Of Forests & Trees. Jonah

They're all stories we've heard at least a piece of. Jonah, David and Goliath. Sampson. But few of us allow ourselves to glean more than the one or two layers of the story than we're familiar with. Oh, that's that story about the whale that ate that guy. That's the story about the weakling taking down a giant. That's that strong dude with good hair.

Spend some time as a group to discover why stories from as far back as the Bronze Age might still have something to say to our modern life, if we'll allow ourselves to resee the larger picture, the nuance and the subtext.

Thaw

• What is something you are learning right now?
• What most stuck with you from Sunday?

Watch

• Many in the group may have seen this before. But if not, it's a good intro into seeing more than what you've determined to look for: http://youtu.be/Ahg6qcgoay4
• (or, same principle but less well known, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzC_sHTW43c)

Discuss

• Can you remember a time where you became fixated on only one part of the whole (in a project, in a relationship, etc.) and regretted it? Share. 

Read

• Jonah 1:17
• Jonah 2:10
• Jonah 3:5
• Jonah 3:8
• Jonah 3:10
• Jonah 4:1-11
• Thoughts?
• What is this story about if we remove the giant fish? 
• In what ways does the story of Jonah differ from how you'd always thought of it?
• How do you think the first Jewish hearers of this story took it?

Apply

• What does your answer to the above have to do with our own understanding of God and our lives now?
• Do you think the plausibility of a fish swallowing Jonah detracts from the point of the story for us today, adds to it, or has no bearing? Explain?
• How can this group benefit from being challenged to see God as at work in the lives of those we determined were on the outside of our faith?

2,4,6,8: "Big Picture"

This week the message spoke more to the artistic and visual dimension of our minds. Use your group's discussion time to see how this helped the members grasp a larger narrative, connect the dots or even find themselves within the story.

• What most resonated with you?
• Which part of the illustration do you find yourself living in?

Read (in order)

• Gen 3:25 
• Rev 21:1-3
• Exodus 3:7
• Galatians 3:10
• Proverbs 3:34 
• Galatians 3:13
• Revelation 22:1-3

• Thoughts?
• How does this sequence of events differ from your understanding of faith and what God is up to?
• How will this understanding affect you, the life of this group, or other facets of your day-to-day?

2,4,6,8: "Sermons"

You've heard a ton of sermons in your life. Some great, some more helpful for napping through. But people of faith are encouraged to become those who can see all of life as one big, nuanced, winding sermon. Who, when Sunday is over, go out and hear the truth, see beauty and sense the Spirit moving in all things.

Spend some time as a group talking not just about the sermon from Sunday, but The Sermon that's never really over.



Thaw

• What can the World Cup tell us about international relations?

• What stuck with you most from Sunday?

Read

• James 1:19
• John 5:17
• Thoughts?

Leader note: Translations differ slightly, but the connotation (as reinforced by the NIV translation, among others) in John 5 is that  the Father, and the Son, are ever at work, regardless of time or place. The idea with both passages is sensitivity to the ongoing work of the Spirit within not just a Sunday morning homily, but always, everywhere. If you'd like to dive into this idea far deeper, read 1 Corinthians 3 as a group. Paul deals at length here with our ability to find truth and meaning everywhere, not just in one pastor or place.


Respond as a group to these values at play both in sermons, and in daily life.

"Less assertions. More questions"

*Take your time making statements about what you read in the scriptures. Be sure and honor the text by considering the multiple layers of context and nuance built into the text. Intelliegnce asks questions more than makes declarations. Especially about something so differently understood by so many.

"Deconstruction is how the mature learn. Destruction is how the immature get thrills."

*Destruction is the childish desire to knock down things we don't understand or like. Deconstruction is the desire to sift an idea, to pull it apart and understand its constituent pieces to appreciate it for what it is on all levels. Much as science and inductive reasoning does. Much as comedy can.

"No starting arguments. No finishing conversations"

*Jesus rarely gave straight, easy to absorb answers to questions he was asked. Instead, he gave parables and allusions, and even answered questions with questions. All to keep the conversation going, rather than having the final word. This is why we discuss it all these years later in our own contexts. We don't want the last word. Just to hear a few and offer a few.

"We’re unaware, asleep, blind, deaf, deluded and crazy"

*If we're simply evil, then we cannot be expected to do or respond well to anything. But if we are unaware, unseeing or a even little crazy, then we can expect to be treated with respect, patience, love and gentleness. The blind are offered consideration and understanding. The evil are simply done away with.

"Safety in numbers"

*We are less defensive in a large church auditorium. But we'll often put our dukes up when the same words are said to us directly. There's something for us to learn here about our humble ability to hear hard things, given that we know we already can if the situation is right.

"You hear when you’re ready"

People may not get the message the first 99 times. So we find different ways of saying it while we also continue listening over and over to see what we might learn. It takes a lifetime to really get life's best lessons.

2,4,6,8: "Soul"

"This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’" -Jeremiah 6:16

The offer has always been on the table. Soul rest. Soul sensitivity. A well-walked path by those aware that they are far more than society seems to suggest. Whether or not we take God up on all this has been the enduring issue.

Spend some time resisting the urge to wrestle academically with the concept of the "soul", but to entertain (and begin living out) what it means as people on a path, seeing ourselves as souls beloved by our creator. 

• What did you learn or get reminded of Sunday?
• How would you explain the idea of a soul to a child?
• Did you have any one thought, experience or person that came to mind as you listened?
• What happens in your life as you begin to appreciate your soul?
• Same question, but this time consider the soul of others.
• What forces and traps will serve to make you forget what you've learned, and how can your group help you?
• Read Matthew 11:29. How does your lived faith embrace this passage beyond merely knowing Jesus said it?
• How can we embody this toward others?