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?