Spend some time as a group teasing out the idea that what feels like strength (making sure we catalog people in various degrees of closeness to ourselves based on their beliefs and associated behaviors) might actually be our inability to deal with reality.
Don't forget to then ask God as a group for His Spirit, where true Life and Strength for this and everything else come from!
Thaw
Read
Thaw
- When have you been ousted?
- When have you ousted?
- What most stuck with you from Sunday morning?
Read
- Romans 5:8
- Matthew 28:20
- Thoughts?
- What do you discern is true about human beings once they become, in the very least, aware of Jesus?
- What do you suspect Jesus being "with us always" (without any disclaimer about us remaining worth his presence, mind you) says about how he views relationships?
- The ministry and death of Christ were all to restore a loved world to himself, even though that world hadn't merit on it's own. The spirit was given for his continual presence with us. Why do you think so many faithful people turn all this into another way of separating themselves from the unwanted?
Leader note: Think of John 3:16, and how much mess comes with lumping everything together in "the world". And yet, with full knowledge of that mess, he gave himself. This gets more amazing the more you think about it, and the more you realize just how messy humans have always been!
Read
Leader note: You may want to help the group understand the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. It's not a different personality than Christ, but the same (reference Acts 16 to see an example of the interchangeableness of terms). That is to say that the same Jesus who ate and lived with the rejected and forgotten, referred to people not as evil or bad but as blind, sick and lost, now inhabits us collectively and calls us church. His spirit contended, in love, with so much foolishness, sin and even violence toward himself; and we have his spirit, providing us the ability to do, in various measure, the same.
- 1 Cor 3:16
- Rom 8:11
- Thoughts?
- What does this say about the relational resources that are available to us.
Leader note: You may want to help the group understand the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. It's not a different personality than Christ, but the same (reference Acts 16 to see an example of the interchangeableness of terms). That is to say that the same Jesus who ate and lived with the rejected and forgotten, referred to people not as evil or bad but as blind, sick and lost, now inhabits us collectively and calls us church. His spirit contended, in love, with so much foolishness, sin and even violence toward himself; and we have his spirit, providing us the ability to do, in various measure, the same.
Discuss
- What do you remember about the idea that most religion is rooted in a philosophy that begins with beliefs, then associated behaviors and then rewards, subsequently, with belonging?
- What do you remember about what happens when you reverse the order?
Leader note: it might be helpful to remind the group again that beginning with "belonging" is how life works. We all, ideally, belong as babies before we believe or behave a thing. It seems to be the natural order to belong first. But starting with "beliefs" creates yet another meritocracy, and instills an anxiety about keeping the state of belonging by way of good and right beliefs and behaviors (whether you actually do them or not is another story....you do whatever it takes, truthfully or not, to remain included!). Starting with belonging is FAR MESSIER because you are saying that the default is inclusion, regardless of beliefs or behaviors. This takes longer, more resources and is harder to measure for effectiveness, (Think how quickly you could measure success during the Inquisition!) but the miracle in knowing that love is unconditional, even in the midst of negative consequences for certain behaviors, is known to transform hearts.
Apply
Leader note: listen for a depiction of merit, or in the use of a selection of Bible verses that secures themselves in God's favor and not another. You may even want to discuss as a group Luke 18:9-14. If someone believes that they have followed a code or formula for getting grace, then they have turned grace into something else. If you ask about this, you may get push back that sounds like "so, it doesn't matter WHAT you do?!?" This extreme isn't the case at all, though it is evidence that for the person asking, a systematized theology is under the very terrifying threat of a very organic reality with which it rarely fits.
- How does this impact life with your family?
- Extended family?
- Co-workers and classmates?
- People groups?
- Different lifestyles?
- Belief systems?
- Why do many of us unconsciously assume that we are included in grace, but others aren't or are less so?
Leader note: listen for a depiction of merit, or in the use of a selection of Bible verses that secures themselves in God's favor and not another. You may even want to discuss as a group Luke 18:9-14. If someone believes that they have followed a code or formula for getting grace, then they have turned grace into something else. If you ask about this, you may get push back that sounds like "so, it doesn't matter WHAT you do?!?" This extreme isn't the case at all, though it is evidence that for the person asking, a systematized theology is under the very terrifying threat of a very organic reality with which it rarely fits.
We all see as we mature that our lives, choices, beliefs and behaviors have an effect on everything we are and do. The point is simply this....none of this should affect our status as loved and belonging, or love was a poor summary for Christ to give. If the principles and ideas and actions are more important than the person, then the summary of God's will should have been "love the law with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbors that are verifiably worth it". If love for us from God is unconditional, and then we give conditional love due to our weakness, to others, we have short circuited God's will, not upheld it. Hard as it is to hear, and hard as it is to live, this is our weakness presenting itself as divinely sanctioned power. It is merely a variation on a theme that reduces love to a transaction.
- Why is it important to enter into both the difficulty of this discussion, and the difficulty of living this out, in the context of a loving, supportive community?
- What can happen if you try and unconditionally love a difficult someone on your own, especially if they are hurtful?
- Undoubtedly, people in this group have specific persons in mind when they think of the longterm difficulty of belonging first. How can this group, in the next few weeks, help create a plan for loving this person that engages them with the complimentary (not mutually exclusive) values of love and wisdom? Think about how you can each help each other in the weeks and months to come to be a source of loving power, verses and isolating source of withdrawal.
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