2,4,6,8: "Church"

Appreciating the church can sound like a command. One that some of us obey with joy, while others of us bristle. But understanding the value of this thing- this people- dubbed the church has much to do with sorting through our preconceived notions and past baggage, and seeing what it is Christ is leading.

Use this discussion time not just to sell Crosspointe to ourselves, but to really appreciate what it is we are all part of and participating in, round the world and through time. What it does for us, and for the world through us.



Thaw

• What is your earliest church memory? Do you remember your impression? Share.

• What most stuck with you from Sunday?

Read

• Ephesians 2:8-10
• Thoughts?
• Describe the balance Paul portrays between what we receive from God and what God does through us.
• How have you seen this balance, in yourself or others?

Read

• Colossians 1:15-20
• Thoughts?
• There are some pretty lofty ideas in this passage. How do you see the church's role in it?

Discuss

• Read this passage from Fearfully and Wonderfully Made:

Jesus departed,leaving no body on earth to exhibit the Spirit of God to an unbelieving world … except the faltering, bumbling community of followers who had largely forsaken Him at His death.  We are what Jesus left on earth…not a book or a doctrinal statement or a system of thought.  He left a visible community to embody Him and represent Him to the world.  The seminal metaphor, Body of Christ, hinted at by Christ and fully expanded by Paul could only arise after Jesus Christ had left the earth. The world knows an invisible God mainly by our representation, our “enfleshment,” of him. Where is God in the world?  What is He like?  We can no longer point to the Holy of Holies or to a carpenter in Nazareth.  WE form God’s presence in the world through the indwelling of His Spirit.”

• Thoughts?
• To what degree do you feel a part of this Body, or to what degree do you feel separated from it, observing it? Explain.

Apply

• An "Ochlos" is a gathering of observers (such as in Matthew 5:1).  An "Ecclesia" is an assembly drawn together to further their society, to be the Body of Christ to do the work of Christ (such as in Colossians 1:18). Which one better describes how you see your role in the community of faith?
• In what ways is this group a function of faith, balancing a life of giving and taking?
• Do you personally feel like you spend more time near "give" or "take"? Why do you think this is and how can this group help you better balance?
• How can this group participate more, not just in the event we've come to call "church", but in the church as Body of Christ, at work in the world?

Leader note: Often, when ending a group, we close in prayer and then slide back into our routines. Generally speaking, there's nothing wrong with this. But if ever there were a moment where, as the leader, you could give your group a vision of what could be, this is it. From volunteering in the church, to putting rest on the calendar, to serving neighbors and associates at work, to accepting help for an issue that's been swept under the rug, etc. etc.....there are tons of ways the people we lead need led into a lived, experienced appreciation for what the church is, and how it blesses within and without! Don't miss this moment to tie a step.

2,4,6,8: "Peace"

As a group, you are trying to incrementally see better. To better see each other and the world and your self more today than yesterday, and to see what blindness had caused so that seeing, we can repent from it. God is in the seeing business, with or without the help of our physical eyes.

Use this discussion time to really get at the snap judgments and the simplistic ways we size up our world, and in doing so miss out on a great life full of great people. We will appreciate our lives to the very degree we can actually see!

Thaw

• What is a highlight from this previous week?
• What is a highlight of today?
• What kinds of things usually try and drown out your noticing of good moments on any given day?
• What stuck with you most from Sunday? Why?

Read

• Matthew 6:25-7:5
• Thoughts?
• Why do you think anxiety and a judgmental attitude are related.

Leader note: Some people don;t tun of themselves as judgmental, so you may need to explore other ways of discussing this. Some are judgmental of themselves to a fault. This too, is anxiety.

Discuss

• Are you generally an appreciative or unappreciative person? Why?

Read

• Colossians 1:16-17
• Thoughts?
• What does it mean to be a person who looks for the Christ in all things and people? What changes if you live this way?
• What hinders us from living this way?

Discuss

• Who do you know that most seems plugged into a given moment, listening and noticing and appreciating nuances that others miss?
• How can you learn from this person?

Apply

• Spend a few moments in silence, being still and noticing where you are now. Notice the room, the food, the people. Notice your thoughts and how they try and wriggle out of the moment and over to work, kids, money, even whether or not you are comfortable sitting still with a group of others. Don't condemn your distractions, but notice how difficult it is to be fully tuned into this moment as a student. Ask God to train your mind to be present here, with people, appreciative of what is already true.
• Discuss as a group what it would like to put his five minute discipline into your daily life and how you can help each other to do it.

"Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." -Luke 5:16

2,4,6,8: "Satisfied."

One of the best understandings of peace is learning to appreciate what already is. 

What we already have.
                         What we're already accomplishing.
                                                                 What we're already experiencing.
                                                                                                                What is.

Contentment isn't the antithesis of proper motivation and work. Contentment is what Paul said- learning how to experience joy regardless of what other thing happens, doesn't happen or gets added to or taken away from you.

Spend some time as a group helping to remind one another that we aren't the sum of what we come to possess. This isn't new information, yet we must be reminded or we easily fall back into the old lie that our life is out "there" yet to be had, instead of right here, where God wants to meet us.


Thaw

• Have you noticed your mood changing with the weather?  What do we learn about ourselves by our answer?
• What are we learning about external factors that affect who we feel like we are? 
• What does it mean to have "self-control" knowing the influence the universe can have on us.

• What most stuck with you from Sunday morning?

Read

• Luke 12:15
• Thoughts?
• Why are we told to be on our guard about something that comes from within? 
• In what ways do we actually enjoy being measured by possessions?

Discuss

• Respond as a group to this statement: "Life is better when you learn to appreciate what already is, versus what you might add to it."

Read

• 1 Timothy 6:5-10
• Thoughts?

Discuss

• It's easy to make all this about guilt or the moving target of "how much is too much." What is God actually saying to us and what adjustments do we feel like we are actually being invited to make to our lives?

Leader note: It may be worth pointing out that guilt and shame create anxiety, depression and bitterness. And when we have those feelings, we try and find ways of getting rid of them. In effect, guilt and shame are most often medicated by trying to change the circumstances to find happiness (relief from the bad feelings.) It works against the goal of being content with whatever already is. For some, this causes far more problems- far more buying, shopping, acquiring, comparing, etc. This is why anyone really interested in changing can't count on guilt and shame. It's safe to say, if we are feeling condemned, this isn't coming from a God who knows what's truly transformative. So we should be using it either.

• How has the comparison game affected you and/or your family?
• How do you go through real life appreciating what you have, being thankful for what others have, without turning it into a competition we work hard not to lose?

Apply

• How can this group be a source of containment training?
• How can this group reinforce appreciation and gratitude for the here and now, vs the there and then, while also supporting everyone's efforts to go and do whatever they feel like they are supposed to go and do?

Leader note: A tricky question, hopefully helpful in knowing the difference between contentment and giving up, even bitterly. 

Prayer

• Attempt to pray, as a group, in a method that includes everyone without it becoming weird for anyone, a prayer of thanks for what already is. Possessions. Circumstances. Experiences. Belongings. Etc. Without pretending to like pain, see how God might speak into a real attempt to be thankful for the here and now, vs waiting to be content, and therefore appreciative, there and then. 

2,4,6,8: "Who. Not what."

For the next several weeks we are going to become better appreciators. An appreciator is simply one who understands the worth of things. Children may not be good at it. And those who don't pay attention may be worse. But awakened, mature people know how to properly ascribe value to people, places and things. It's part of what makes life enjoyable; seeing the value of everything within it.

As a group, you may want to practice the art of appreciation. The people in your group have a story. They are a story. One to be recognized as sacred in its own right. Think of creative ways to appreciate  others, to come to appreciate something or someone outside of your group, and to share the stories of how you do so with us at church@crosspointe.org.

Thaw

• Taking no more than one minute, share with the group the story behind a piece of jewelry, clothing, a tattoo, etc. that you have on you right now. 
• How much is the value of whatever you shared about affected by how much money it cost?
• On the count of three, name your favorite teach from grade school. (1,2,3). 
• In one minute, describe why this teacher's memory is so valuable. 
• Did the stories about favorite teachers have to do more with specific lessons that were taught, or something more personal? What does this tell us about how we really value people in our lives?

• What stayed with you the most from Sunday morning?

Read
(Have different members read the following passages aloud.)

• Mark 1:16-18
• John 1:43
• Matthew 9:9-13
• Thoughts?
• Why did Jesus think that these men would benefit from following him?
• Why do you think there is no place in the New Testament where Jesus, based upon the time he'd spent with these men, confronts their specific list of sins?

Leader note: This last question gets to the hard-to-accept reality that love, exemplified in humility and self-sacrifice, is contagious. They simply became like he whom they followed, rather than got straightened out because Jesus had earned the right to confront them after all those meals and kindness. All belief systems opportunistically earn the right to call others out into conformity with the the system. Jesus sometimes corrected his friends for specific errors in the moment. But he doesn't bring up the past or the weaknesses or the variance in opinions. Jesus seems to think that Love covers a multitude of sins, given time.

Discuss

• What is Christ teaching us to value by inviting us all, no matter what we are or aren't, to follow him?
• What would Christ be teaching us to value if he would have simply given us another set of rules to follow?
• What's the difference in significance between a rule system we're given to not break, and a life of pursuit of a person? 

Read

• Ephesians 5:1-2
• Thoughts?
• Why do you think Paul said follow as dearly beloved children?

Leader note: It may very well be that Paul wanted to get across the picture of children following their parents around. Specifically, he wanted the image of parents wanting their children to do so. Children aren't invited to be close to their parents, to be loved by them or to find acceptance by them based on what they do. Down within the make-up of the genome - in their blood!- they are children and nothing can change that. What makes the children great people isn't rule following. It's the love given them by their parents and their learning that they have all they need, they must only trust in the wisdom and goodness of the parents. So, to mimic their parents lives and accept the love given them is the best chance they have at growing up to be the like the very best of the parents.

Discuss

• In what ways would we rather follow rules than mimic God in our lives?
• In what ways would religion prefer that we follow rules rather than be mimickers of the Christ?

Apply

• The last point of the message sunday was "The invitation to follow is about who, not what." How can this group better follow Christ and relax itself from trying to follow proper beliefs ABOUT Christ and Christianity?
• How can this group take upon itself the mimicry of Christ? 
• What will be in our way as we allow ourselves to value others, to value Christ, and to be valued by Christ others and Christ?