"All You Need is Love." -Paul (not McCartney)

It's a worthy banner to wave over 2016.

LOVE.

Paul even said that that in the midst of so many things we could measure ourselves by, without love it's all empty.


Spend some time dreaming together as a group. be realistic. Challenge the impulse to speak in theoreticals. Think and plan how your group might be marked this year, especially with all the division and side-taking and animus we're bound to see in our culture, by love.



Thaw

• What's a highlight from the Christmas season you'd like to share? 
• What's a highlight from Sunday morning that has stuck with you?

Read

• 1 Corinthians 13
• Thoughts?
• As you imagine Paul saying this to you, what most stands out?

Discuss

• Why do you suppose we have to be reminded over and over to love, even as people of faith in the one who commands loving above all else?

Leader note: this question is an attempt to help group members recognize selfishness and the fear that drives it. Try and help the discussion to move in a direction that highlights the subtle ways that our own self-preferencing makes us forget that, as followers of Christ, our charter is the love and elevation of others over ourselves- a difficult task for the egoic survivalist mentality to face!

Apply

• Who do you know that best emulates compassion, kindness, consideration, love of others and how might you learn from them?

Right Between Us: A Second Seeing

Thaw

• What does November represent to you? Why?
• What stuck with you most from Sunday? Why?

Read

• John 9:29
• Mark 8:22-25
• Thoughts?

Leader note: While reading the Mark 8 passage, you or others in the group may note a verse later records Jesus telling this formerly blind man not to go back into the village. Don't get too hung up on it. There are several possible explanations for telling him not to go back into town. One, Jesus often tells people not to tell others about the miracle he's performed. Jesus is often concerned about the clarity of his message (not being confused with his miraculous ability as some sort of show) and the ease with which he moves from town to town to do what he came to do. He had limited time, and didn't want his path jammed up people seeking him only as a wonder worker. The message was about what others were to become because of Him, a revolution of love, not just a single God/man who could do amazing things for crowds. Additionally, the village/town ay have been bad for the blind man. To adjust to being a seeing person now, it may not have been ideal to send him into what would've undoubtedly been an ecstatic inquisition. Other explanations are just as plausible...again, don't get hung up here.

• What significance is there for you in Jesus doing a "two-phase" miracle?
• What might it mean to cause blindness in those who count themselves among the seeing?

Discuss

• Have there been people in your life who caused you difficulty/harm in their stubborn inability to see or hear you? Explain.
• What does it cost people to admit that they were wrong or ignorant about someone, and to go back and "see them again"?
• In what ways do you find yourself seeing/hearing, but not very good at perceiving?

Read

• Matthew 7:1-5
• Thoughts?
• This is different than "don't judge". This is "judge yourself with the same standards you apply to others." How does this self-reflective, blindspot-acknowledging kind of discernment differ than mere judging or labeling?

Apply

• This week, ask God to give you a second seeing. To "touch your eyes" again with regard to friends, family, enemies, those who live, vote, think, act, decide, relate differently. Ask God to show you three things you hadn't seen before. Perhaps you will be ready to share with the group what this second seeing has revealed about those you thought you already had pretty well figured out!

Right Between Us. The Chair Game.

Thaw

• Have the heaters been turned on yet or not? What's your threshold?
• What most stuck with you from Sunday?

Watch
"I walked on the moon"

• Thoughts?

Read

• Luke 14:1-11
• Thoughts?
• What drives the behavior Jesus was addressing?
• How do you see it playing out in your own life?

Leader note: Keep in mind the previous question is asking about the group member's life, not others' behavior. Make sure this part of the discussion doesn't become recognizing other people's Chair Game playing and not our own!

Discuss

• What's the difference between healthy ambition and the Chair Game?
• What allow Jesus to wash feet and stay out of the pecking order, and how is what what allows Jesus to do this available to us?

Read

• Proverbs 25:6-7
• Proverbs 27: 2
• 1 Peter 5:5-7
• Thoughts?
• Why is this hard?

Respond as a group to this quote from Sunday:

"There is no higher echelon or rank at home, at work, at school, at church, or anywhere, than 'at peace right where you're at.'"

Apply

• How can this group be a place where the broken ego is put to rest, and the Chair Game is replaced with service and love of others?
• What stands in your way and how can that be addressed?

The Waiting. 5.

Have you taken a step?

Have you cut off (the etymology of the word "decision") the excuses, the fear, misery of ignoring what overwhelms? 

A big thing and a little thing, have you decided to do it later?

Your group members may very well need your group to be able to begin taking actions they have put off. Discuss the topic of procrastinating, knowing that clarity often comes in the context of community, and that we are all looking to each other to feel like we are living life more fully. 

Thaw

• How has the rain over the last two weeks affected you and others?
• What has stuck with you most from Sunday?

Read

• Proverbs 26:13
• Thoughts?
• What is it about later, after the 'lions' pass that seems so real to us emotionally?
• What are the lions you are afraid of when it comes to taking some step on a project, or a conversation, etc?

Read

• Proverbs 15:22
• Thoughts?
• What does this proverb say to your sense of overwhelm or confusion about what to do next on some project or idea?

Discuss

• What is something you wish you could do, but have learned to think of it happening at some distant point in the future?

Leader note: this could require incredible vulnerability  There are times when business men finally admit to having always wanted to be a dancer, shy women confessing they'd always dreamed of opening an ice cream shop, etc, etc. But they have all the reasons in the world why that probably is something to try at another time. Not right now. Create a space that's safe and patient, where people can reveal big dreams, ideas and fantasies of any shape, dreams or duties that God may have very well planted within them, and see what comes of the group compassionately turning it into smaller chunks to finally take on.

• What is a big thing and a little thing that comes to mind when challenged to take steps relationally, vocationally, recreationally, etc?

Apply

• In what ways do words like "lazy" or "useless" get said around you in response to what you are now seeing as a fearful response to pain, disappointment and powerlessness? What can you do about this?
• How can this group help one another to stop procrastinating on a couple of really important fronts? 
• How will you circle back and ask about all this later?