Instead of playing catch up, unless you feel your group needs to, start this week out differently by diving, first thing, right into a simple exercise:Once you've begun your official group time, tell everyone to close their eyes, and sit silently in the presence of God. Explain that you are going to assume everyone is running around at a fairly insane December pace, and so for a few moments you're all going to let God have his spot back at your center. Give no other instructions (though you may briefly warn them that distractions will come, and they don't have to feel guilty about that...just promise the distraction, mentally, that you'll deal with it later...). Go five minutes of prayerful silence, and then break.
- Ask the group in the room what their dominant distraction was. (It will likely be the awkwardness of the 5 minutes with everyone else in the room, and/or the kids' noises in the other room.)
- Ask which of them felt the time felt was short and for whom it felt long.
- Ask if anyone felt this was a misuse of group time. (Don't be offended by the answer "yes"... many are wired to feel this way.)
- Point out natural adjustments to breathing pace and talk about why that is. (People naturally take deep breaths when asked to sit quietly and pray. It's like we instinctively know that our breathing is connected to our thoughts. Some scholars believe that the name of God, YHWH (Yahweh) is comprised of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet that most closely resemble vowels. As such, God's name is four breathing sounds (yuh, huh, wuh, huh...yuh, huh, wuh, huh...), being uttered thousands of times a day by even the most devout Atheist!)
- Ask how this simple exercise can be repeated once or more a day, and what stands against such a practice.
Read
- Mark 1:29-37
- Thoughts?
- What are some of the reasons people would be looking for Jesus?
Leader note: Of course some just wanted to be near him, but it's a safe assumption that there was more healing and teaching to be done. Note that the healings didn't even start till after sunset. And the whole town showed up. It's safe to assume that, at one point, Jesus went to bed and promised to reconvene in the morning.
- How would you feel if your very sick child needed what, seemingly, only Jesus could offer, and yet He was nowhere to be found?
- How would you feel once you found out he was off"doing nothing" or "praying".
- What would your employer/fellow employees say if you started limiting your availability after-hours and weekends?
Read
Leader note: There's not much to for the Gospel writers to write about these times. jesus was just "gone". So, though it's just a sentence here and there about Jesus "often" doing it, it seems to comprise much of the limited time Jesus had. It may help your group to acknowledge that the miracles and the teachings have an obvious spot in the writings, but in terms of Jesus "not producing", there's nothing to capture by nature of the inactivity...yet we're told it was a constant practice of His. To be like Jesus is to have parts of your story that are unwritable, because you were resting privately and there is no content.
Discuss
- Why would Jesus, the Son of God, need rhythm in His life?
- Why wouldn't that rhythm be post-poned since His three-year ministry was so limited?
Read
- Most translations use the wording "even during harvest". Why?
- Discuss the modern equivalent of this command for us.
Apply
- Using the bucket picture that Jonathan gave, what are things that deplete you, or "drain your bucket"?
- How does focusing on these things that drain actually you play out in your actual life?
Leader note: This is about helping people illuminate how much of their day is week is dedicated to what is draining them and how they work to plug the holes, verses working hard and then being intentional about stopping, and filling up with good things. The "one day" of Sabbath only carries weight when their is both an intentionality about it, and "six other days" of work that everybody is clear about!
- What fills your bucket up?
- Even if you like them, are these good for you long term.
Leader note: Help the group speak into each others' lives with no worries about being judgmental. If someone says that the bar on Friday nights fills up their bucket, you may have a sense that people want to ask how that seems like a worthy thing to fill their bucket with. Gently step into that and ask for permission to ask follow up questions. In many respects, something like the bar example is actually another drain, as the relationships formed in that world can be shallow (as they're so often based on checking out of responsibility and longterm wisdom), the money can be wasted and the behavior can be unwise. Not always, but often. Filling the bucket doesn't just mean anything that scratches an itch, but intentional soul-shaping rest and joy.
- How can this group help you with a new rhythm?
- What stands against you?
- What stands against the group?
- What stands against this lasting more than a few weeks?
- What practices can you immediately put in place, such as the one at the top of the meeting, to begin?
- Who in the group can lead the effort of accountability for some of the busier members of the group?
Leader note: Make some decisions on how you can live in better rhythm daily and weekly. When people will bust their tales, and when they and their family are unavailable. This may require a couple weeks of discussion, coming back to new ideas from time to time, to get a new rhythm to fully catch on.
