THINGS OVERHEARD: at brunch.

Sometimes they are evaluations or criticisms. Sometimes they are simply descriptions of feeling or wonder. Use your discussion time to talk about the kinds of things people say after church, or perhaps as one perpetually outside of church,  and see if you can't come to understand faith a little better.



Thaw

• Favorite olympic event and why?
• Least favorite, and why?

• What has most stuck with you from Sunday?
• What's a phrase you thought might be covered and wasn't?

Discuss
Here are the "overheard" phrases from Sunday, and for most of them, a passage of scripture that relates. Go through each and discuss:

"I’m trying to figure out God’s will.”

Acts 16:4-10 ESV

• What are the implications of God not having just one way for you to go about this or that? 
• Discuss the phrase "Go till you get a no" as a way of living in God's will, versus "Go only when God reveals a yes."

"Praying hasn’t worked."

John 14:12-14 ESV

• What doe it mean to pray in accordance with the reputation of one as whole and content as the Christ?
• If you have been a person of faith for a while, what have you learned about praying that might be helpful for the rest of the group?

"I really felt the Spirit.”

Genesis 28:16 ESV

• How can experience be important to faith?
• How can experience be deceptive to faith?
• Is there a better evaluation to make about church, or a gathering, or anything relating to where the Spirit of God might be at work, than being able to feel it?

"Faith is a crutch.”

• Try and name something a human being involves herself with not related to some kind of yet to be validated faith. Or, see if her goals and behaviors couldn't be described as something like a crutch. This isn't a chance for people of faith to retaliate with metaphors, but is an opportunity to be fair about humanity's ubiquitous limping, regardless of religious affiliation.

"Christians are Hypocrites.”

Romans 3:32 ESV

James 3:2 ESV

• Discuss hypocrisy and its role in all our lives.
• Discuss the difference between a deluded hypocrisy (denying the hypocrisy and judging others for behaviors/perspectives that likely exist in me) and a humble hypocrisy (removing planks in my own eye (Matthew 7) and remaining gentle and compassionate as a fellow, nonjudgmental sinner).

"When are you going to tell the Truth?”

John 14:6 ESV

• What happens in someone when you motivate them to believe that ultimately, following Christ isn't about the best life imaginable (John 10:10), but avoiding pain and punishment? 
• What happens when we understand the truth is Christ, not our understanding of this Christ, and not Christian doctrine or ethics pertaining to this Christ?
• Is there any part of life that Christ has no interest in, and doesn't want to bring life and light to? Explain?
• How has the Truth made you a better man, woman, husband, wife, friend, son, daughter, mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, neighbor, employer, employee, student, teacher, servant, receiver, traveler, rester, consumer, observer, presenter, eater, speaker, listener, artist, athlete, dresser, romancer, driver, writer, runner, photographer, movie goer, thinker, baker, napper and all around better human being?