even impossible?

Apply

• Who in this group has perspectives, pursuits, ideas, desires, hopes, wounds, grudges, etc. that they feel they are unable to release?
• What would life be like without it?
• What makes you continue to hold on to it, despite the fact that you can see it makes you, where the Kingdom's "eye of the needle" is concerned, more camel than thread?
• What on step can you and the group take today that would make you freer from demands to be known, loved, understood, respected, admired, heard, etc?

Mark 9:30-48 Church Dismembership

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

 And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. 

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’

Mark 9:30-48 ESV

Discussion questions

What most stuck out for you about Sunday morning?

What were the key points for you in the message?

What was the "one thing" you took away that seems applicable in your own, personal life?

What did you learn:

*About God?

*About yourself?

*About others?

What changes in thought and in style-of-relating might be necessary in light of what you've learned?

What are the hindrances to transformation, and what do we do about those?

What role can this group play to help you take steps this week and beyond?

Discussion questions in July.

Hi all
It's easy to leave the best part of the sunday message untouched. This is the part where people wrestle with it afterward and figure out what it has to do with real life. Thanks for creating environments where people get a chance to do this.

Over the next month, there will only be the generic discussion guide available. I say "only" as a measurement of quantity, not quality. These questions, and an attentive ear as a leader during a message and during group time, are plenty to create great conversations and challenging application to the individuals and to the group as a whole. As I am on sabbatical, I won't be producing this or anything else. But it will continue to be my hope that the groups we lead are challenged and comforted, encouraged and loved this summer.

We'll pick back up in August with specifically tailored discussion guides for you to you lead with.

Be creative.
Be attentive.
Be humble.
Be honest.
Above all, be loving!

Thanks for leading.
Steve

What most stuck out for you about Sunday morning?

What were the key points for you in the message?

What was the "one thing" you took away that seems applicable in your own, personal life?

What did you learn:

*About God?

*About yourself?

*About others?

What changes in thought and in style-of-relating might be necessary in light of what you've learned?

What are the hindrances to transformation, and what do we do about those?

What role can this group play to help you take steps this week and beyond?

Mark 9:2-29 "The Dad Who Saved his Kid with Doubt"

Use the generic discussion guide in your group this week to allow people to explore the ins and outs of knowing and being known. You probably won't have many members start completely unpacking their hidden interiors, but it will be another step toward the peace that comes from unconditional love and inclusion. This is a benchmark of a Christ community.

Key texts

• Mark 9:2-29
• John 1:14,17
• Psalm 85:10 
• Romans 2:4

Discussion

• What most stuck out for you about Sunday morning?
• What were the key points for you in the message?
• What was the "one thing" you took away that seems applicable in your own, personal life?
• What did you learn:
• *About God?
• *About yourself?
• *About others?
• What changes in thought and in style-of-relating might be necessary in light of what you've learned?
• What are the hindrances to transformation, and what do we do about those?
• What role can this group play to help you take steps this week and beyond?

Mark 8:27-9:1, 9:30-37 "Power down"

The gospel of Mark has taken a notable turn. The cross is now named and fully hanging over the events and words of Christ. We can see all this in retrospect with a fair amount of clarity, but the disciples were confused. And perhaps some of us are when we really stop and think about Christ's mission:

God showed the power of the Kingdom by something you and I would in any other context call weakness and loss.

Use this time in your group to see if you can begin to identify the "power systems" in your lives, both active presently and hoped for at one point in the future. In what ways do we strive for the kinds of power, the kinds of control, conquest and converting that our culture teaches are the key to succeeding? Like electricity, power itself isn't bad. But 9 times out of 10, it's not it's channeled in a way that aligns with the Kingdom, and therefor works against the human life God intends for us all to live together.


Thaw

• How have you been more present to notice the sacred within the mundane in the last week? 
• How has God helped you have "eyes to see and ears to hear" in ways that you normally struggle?
• What stood out the most from Sunday morning?

Read

• Mark 8:15
• Mark 8:27-9:1 
• Mark 9:30-37
• Thoughts and observations?
• What are you learning about Christ here?
• What is this teaching you about what it means to be a follower of this sort of King?

Discuss

• Who taught you what "powerful" was as a child?
• In what ways does your life (career, relationship style, etc.) require displays of strength, dominance, "overpowering"?
• If you were to relinquish control over certain aspects of your life, what would it cost you?

Read

• John 6:15
• Thoughts and observations?

Discuss

• How do you think Christ made such a name for himself if he wasn't even willing to be made a king?
• You probably won't be forced into a king/queen decision. What scenario might you face where the same kind of decision is necessary?

Apply

• Think ahead about the rest of this month. How can you display the power of the Kingdom in your specific circumstances, even if it at odds with how you normally think, behave or even get paid to do?
• What about all this seems so uncomfortable, even though, intellectually, we are reasonably certain that this is the very best, most unified way to exist?
• How can this group be a support and an encouragement to you as you try and "take up your cross" and "deny yourself" in ways you have never done before?

Mark 7:24-8:26 "Sigh..."

A recurring theme visited again this week: God continues to show us that there is enough in and around us already to begin experiencing fullness and joy. In fact, Jesus went so far as to say that the Kingdom isn't "over there", but is within us (Luke 17:21).

As a group, discuss the nuances of the text(s) this week, and spend some time adjusting your dials to become more aware of the beauty of the moment you find yourself in. 

Thaw

• It's June! How is this year going compared to your expectations and intentions six months ago?
• What have you learned over the years about what you intend and what actually occurs?
• What most stuck with you from Sunday morning?
• What is something sacred you noticed today?

Leader note: let the room go quiet as the group reviews their day. Sacred happened, even if it was missed on the first pass.

Read

• Mark 7:24-8:26
• Thoughts and observations?

Discuss

• Why is it easier to see God's work in retrospect?
• What would it take to better see God at work in the present?
• In what ways have you been figuratively blind and deaf in your life?

Read

• 1 Corinthians 2:8-10
• Thoughts and observations?

Discuss

• What causes us to miss or not recognize that which God is on record as having already revealed?
• Why do we continue to not adjust our lives to live more attuned to reality, even after recognizing we're "missing it"?
• In what ways can you imagine your group being a place that sees and hears what God is already up to, in the midst of all the peaks and valleys, busyness and boring of life?
• In what ways can this group accidentally add to the deafness and blindness Jesus deeply sighs about?

Mark 7:24-30 Lady and the Tramps

A strange passage to be sure; Jesus calls a woman a dog and she ends up being thankful for the exchange.

There's much to talk about in this week passage pertaining to how we read scripture, what we assume and shouldn't, and more. Study the key texts together and use the generic discussion makers to take your chat further.


Key Texts

• Mark 7:24-30
• Matthew 15:21-28
• Acts 10

Discuss

• What most stuck out for you about Sunday morning?
• What were the key points for you in the message?
• What was the "one thing" you took away that seems applicable in your own, personal life?
• What did you learn:
• *About God?
• *About yourself?
• *About others?
• What changes in thought and in style-of-relating might be necessary in light of what you've learned?
• What are the hindrances to transformation, and what do we do about those?
• What role can this group play to help you take steps this week and beyond?

Mark 7:14-23 Inside of the Cup

Light. Mind of Christ. Truth. Righteousness. Holiness. Awareness. Purified hearts. Awakening. Enlightenment. Rebirth. Repentance. Transformed mind.

Throughout the scriptures, these ideas and others get at a similar theme: what God is doing is chiefly inside me, not at my exterior. But it doesn't happen easily.

Each week, regardless of the topic, our goal in groups is to create a place where people can know and be known. As John Ortberg insists, "You can only be loved to the extent that you are known." This week is no exception. Bring this always-behind-the-scenes work to the foreground, spending some time as a group talking about how your group functions, and what it means to be known. To not merely talk "about", but into. If a few members of your group are uncomfortable, if there are large gaps in sharing where you have to fight to resist the urge to fill them with words, if the overall tone feels less slightly social and more vulnerable. . . you may be doing something right.


Thaw

• What stuck with you most from Sunday, and why?
• Who do you know that is a person of faith and seems to leave others alone, tending very well to the inside of his or her own "inside of the cup"

Read

• Mark 7:14-23
• Thoughts and impressions?

Read

• Matthew 23:1-12, 23-28
• Thoughts and impressions?

Discuss

• Why would God care about our hearts and transforming our minds, since controlling our behaviors seems to produce the same results as far as any other human being is concerned?
• Why are people so prone to speak one way, and yet actually BE another
• On any given interaction, what percentage of the real you would you say people are actually experiencing?

Leader note: A fun follow up to this question: "from which part of you, the real part of you that is kept hidden, or the part that does the pretending, just shared that percentage with us? How can you tell the difference?" It's fun, but also a way to continue allowing the group to understand just how deep our resistance to actually being known runs. 

• Has this group afforded you a place to be more real- to deal more with the inside of the cup? Less? Same as other social circles? Explain why this is, and whether you think your answer says more about you, the group, etc.

Leader note: Be sure not to be defensive if the group dynamic is called into question. One of the main reasons, if not THE main reason people aren't honest in a case like this is because they believe they can hurt others and will feel guilty for offering honest feedback. So they lie to "keep the peace". If someone says "Frankly, this group is unsafe and I don't want to share my real life here because of the criticism, gossip, immaturity, etc..." you may feel yourself swell. Others on the group may as well. Instead, see the information as intel for improving the group for another person, and simply followup and ask what changes the person thinks could be made so they would feel safer "going there", as well as "being there" when others do.

• Many of us are pro's at keeping issues outside of ourselves. If you have a habit of creating walls around yourself, of being defensive, of spinning, of speaking in a way that communicates you need respect or acceptance, are you willing to allow others in the group to bring that up with you? Why or why not?

• What would this look like in your group?
• How would this equate to people being better known, and to subsequently being transformed inside-out?

Mark 6:45-50, 7:5-13 "I Am old, I Am new"

Use these general discussion makers in your group to uncover ways God might be inviting each of us to honor those that came before, and to be alive to what God is doing next.


Key Texts

• Mark 6:45-50
• Mark 7:5-13
• Titus 2:1

Discuss

• What most stuck out for you about Sunday morning?
• What were the key points for you in the message?
• What was the "one thing" you took away that seems applicable in your own, personal life?
• What did you learn:
• *About God?
• *About yourself?
• *About others?
• What changes in thought and in style-of-relating might be necessary in light of what you've learned?
• What are the hindrances to transformation, and what do we do about those?
• What role can this group play to help you take steps this week and beyond?

Mark 6:45-52 "Take Courage."

As a group, discuss this idea courage. 
Not just having a high risk-tolerance (which of course is great, but isn't the exclusive rights of Christian faith). Talk about what it means to live with a view to the Character of Christ. . .
About what love can do in any given situation though everything in you is motivating selfishness, defensiveness, etc. . .
About what trusting the Author of reality can do to the "reality" you had previously settled for.

Find out as a group how you can enCOURAGE each other going forward so that the subject of your discussion goes far beyond discussion.

Read

• Mark 6:45-52
• John 16:33
• 1 John 4:18
• Thoughts and impressions?

Discuss

• What most stuck out for you about Sunday morning?
• What were the key points for you in the message?
• What was the "one thing" you took away that seems applicable in your own, personal life?
• What did you learn:
• *About God?
• *About yourself?
• *About others?
• What changes in thought and in style-of-relating might be necessary in light of what you've learned?
• What are the hindrances to transformation, and what do we do about those?
• What role can this group play to help you take steps this week and beyond?

Mark 6:32-44 "I.D."

For all our efforts to modify behavior, manage sin and become the kind of people we can be proud of (while disguising all the parts that suggest we might not be), there's a simple power in seeing ourselves as God does. 

Recognizing our identity as Image Bears of the Divine, and awaking to our true selves, transforms us deeply. But failing to see ourselves in the proper light leaves us believing all kinds of cheap, flimsy ideas. And we'll live like it those ideas are true.

Spend some time as a group discussing this concept, and its practical aspects. For some in the group, this may be a new idea, for others a familiar exercise they have either begun to embrace, or still only "know about". For it to stick, you may find your group needs to become a place of encouragement and reminding. 

As iron sharpens iron,

    so one person sharpens another.

-Proverbs 27:17

Thaw

• Have you noticed your mood changing as the weather has?
• What does your answer tell you about how we perceive reality?

Read

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 -18 
• Ephesians 2:13 
• Ephesians 2:19
• Thoughts and impressions?

Discuss

• Why did Paul find it necessary to remind his brothers and sisters of these things?
• What are the primary determiners of how we think of ourselves, and what challenges does that present us?

Thought Experiment

• You find an old, tarnished, bronze lamp at an antique store. You strike a deal and buy it. Once home, you decide it needs polished and in keeping with the Hollywood Genie trope, you rub it to bring it to a shine. Out pops, or puffs, a Genie. Its appearance, depending on your preference, is either blue and masculine or female and a bit ditzy. Its voice is either Robin Williams or Barbara Eden accordingly. Your choice. You are told you get not three, but one wish. Additionally you cannot just wish for any thing. You may only wish to change something about what you are as a person. 
• Share with the group what that wish would be, and afterward, spend some time discussing what this wish reveals to you about how you see yourself and what you think is necessarily missing from your identity. 
• As a group, listen for themes and patterns in each others' sharing, trying to recognize how your group sees itself and what's longed for as a small sample of society.

Apply

• How can this group help you hold onto your identity as a child of God throughout the week, and why might that be helpful?
• How does recognizing our status as God's set apart ones (not superior ones, but set apart ones!) affect our closest relationships?

Mark 6:12-34 "Tapped into Infinity"

Use this time to uncover ways that the members of your group may be operating relationally out of emptiness and scarcity, rather that in tune with the Spirit of God and the source of all life.
It will deeply affect everything.


Thaw

• What are some of the thoughts and feelings you have had about the events of this last week?
• What are you learning about the world?
• What does Christ say to these issues in your opinion?

Prayer

• Take some time to pray for people in Boston, Texas, China, N Korea, Yemen, Baghdad and anywhere else that occurs to you.

Thaw

• What stuck with you from Sunday the most?

Read

• Mark 6:12-34
• Thoughts?
• How does this story represent things in our own lives, in small and large scales?
• How is Jesus able to not take out his disappointments on others?
• Who do you know that is like this- in touch with reality and yet somehow still able to offer grace and goodness? how do/did they do it?
• Is this simply a matter of personality, or is this available to all? Why do you feel this way?

Read

• Ephesians 4:25-32
• Thoughts?
• There are two different people depicted here: An anxious, entitled taker and and free giver. Where do you fall on a scale between these two with 

Your closest relationship?

Your parents?

Your kids?

Your employer?

Your fellow employees?

Your clients?

Your political leaders?

Your Ex?

Your professor?

Etc....?

Spend some time thinking about repentance in a new way; mindfulness about what your tapped into as you relate. If you believe you are tapped into scarcity, you will be an agitated, entitled taker. If you believe you are tapped into infinite love and acceptance, you will find yourself a giver of grace no matter what's going on. Spend some time quietly thinking through your relationships and maybe sharing with the group how you can imagine doing the work of mentally taking stock of what your mind feels connected to. How you might, before walking into your home, office, church, group, etc, "repent" and take note of what you are unconsciously believing about what you're drawing from- God, or a void.

Mark 6:1-6 Honor

Hopefully you have or are forming a plan regarding a chance to serve together as a group. Our weekly discussions are critically important. Right thinking precedes right living. But sooner or later we have to graft some doing into our discipline, or the whole faith can live in the "concept" category.

"Jesus replied, "But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice."

Luke 11:28 NLT

If you need help with ideas and opportunities to serve on a Sunday morning, or any other time of the week, let us know. It may be the next step of growth you've sensed it was time to take, but weren't sure what that meant.

For this week, read Mark 6:1-6 and use the "General Discussion Makers" (GDM in cool-people circles) to discuss honor.

• What most stuck out for you about Sunday morning?
• What were the key points for you in the message?
• What was the "one thing" you took away that seems applicable in your own, personal life?
• What did you learn:
• *About God?
• *About yourself?
• *About others?
• What changes in thought and in style-of-relating might be necessary in light of what you've learned?
• What are the hindrances to transformation, and what do we do about those?
• What role can this group play to help you take steps this week and beyond?

Mark 5:1-20

Spend some time as a group discussing what God has done for you.
Often we get caught up in learning how to pray and receive something else, something more. There is always the sense that God has yet to do his "biggest trick" in our lives.

But what about what already is?

Not only are we in Mark as a series, but we find ourselves heading into Easter week. Palm Sunday, when they chanted praise, all the way through to the crucifixion, where the crowds turned and chanted murder instead. Yet God remained true to us, refusing to express and teach us anything less than love. What more could a being possibly need?

Starting with the mundanity of having transportation to get to LifeGroup and having eaten multiple times in the last 24 hours, guiltlessly spend some of your group in gratitude for what is already true. You may choose to do this through good conversation, over communion or silently to yourselves. Regardless, without gratitude it's impossible to understand why we follow Whom we follow. We already have everything we need, and Christ s trying to wake us up to it.

Group time will be successful if everyone leaves less anxious than they arrived.


Read

• Mark 5:1-20
• Discuss the individual and social aspects of this story, and how it relates to our context.
• Note that the man isn't "converted" in the sense we're used to. He is simply given his sanity back, and charged with bragging on God to the measure he personally understands. What is the corollary in your own world?

Mark 4:24-25 What You Already Have.

Take time as a group to not only discuss the message, but to try and uncover ways that Christ's words are speaking to us about life and what we already have. Because God's words are. 

When a lack of contentment with what is is identified, we're well beyond half way to a life full of peace and meaning. Until this blindness is identified though, we're numbered among miserable millions waiting for God to make our lives like someone else's. Waiting for God to do more, to fix, to add- so we can live the abundant that God had the audacity to imply was possible regardless of whether things conformed to our preferences or not.

Thaw

• What is this group's plan for Easter week? Will it be like any other week, or will the time take on a different feel?
• Will the group be meeting over spring break?

• What had most stuck with you from sunday morning?
• How much time would you say you spend thinking about other people's lives as a metric for the quality of your own?
• For how long have you done this?
• Why do you think you do this? Though it would be perfectly acceptable to do so, try and answer this question without referencing the culture's way of encouraging envy and discontent. Or, in other words if you life, refer to yourself as the culture as you speak.

Read

• Proverbs 14:30
• Thoughts?
• Assuming bone rot is a metaphor- What specifically happens to someone who lives in envy?

Read

• Mark 4:24-25
• Thoughts?
• This is a confusing passage. Spend some time talking about it through the lens of:

Physical ability.

Talent.

Knowledge and mental sharpness.

Time.

Money.

Joy.

Etc...

Leader note: This is an exercise in understanding Christ. He is not necessarily painting a scene where God "comes to collect". Instead, think of his words as observations about how life is. When you don't use your mind, even what you have diminishes. But if you remain engaged, you're ability to learn grows. If you don't give time, you will feel like you don't have it. But if you offer what you do have in the most healthy and Kingdom ways possible, you find that life is constantly replenished. Etc.

Read

• Exodus 20:1-17
• What do you notice about the last one compared to the first nine?

Leader note: With the first nine commands, others can tell whether you are obeying them or not. There are outward manifestations to observe. But number ten is internal. This has led some throughout time to say that as well as being part of the ten, it's also an outcome or result of the first nine. The affect of honoring God, family, life's rhythm, never taking life or property, etc, is "You will not covet." You will be free. 

• Discuss this resultant freedom in light of each of the commands. (i.e. Honoring mother and father, rather than wishing for different family circumstances, provides freedom from the anxious anger that comes with feeling like your childhood was some sort of rip off.)

Discuss

• Watch this video and see how it can parallel your own life and, envy and unique orientation to Christ's words about "what you already have."

EMBRACE THE SHAKE!

Mark 4:1-23 (3:22-30) The One at The Center is an Artist

There's an old story of a rabbi asking his students to write down the questions they have about a particular text. When they each produced just a handful, the rabbi slammed his hand down on his stand and said, "How dare you dishonor Torah with so few questions!"

Rather than a didactic, constitutional approach to the scriptures, allow yourself to sit at the feet of a master artist, one confident that, in your communal trust and humility, will get at at least a few of the many layers to all that has been written.

On the wall in the atrium, a few words of Christ have been captured within frames. Discuss their content, the way they are presented, and how our own perspectives and experiences shape how we hear them- and what we do with them. Key in on certain words or imagery, and ask why Jesus may have used them instead of something else. Allow contradiction to be considered. Ask if the thrust of it changes if Jesus says it smiling. Ask if being poor or rich or male or female or from a peace-filled, whole upbringing or a broken, desperate one, changes how these phrases sit in our minds.

Imagine there are 70 angles.
Imagine that getting it "right" isn't the Artist's chief concern.
Imagine this is all a discussion we can have as we all view and entrust ourselves to he who sits at the center, with our without our comprehension!


Matthew 5:43-44
Matthew 7:21
Matthew 13:33
John 14:13-14
Matthew 9:13
Matthew 26:52

Mark 3:31-35 "Your Biggest Regret"

Expectations.
They are most often ways that we ready ourselves to be disappointed. Ways that we hope others come through for us, as we have made our very enjoyment of our lives dependent on it.
Expectations are also those things others have of us.
Those ways that we can pass or fail with our words, our decisions, our existence. The list of healthy expectations one holds over another are very few. Most of them, the scads of them we live within the pressure of, are killing us. And most of us can't tell the difference between healthy or un. We just keep subjecting ourselves and others to them indiscriminately.

And as we are finding out through the honesty of the dying, it ends up being our biggest regret.

As a group, see if you can take one step out of the world of enslaving expectations and into the freedom Christ insists is ours when we're ready.


Thaw

• What most stuck with you from Sunday morning?
• With what do you find yourself conflicted over, and why?

Read

• Mark 3:20-35
• Thoughts?
• Why is Jesus catching all of this criticism?
• What, in your mind, would he have to do, to soothe the tensions over him, and how would that affect us and our faith today?

Discuss

• What are some examples in your own life where you feel tossed back and forth between what you feel like you're wired for and the expectations (and the threat of consequences that come with those expectations) of others?
• Would you rather die regretting not being true to what you really are, or die regretting being misunderstood? Why?

• Each person in the group choose no more than two from the following list of people and detail the expectations you have on them:
• Parents, boss, children, employees, siblings, significant other, teacher, government leader.
• Where did you get your expectations?

Leader note: Alert the group that any answers like "common sense" or "reasonable expectations" may very well (and quite likely are) culturally conditioned and are therefore not common. Other cultures probably go about the relationship in ways very foreign to our method. Understanding the preferential nature of our expectations, despite them feeling inherent and instinctive, can dislodge them from moral absolutes to preferences, therefore reducing the pressure and tension in big, freedom offering ways.

• Where did you get your expectations of yourself?
• Do expectations on you, from others and then on yourself, ever make you feel bitter or tired or generally negative? How does your answer help you understand this as yet another way to put the golden rule in effect?

Leader note: If a member feels under the gun by everybody, and is constantly editing and criticizing, they are likely tired over it all. Taking this pressure off others is a way of saying "this is the world I'd like to live in, so I will begin creating it for others. I will love others the way I would like to be loved."

Apply

• What expectations exist in this group, within the couples, the singles, the group and its leader(s), etc? Positive or negative, discuss them in the safety of total honesty, and see what you can learn about yourselves, about how you carry expectations and the bitterness or subtle divides that comes with them, etc.