This week we're taking a look at word again that means....taking another look.
Respect.
The respect you give someone or something is measured by your willingness to look deeply at it, to find its value, its sacred place, even as others have decided they have it pegged. This is the contemplative mind.
Spend some time as a group discussing how the study of scripture in its context is similar to the discipline of seeing people in theirs.
Thaw
- What if anything happens inside you emotionally as Spring arrives?
- Referencing last weeks message, what dogs have you managed to get on a leash, or at least name?
- What from this Sunday has stuck with you most?
Read
- Matthew 9:10-13
- Thoughts?
- Why does Jesus make a connection between people's appreciation for human beings and their appreciation for texts they're already familiar with?
- How is interpreting scripture and interpreting people similar?
Leader note: It may be helpful to think of the similarities in terms of a) consideration of context [historical, cultural, familial] b) intent [what was meant versus how it might be taken on a first pass], c) what am I consciously or unconsciously bringing to it [was my mind already made up, what biases should I name, etc]
Discuss
- How can "the art of the pause" help to ensure we are respecting people (ensuring we are really seeing and hearing them?)
- In what ways is this pause, this contemplative consideration, easy or difficult for you?
- Why is respecting others so difficult when we don't feel respected ourselves?
- In what ways are respect and love the same thing?
- Why is it so difficult to consider "there may be more going on here?"
- Who in your circles of life might say they feel disrespected by you (you don't/won't understand them, hear them, appreciate them, etc?)
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