Crosspointe celebrates 15 years, and so we're going to take some to thank God for this journey, young as it is, God has us on.
Interestingly, most of us weren't here at the beginning, and so remembering doesn't seem like the right term. How can you remember something you never participated in? This is the beauty of communal remembering. Like the Israelites remembering the Passover for hundreds, even thousands of years (a tough feat for beings that only live 80 years if they're lucky), we remember all of our journey together. Our story is not our own.
Additionally, we will be taking communion. As always, feel free to do that in the context of your group as well. If you have concerns that it's too much to take communion on sunday and then again in your group, keep in mind frequency is not dictated in the scriptures. Many did/do it daily.
The message also ties these elements in. Discuss them as a group from a historical perspective, but also try and find a way or ways that it matters for us today in a non ethereal, truly down-to-earth sort of way.
Thaw
- How long have you been going to Crosspointe? How did you come to find out about it?
- What was your first experience like?
- What most stuck with you from this Sunday?
Read
- Exodus 12:8-11, 12-13
- Thoughts?
- What metaphoric significance might this part of the story have when you consider the firstborn is the primary inheritor of name, property, dynasty, etc.?
Leader note: Some in the group may be hung up on a gruesome, literal rendering of the story. This is fair, although it paralyzes the text as a historical document. If you have members that seem most focused on what this seems to reveal about God should it be literal, here are a few tips to move the group along. 1) Affirm the person's compassion on the children and animals. This compassion, ironically, comes from God. Without the God we are judging as unconcerned with the mass murder he is portrayed as doling out on Egypt, how else can we care for people across millennia so deeply? Our care for these people, and our judgment of God as ruthless, are actually great evidence that God is good and made us the same. 2) Entertain that this story was gruesome then too. This is why it was written down. If it were a non-issue, then it wouldn't have been the key shocker of the story. 3) Remind the group that we interpret God through the life of Christ (Heb 1:3, John 14:7, etc) who was neither a murderer, nor a hater of his enemies. Additionally, he told parables. Perhaps he's always told parables, even before the New Testament ones!
- From an underdog perspective, which the Hebrews certainly had, what would the story of an Egyptian Empire being cut off and handicapped for your sake mean to you?
Leader note: It may be worth pointing out that God routinely sides with those without power. As we think about aligning ourselves with God to be sure and be on the right side of things, we must also consider what that means to our sense of empowerment, as well as what that means to others without it.
Read
- Colossians 1:19-20
- Thoughts?
Discuss
- The english word "reconcile" breaks down as "re" (again) and "concilare" (make friendly). Christ makes animosity, a break in created friendliness between all things, come together again. This, Paul calls "making peace". How does this fit or not fit with your experience of Christian faith?
- How is reconciliation possible when not everyone/thing wants to "make friendly again"?
Read
- Romans 12:18
- Thoughts?
Apply
- What role do we play in reconciliation, and what might that have to do with our continued taking of communion?
- What role can we not play in reconciliation?
- What reasons might there be for intermingling the words "Body of Christ" for both the church and the bread and cup in the New Testament?
- Where does reconciliation need to play out more in your life?
Leader note: It may seem obscure, but the thread of these questions has everything to do with enslaved people becoming free. The path way is forgiveness and reconciliation, initiated by one who didn't sin.
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