Planning Your Next Life

John 3:1-17

Responses & Reactions

    •    What disturbed you, challenged you, or intrigued you in this week’s message?

Digging Deeper

    •    What are the basic characteristics of a life shaped by the DNA of Jesus?

Bringing it Home

    •    How “abundant" is your experience of life right now?

    •    What sense of obligation is currently driving you that may not originate in God?  What promises have you been believing that you need to name as false?  What are you hungry for?

    •    What is one concrete change you can make in your life this week that would turn you more toward the abundant life Christ offers?

Why Jesus Went

John 14:12-27

Responses & Reactions

• What disturbed you, challenged you, or intrigued you in this week’s message?

Digging Deeper

• Read Romans 8:1-17.   Meghan discussed in her sermon 4 key “works” that the Spirit does.  What other kinds of roles does the Spirit perform in the Christian life (as seen in this Romans passage or other passages you might think of)?
• Where do you believe you’ve experienced the Spirit’s activity in your own life?  Where have you seen the Spirit active in the lives of others?

Bringing it Home

• Where in your journey right now do you feel like you could use a fresh word, advocacy, or empowerment from the Spirit?
• What can you do in your life practically to work on staying in step with the Spirit, listening and responding the Spirit’s leading?

Bonus: Discuss what questions your group has about who the Spirit is, what the Spirit does, now we learn to listen to the Spirit, etc.  Then email those questions to Meghan, who will attempt address them in a longer series on the Spirit later in the year.

The Great Offense

Luke 4:14-30

Responses & Reactions

• What disturbed you, challenged you, or intrigued you in this week’s message?

Digging Deeper

• Where do the teachings of Jesus most “offend” you, create the most friction with your normal way of life or preferred way of doing things?

Bringing it Home

• What would it look like for Trinity Mennonite as a church to actively prioritize the needs of those currently outside the community of faith?  What do these people need?  What might we as a community be called to sacrifice so that they can be drawn into the family?
• In Luke 4:18-19 Jesus sums up his own mission, the reason he came to the world.  This is the same mission he passes on to his followers and empowers them by his Spirit to keep carrying out.  How are you personally working to participate in this mission?

Walking Blind

Job 23:1-10

Responses & Reactions

• What disturbed you, challenged you, or intrigued you in this week’s message?

Digging Deeper

• Why do you think the book of Job was included in the Bible?  What purpose does it serve within the larger arch of the biblical story?
• Read 1 Peter 1:3-12.  This passage, like Job 23:10, associates suffering with the process of refining gold.  What do you think this image suggests about the effects of suffering?  Are there ways that we engage suffering that make us more likely to receive its positive benefits?

Bringing it Home

• Have you ever had an experience of spiritual darkness?  What was it like?  How has that experience changed your faith?  What did you learn from it about God or yourself?
• When you are searching for God, where do you tend to look?
• Is there anything you can do (or not do) in a time of darkness that you’ve found to be helpful?

Everyday Jesus

Philippians 2:1-11; Luke 9:21-27

Responses & Reactions

• What disturbed you, challenged you, or intrigued you in this week’s message?

Digging Deeper

• What you ever met a “saint”?  If so, what were they like?  What characteristics distinguished them most strongly?
• Read Leviticus 19:1-27.  In what ways was the Old Testament Law formational for Israel?  What sorts of core habits or “awarenesses” do you think God was trying to teach them through these laws? 

Bringing it Home

• What does it look like in your life right now for you to climb down the ladder as Jesus did?  In what areas or relationships are you most tempted to climb up instead?
• What are some creative “disciplines” you would like to begin cultivating as part of embedding the character of Jesus more deeply into the daily rhythms of your life?

Turning the Table

Matthew 15:21-28

Responses & Reactions

• What disturbed you, challenged you, or intrigued you in this week’s message?

Digging Deeper

• The story of the Canaanite begins with Jesus frustrated over his disciples’ failure to understand his teachings about what makes a person “clean” or “unclean” (15:16).  Why do you think the disciples had such a hard time receiving this particular teaching?
• The miracle of Jesus multiplying bread is the only miracle story to be recorded in all 4 gospels.  Matthew and Mark each tell two stories about multiplying bread.  Why do you think this miracle receives so much emphasis?  What does it communicate about God?

Bringing it Home

• Do you have a sense yourself of being loved, chosen, and called by God?  If so, who has helped you receive that truth?  If not, what causes you to doubt your status?
• Who are you personally tempted to dismiss as too ignorant or unworthy to be chosen and used by God?  Who in our local community or church do you think feel “under the table”?
• What would it look for us to become “table turners” in Jesus’ name?  What fears or hesitations hold us back? 

Trespassing Fear

Hebrews 2:8b-18

Responses & Reactions

• What disturbed you, challenged you, or intrigued you in this week’s message?

Digging Deeper

• What does racism look like in the 21st century? What habits, fears, or systematic biases do you think help perpetuate racism?
• Do you agree with Pastor Meghan’s statement that “most of the evil that is done in the world is done in the name of safety”?  Why or not?   
• What difference does Jesus’ resurrection make for how we live out our everyday lives as Christians?

Bringing it Home

• Where does the conversation about race in America begin to tap your own fears?
• What “fear lines” in your own life or community can you begin to practice crossing this week?  Who can you take along with you?

Mud-Play Miracles

Responses & Reactions

• What disturbed you, challenged you, or intrigued you in this week’s message?

Digging Deeper

• List the 5 adjectives that come to mind first when you think about who God is.  
  • How does this picture you have of God practically inform the way you live out your life?
  • Have you ever had an experience that significantly alternated your picture of what God is like?  Share.
• Read Mark 7:1-23.  How does Jesus (re)define the meaning of ‘holiness’?  

Bringing it Home

• What (or who or where) is your plot of ground that you believe God may currently be calling you personally to plant/cultivate life in? 
• What would it look like for Trinity Mennonite to “play in the mud” with God?  What would we do if we weren’t afraid to fail or make a mess?

Everyone has a Story

1. What is your story about how you came to an Anabaptist understanding of your faith?  Have you thought about this enough to be able to share it with others?
2. What excites you about being a part of the family here at Trinity?
3. Is Trinity a place that you would want to share with your friends and colleagues?  Why or why not?
4. What does it mean to be a church where anabaptist comes before mennonite?
5. How can we appreciate the great history of the Mennonites while being open to what God is and will be doing in the future?

(Re)Imagine Week 8 - Mitochondria & Violins

1.  What do you think of when you hear the word "evangelism?"

2.  "Repent" is often thought of as "turning away from" something bad.  What difference does it make to think of it primarily as "turning toward" something good?

3.  Which of these three evangelistic messages have you heard most often?

• "You're broken and God can't look at you."
• "You're not broken and God loves you."
• "We're broken and God loves us."

4.  Have you ever considered that evangelism benefits the church as much as it benefits those who join the church?  How have you witnessed this benefit?

5.  What are some ways you can do more to help reconcile others to God?

6.  A survey of unchurched persons found that 82% would be willing to visit a church if invited.

• Can you think of someone in your life who would benefit from following Jesus in our community?  
• Do you feel comfortable inviting people to our church?  Why or why not?

(Re)Imagine Week 7 - Divine Discomfort & Holy Mischief

1. In the sermon, moralism was defined as believing that the function of the Christian faith is moral formation and growth.  Have you witnessed or experienced Christianity in this manner?
2. Why is this version of holiness such a strong temptation?
3. Can you give an example describing the difference between Jesus' example of holiness and moralism holiness?
4. Which version of moralism holiness (personal or communal) is more of a temptation for you?
5. How can we still engage in personal and social ethics without falling into the trap of moralism?
6. Can you think of any ways in which you have participated in holy mischief in the past? Any ways you may participate in the future?

(Re)Imagine Week 5 -

How have you found the Lord’s Prayer helpful?  Unhelpful?

Why do you think the gospel writers include the story of Jesus' prayer in the garden?

What either comforts you or bothers you about Jesus’ unanswered prayer?

What kinds of thing do you find it easy to pray about and hard to pray about?

How has God shaped you through answered prayer?

How has God shaped you through unanswered prayer?

(Re)Imagine Week 4 - Drunk with Joy

1) How have you understood worship in the past?

2) How big is God in your perception?  What experiences have helped to form that perception?

3) How strongly you do you feel a need for God?

4) In what ways do you sense God’s love?

5) If worship is expressed in submission, obedience, praise, thanksgiving, and service, in which areas do you feel come most naturally?  Which might be more of a struggle?

(Re)Imagine Week 3 - Church of the Rubik's Cube

1.  If you grew up in the church have you ever considered how much of what you have come to expect on Sunday morning is cultural conditioning?

2.  What is your favorite part of Trinity Mennonite Church?  If it's a program/ministry can you dig deeper about why you appreciate it? Would it be possible to do church completely differently and still experience everything you love at Trinity?

3.  The ecclesia (church) doesn't have a mission; the mission has an ecclesia.  What does that mean to you?  What is that mission?

4.  The early church regularly took creative risks for the sake of fulfilling their kingdom calling.  How have you witnessed that same creative risk taking in the community of Trinity or the larger church?

5.   What do you think is the best way to give a vote to tradition while still maintaining the creative calling of the church?

(Re)Imagine Week 2 - Livers, Typewriters, and Star Trek

1.  Have you ever found yourself tempted by either the "Liver" or "Typewriter" approaches to scripture?

• Why was it so tempting?  Did you succumb to the temptation?  
• If so, how did you find your way out?

2.  Have you ever considered that you bring a great deal of yourself to your reading of scripture?  

• How might this change how you approach the text?  
• How might it change how you think about others who disagree with you?

3.  What is your favorite Bible story?  

• Can you clarify why it is your favorite?
• Have you found any stories which are difficult for you?

4.  How often do you read the Bible and how much of it do you read?

• Do you feel guilty about not reading it more often?  If so, why?
• What would need to change for your thinking to move from "ought to" to "excited to?"

5.  N.T. Wright says this about creatively responding to what we read in the Bible:

Suppose there exists a Shakespeare play whose fifth act had been lost.  The first four acts provide, let us suppose, such a wealth of characterization, such a crescendo of excitement within the plot, that it is generally agreed that the play ought to be staged.  Nevertheless, it is felt inappropriate actually to write a fifth act once and for all: it would freeze the play into one form, and commit Shakespeare as it were to being prospectively responsible for work not in fact his own.  Better, it might be felt, to give the key parts to highly trained, sensitive and experienced Shakespearian actors, who would immerse themselves in the first four acts, and in the language and culture of Shakespeare and his time, and who would then be told to work out a fifth act for themselves.

Consider the result.  The first four acts, existing as they did, would be the undoubted ‘authority’ for the task in hand.  That is, anyone could properly object to the new improvisation on the grounds that this or that character was now behaving inconsistently, or that this or that sub-plot or theme, adumbrated earlier, had not reached its proper resolution.  This ‘authority’ of the first four acts would not consist in an implicit command that the actors should repeat the earlier pans of the play over and over again.  It would consist in the fact of an as yet unfinished drama, which contained its own impetus, its own forward movement, which demanded to be concluded in the proper manner but which required of the actors a responsible entering in to the story as it stood, in order first to understand how the threads could appropriately be drawn together, and then to put that understanding into effect by speaking and acting with both innovation and consistency.

N.T. Wright - How Can the Bible be Authoritative?

http://ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Bible_Authoritative.htm

• How does this fit with this past week's message?
• What are the difficulties innate in maintaining "innovation and consistency?"

6.  Any other thoughts or questions which developed from the sermon?

(Re)Imagine Week 1 - Hot Pink Dinosaurs

Are you creative? What is it? Are you an artist? In the beginning God creates. And you were created to be like God.  You were born to create.  In first grade I wrote a poem. But life set in and I stopped.  But I got back into it and now do it fairly regularly and recently had a poem posted by AMBS.  I was surprised out how many people said they could never write poetry. People tend to view the "creatives" asa subset of the human race.  When I was a kid I figured out I couldn't draw or make music.  I wasn't a creative. Finally in seminary somebody told I should be a writer. That was first time I started thinking about myself as a creative.  Years later I realized that "they" don't exist.  We're all creative. I also didn't think I could preach.  But I finally realized I could when I incorporated a poem into a sermon.  It changed how I think about preaching; the sermon became art. Creativity is not a spiritual gift.  It's the spiritual gift. We are artists, called to create. I see all kinds of creativity like rebuilding engines, or gardening, or engineers, or James fixing a swimming pool. Creativity has always been a part of the church, central to expressions of faith. I didn't think of faith as creativity because I was taught it was propositional, instead of art that turns us towards God. Christianity is a creative faith at its core. We tend to become comfortable with what we've known and stop being creative because we've found the answers, we stop thinking about things that need to change.  All of us have things we don't want to have change. I don't mean for us to abandon truth but rather to explore it.  It's like the new perspective we get from walking through the Grand Canyon.  We wouldn't think you're trying to destroy their view of the Grand Canyon because you're exploring it. Truth is not afraid of questions and exploration. In the coming weeks we're going to explore a number of topics about the church that might feel uncomfortable.  Open yourself up to your God ordained imagination.  We're not intending to change our theology; it's intended to make you ask questions. Change happens no matter what.  The question is are you going to be reactionary or responsive.  Whatever time is the time you think change should stop is the time somebody else thinks it was too far. If we are reactionary, it will be a threat.  If we are responsive, we open ourselves up to the creativity of God. [break for kid art] Kids always have something to draw.  But over time, creativity disappears and conformity seeps in.  You are creative, meant to reflect the Divine Artist. I only want you to learn one thing in this series.  Don't settle for somebody telling you are not an artist.  Don't settle for a theology that is not marked by the creativity of God. God is moving, not stagnant.  Don't say "I have it figured out. If only things were the way I want." It will destroy your soul. As a kid I loved dinosaurs.  I especially loved organizing them. I especially liked my dinosaur coloring books. I used to color them with my special box.  But I ran out of the "dinosaur colors."  But then I realized nobody knew what color they were.  So I started using the neon colors.  I was still coloring dinosaurs, but a whole new world was open to me.  We need to be like this theologically.  The most beautiful parts of our faith are those where we are creative.  We not only need green and brown dinosaurs.  We need hot pink ones.

• What does it mean to be creative?
• In what ways are you creative?
• Scott connected creativity to not being stuck in the past or in our ways.  How do you see these as being connected?
• What keeps us from being open to seeing God in new ways?

Easter 2016

View fullsize

1.  Jesus' followers thought they had lost everything.  They were hiding in a room when Jesus was resurrected.  After that, everything changed and they devoted their lives to his teaching even to the point of death.  How would you explain that kind of life change to someone who wasn't there?

2. If all of us "stink" why do we find it so difficult to be transparent with each other?  How does the resurrection give us freedom to stop defining ourselves by our mistakes?

3. Jesus' resurrection is only the beginning of God's redemptive work.  How can we continue to engage the world with resurrection eyes?

4. Where have you experienced resurrection/renewal breaking into this world?

5. How does the image of Jesus as a redemptive gardener feel in light of the Genesis creation/fall narrative?

6. John counts off the first few miracles in his gospel.  If you continue the count you will see that there are 7 miracles before Jesus is resurrected.  The new life of Jesus (who looks like a gardener) is the 8th miracle in John.  How does that feel in light of the Genesis creation narrative?

Lent Week 6 - Palm Sunday

Discussion Questions

1. Jesus uses the image of the rocks crying out in praise to God. What is this saying and what makes it powerful?

2. Eric used the image of God singing over creation and people.  What might that look like?

3. What difference might it make if we could hear God singing over creation?

4. What difference might it make if we could hear God singing over others?

5. What difference might it make if we could hear God singing over ourselves?

6. Are there other thoughts that struck you from the sermon?

Lent Week 5

Sermon Summary

There are moments in life that define everything we need to know about somebody (e.g., the woman who drops the cake). What we need to know about Jacob: Can I pin this stranger? Jacob tussles in the womb Jacob grabs his brothers hill.  He steals the birthright. He steals the blessing. He gets swindled by Laban, and swindles him back. He flees Laban's family, and returns home. 

Finally, he wrestles with the stranger. Is it possible that this whole time, his true struggle has been with somebody else?  He asks, "who are you?" Instead his new name is "wrestles with God" (Israel) which becomes the name of the people of God get. We are Israel. 

We have rules about being religious. #1 Don't be a jerk, #2 Know a lot of stuff, #3 Follow the rules. The perfect sport is ballroom dancing; just let yourself be swept along. Just follow Jesus lead. The problem is the life of faith isn't like that. It's more like wrestling. I emerge from Bible study more like a kid in a sandbox than a ballroom dancer. 

Jacob offends piety, but he's not alone; Abraham bargains with God. Moses argues with God over the Israelites. The Syrophoenecian woman argues with Jesus. These are God's friends in the Bible. These wrestlers are the Saints.  We are not "Masters of Divinity" or the certain or the right or the submissive.  We are those who wrestle with God. 

This is our sacred calling. To struggle and wrestle and argue. It's not book knowledge; it's senses of knowledge. This is "knowing" God.  No ahead of time that when you wrestle with God, you're not going to win.  Jacob never gets a name.  You can't pin god down. Nobody gets God's name. If you think you have God pinned down, your God is probably an idol. What does God mean by "you have overcome." He doesn't win; in fact he comes out injured for life. He carriers a limp from his encounter.  The only way he overcomes is if"overcoming" means not letting go. Victory in the Bible is to wrestle with God and then when everything fails, just refusing to let go. That's Biblical faith. 

Some of you may feel disillusioned; you thought it was going to be a waltz. Maybe you feel like a spiritual failure.  Maybe you are angry at life or God. Maybe your faith needs a metaphor; those who wrestle with God. It's holy and faithful to go to the mats with God and to beg for blessing. Maybe you've spent a lot time theorizing about God; there are things you can't learn by reading; you have to be a participant. If you come day and have pinned God down, then it's not God.  Let go of it. If you are struggling with a brother or sister, perhaps they are not the one you are wrestling with. If you come limping from wrestling with God, there's nothing you need to do.  Just lie in the dust and cling to God's ankle.

The mystery of the faith is that the scars of Jesus struggle become the marks of victory. We are invited to become one of those who wrestled with God and have overcome by refusing to let go.

Discussion Questions

1. Jacob: Hero or numbskull?  What about him is heroic?
2. What is it about the wrestlers that God seems to love?
3. Are you comfortable wrestling with God?
4. Does society see us as "The people who wrestle with God?" Why or why not?
5. What does "not letting go" look like?
6. Did you identify with any particular group at the end of Meghan's sermon?

Lent Week 4

2 Corinthians 5:14-21

Sermon Summary

We are in a cultural climate of polarization.  The stories we hear emphasize how different we are and how much more right we are than our opponents. These stories have great power. This kind of thinking lead to the Rwandan genocide in which 800,000 people of all ages were killed.  Most of the killing was Christian killing Christian.  Sometimes even members of the same congregation inside their own church buildings. It’s hard for us to imagine that kind of violence happening within a congregation.  

But in Matt 5:21-22 Jesus says that even calling somebody a fool makes a person guilty of murder. There are different ways we either call somebody a fool or imply that they are a fool.  Some ways we do this include talking more about what other people should not believe than what we believe, using totalizing language (making blanket assertions about people using broad categories), and mockery--trying get others to laugh at those we disagree with. One of the cool things about our congregation is the wide variety of beliefs.  So when we do these things chances are good we are calling members of own congregation fools. In fact this does happen, and we have the empty pews to prove that we have “killed” members of our own congregation.

Why do we do this.  Our needs can be boiled down to three things. We need physical security, to know that we are loved, and to know our life has meaning.  Everybody pretty much wants the same things.  When we are calling people fools, it generally because we are insecure and somehow putting them down them makes feel better about ourselves. We are driven by stories of fear that we don’t have enough, that we aren’t loved, and that our life has no meaning.

We need a new story to counter the story of fear, a story of love. This can be found in 2 Cor 5:14-21.  The new story is centered on God’s love for us as expressed in Jesus.  Jesus comes to heal us and set us free.  He ultimately demonstrates his love for us by dying for us. We know that god will take care of us, that God loves us, that God has a purpose for our life. When we accept this new story of love, we don’t need to live by the story of fear. But it doesn’t just change how we see ourselves. It changes how we see others.  We can now see them as being just like us, needing the same thing that we need, as people Jesus loved enough to die for.  Ultimately, God is a God of reconciliation, and of love.  And we are reconciled to God, we then can join in the ministry of reconciliation.  This means being a right relationship with others and God, and helping them to find love in God as well.

The story of fear is a lie; fear that you are shameful, that you are not worth of love, that your life doesn’t matter. If you dwell on this fear, you are on the path to Rwanda. The story of love is that you are a child of God. That in Jesus God loves us and heals us and ultimate demonstrates love by dying for us. But it’s not a story of death, it’s a story of resurrection, of new life; a new creation and a new story. God is greater than the story of fear.  You must choose which story you are going to listen to, the story of love or the story of fear.

Discussion Questions

1. Share a story of a time when you have been hurt or troubled by constant negativity, totalizing language, or being mocked (especially where the mockery was not meant to be personal).

2. In spite of all the good things that God provides us, it can still be really hard to ignore the story of fear (that we’re not lovable, that our life is insignificant, that we still don’t have enough).  Why do you think this is?

3. Clearly the Bible makes space for speaking prophetically.  How do we differentiate between speaking prophetically and just being antagonistic towards people who disagree with us?

4. What does it mean that Jesus loves your foes enough to die for them?

5. Do you believe the ministry of reconciliation is for all Christians, or just a few?

 6. Are there any other thoughts from the sermon you’d like to talk about?