Sunday Worship Small Group Questions (Feb. 4)

Small Group Discussion Questions

Sunday, February 4, 2018 (Youth Sunday)

Isaiah 40:21-31

Isaiah chapter 40 was written during the time when Israel was exiled in the foreign empire of Babylonia. The people were living far from their homeland and wondered if they would ever return. This time period marks one of the most difficult times in Israel’s history. It is in this desperate time that the prophet Isaiah offers words of hope and comfort to the people.

Share a time when you felt disconnected from God and when you were in need of hope.

Isaiah offers hope to the people of Israel by reminding them that God the creator is more than the sum total of our negative and challenging experiences that we face in life. Specifically, Isaiah’s words of hope point us to a God who specializes in bringing power to the faint, strength to the powerless, energy to those feeling exhausted. Looking ahead to the New Testament, the ultimate display of how God can bring new life from death is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

When has God renewed your faith and hope during a difficult time that you were facing? In what ways did you receive power, strength, and energy? 

Notice that the prophet Isaiah offers these familiar words of hope: “Even youths will faint and be weary and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

If “waiting for the Lord” is the key to making it through a difficult situation or problem, what do you think Isaiah expects us to focus on or do while we wait?

What If You Were in a Small Group with Mary, the Mother of Jesus?

Our church is in the process of preparing to launch new small groups in early February. These small groups, each consisting of 3 to 12 people will be "sharing groups" where people take turns sharing their "closest to God" moments with each other. "Closest to God" moments refer to those times when we experienced God's presence in a very real way in the course of our day to day living.

As we prepare to launch these new share groups in our church and as we approach the Christmas season, I began to wonder what it would be like if Mary, the mother of Jesus was in one of these groups. Maybe the conversation would go like this:

Small Group Facilitator: Welcome everyone to our small group meeting this evening. Help yourself to the cookies and punch that are on the coffee table. Like we've been doing each time we meet, let's go around the room so everyone will have an opportunity to share where they felt closest to God since we last met. Who wants to begin? Mary, let's begin with you. What was your closest to God moment since we last met? And by the way, congratulations on the birth of your child!

Mary: Thank you for keeping Joseph and me in your prayers. My "closest to God" moment was when I gave birth to Jesus who is God in flesh. He is the long awaited Messiah and the one who Isaiah prophesied would be known as "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. This is why we named him, "Emmanuel" which means "God with us."

Small Group Facilitator: Wow, that certainly was a "closest to God" moment, Mary. Thank you for sharing. So who wants to go next? Bill, what was your "closest to God" moment since we last met?

Bill: Uh, I think I'll pass.

This fun little small group simulation shows how unique and incredible the Christmas story is. You can't get any closer to God than Mary did when she carried Jesus in her womb and gave birth to the savior of the world. That literally was a "closest to God" moment!

Even though Bill couldn't top what Mary had to share since the whole "God incarnate story" is really amazing, the truth is that we all have "closest to God" moments to share with each other. Think about the events of your life this past week. Where was God present in your day to day routine?

Was God present in the voice of the person who called you out of the blue one day and offered an encouraging word just when you needed it? Was God present with you when you said "hi" to a young mother and her little girl as you were getting on the elevator and the little girl surprised you when she responded with the words, "I love you?" Or how about the time when you were having breakfast with some friends at a restaurant and after someone shared a troubling situation, everybody got quiet, and somebody in the group offered to say a prayer for that person?

These just aren't hypothetical examples! They all happened to me!

I know, I know. None of these are nearly as dramatic as a young lady giving birth to the savior of the world. Who would want to follow what Mary shared in that small group. I think I would have passed on that one, too! 

God isn't just present in a burning bush, a lowly manger, and an empty tomb. God is also present in more subtle ways throughout our day to day living.

The story of Christmas isn't just a story about a miraculous virgin birth. It's a story that reminds us that "closest to God" moments happen all around us, if only we open our hearts to see them.

Having said that, here's a little word of advice. The next time you attend a small group meeting at church, don't sit next to a guy named, Moses. He might bring up something about parting the Red Sea. You might want to pass on that one, too.

Reclaiming a Biblical Worldview

During my morning devotions today, I read Psalm 71:15,16 which says,

"My mouth will repeat your righteous acts and your saving deeds all day long. I don't even know how many of those there are! I will dwell on your mighty acts, my Lord. Lord, I will help others remember nothing but your righteous deeds."

When I read this, I had one of those "duh!" moments where I realized just how much our worldview shapes our understanding of scripture and spirituality in general.

The prevailing 21st century secularized western civilization worldview is that there is very little if no overlap between a higher power and earthly affairs. Even those of us who attend church, read our bibles, pray, and seek to live out our faith are easily influenced by this worldview. This worldview has redefined "miracles" as those occurrences that happen infrequently and only in very dramatic ways.

My scripture reading from Psalm 71 today reminds me that this is not what the bible means when we think of "miracles." Actually, the word "miracle" doesn't even appear in the bible. The bible refers to "signs and wonders." The Psalm reading uses the phrases, "righteous acts," "saving deeds," and "mighty acts."

We might be tempted to read these phrases through the lenses of our modern day understanding of "miracles," but then the Psalmist says that he doesn't even know how many "of those (saving deeds) there are" because there are so many!

The Psalmist is reminding us that God is at work in the world all of the time, not just when the Red Sea was parted for Moses or when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead!

If it is true that these daily occurrences of God's presence and signs of grace are happening all around us, then maybe my worldview needs to adapt to a more biblical worldview where God isn't just "the man upstairs" while we go about our business down here.

Not only does the Psalmist have us rethink our worldview, we also are called to think about these signs of God's presence "all day long" AND "help others remember nothing but God's righteous deeds."

This is why small groups in the church are so important! They help us to embrace the biblical worldview that God is present throughout the day in small and big ways. When we meet with other Christians in a small group and share how we have seen God at work during the week, we are embracing the worldview that God is present in our everyday lives.

Where do you see God at work in your day to day living? What does it mean to reclaim a biblical worldview? Are we sharing these "holy moments" with others on a regular basis? 

I think the Psalmist is on to something here, because I experienced the presence of Christ yesterday in a very real way, and I can't wait to tell my small group about it.

My Conversation with a Church Member

While at the gym, a long-time church member began to chat with me as I stood on the treadmill.  He had questions about our upcoming season of Lent "Unbinding Your Heart" small group focus. Our church's goal is for 400 people in our church to participate in a six-week small group focus beginning the week of February 19.

"I've been reading the "Unbinding Your Heart" small group book and I agree with what it says that mainline churches need to focus a lot more on prayer and sharing our faith and we just don't do it.  I know that this is what our church needs but for some reason, I'm reluctant to sign up for a group."

"I wasn't going to sign up for a small group but then you mentioned it again at our men's prayer breakfast and I'm thinking about it again.  Maybe I should sign-up.  My grandson tells me that most of the people in his church are involved in a small group and it's really a high priority for them.  Maybe I need to get on board."

"When you told me about the elderly widower in our church who recently experienced God's presence in a real way, I thought to myself that this is what I want more of in my life - to experience God's presence throughout the week.  I know that a small group will help me to experience more of God in my life."

"How do you sign-up again?  You can go on our church's website and find out when all of the small groups are meeting?  It tells you the names of the small group facilitators?"

I nodded yes.  He smiled back.  I could tell that he was going to sign-up for a small group as soon as he would get  home from the gym.

He had convinced himself.  All I needed to do was listen and offer reassurance.  During our conversation, God was slowly unbinding his heart.  May God unbind my heart today.
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Spiritual Peripheral Vision

Today's lectionary text from I Samuel reminds us of the importance of having "an Eli," someone who can help us discern God's calling.  All Eli did was tell Samuel to listen for God's voice and respond with "Here I am."  This story reminds me that we need each other if we want to truly hear God's voice.

Several years ago, a member of my small group shared with me that he felt I said something during a recent worship service that was ungracious toward a mutual friend.  When he first mentioned this, I remember feeling shocked and horrified that my comments were interpreted in a way I hadn't intended.  Looking back on my comment, I can see how someone would have taken it that way.

We all have blind spots in not being able to see how our words and actions are having a harmful impact on someone or a situation.  By having a trusted friend or small group, we can become more aware of our blind spots expanding our spiritual peripheral vision.  I also appreciated how he graciously shared the truth in love.

Thanks to my friend in that small group, I ended up apologizing to our mutual friend.  I also sought to be more intentional with the words I choose to use and how I use them. 

Who is your Eli?
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A Paragraph Every United Methodist Should Read

A big thanks to Wesylan scholar, Kevin M. Watson for this paragraph that every United Methodist should read from his recent sermon in Perkins Chapel, Southern Methdodist University. Thank you, Kevin.

“Becoming”
Revelation 2:1-5
Perkins Chapel
September 15, 2010
Kevin M. Watson

A study of denominations in the United States found that in 1776 American Methodism was a tiny, little-known, and insignificant sect. By 1850 American Methodism had become the largest denomination in the country, by far! One way of glimpsing the dramatic growth of Methodism during this period is that in terms of the overall percentage of religious adherents in this period, the largest percentage increase among groups other than Methodists during this period was Catholics, who increased by 77% from 1776 to 1850. During this same shift Methodism increased by 1,368%! The growth of American Methodism during this period was explosive! One of the reasons for this growth was that every single Methodist met in a weekly small group to check in with one another, to give an account of how they were doing spiritually. In fact, one historian of American Methodism has called the class meeting “the building blocks of Methodism.”

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Thursday Morning Bible Study Farewell Brunch

For the past three or so years, I have been meeting on a weekly basis year round with a wonderful group of people for bible study, prayer, and fellowship.

We studied a variety of topics such as the Book of Romans, the Book of Revelation, the Epistle of James, "Simply Christian" by NT Wright, World Religions, "The Shack" novel, the writings of classical Christian authors, the United Methodist Hymnal as a devotional resource, "Just Neighbors," a study resource produced by Interfaith Hospitality Network (homeless ministry,) as well as other topics.

Each week, someone brings incredible desserts and sweets to share with the whole group and we always have coffee.

Yesterday, the group had their 2nd farewell lunch for me and like the 1st farewell lunch, the food was incredible. The first lunch was such a big hit that we decided to do it again!

The group presented me with a framed picture of me with the group that you see above. To my Thursday morning bible study group, I can only say, "thanks for the memories!"

Ministry on Epiphany Day

My small group which is actually a group of pastors serving 15 United Methodist Churches in the Common Cup shared ministry model prepared and served a meal at St. Paul's Outreach Center in Dayton, Ohio.

Our goal is to be involved in hands on mission outreach at least once every two months in addition to our twice a month gatherings for scripture, prayer, ministry planning, and sharing. We typically serve a January luncheon for those in need at St. Paul's each year and it's always a lot of fun to come together and shine the light of Christ.

Speaking of which, it's interesting that we served this meal on the Day of Epiphany, the final day of the Christmas season and a day in which the church recalls the story of the wise men following the star to the Christ child.

In celebration of Epiphany, we sang, "We Three Kings" while preparing the meal in the kitchen. At one point, we changed the verse to say, "We nine pastors from Common Cup are, preparing a lunch, we traveled afar." We received several compliments from the St. Paul's volunteers who said we sounded pretty good. We also sang "Go, Tell It on the Mountain" and then stopped singing when we couldn't think of any other Epiphany hymns to sing from memory!

The picture above shows how much fun we had in preparing this meal. My job was to serve the potatoes and macoroni and cheese, take this picture, and not get in people's way.

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Our next outing as a small group will be to go on a two day retreat at Maria Stein retreat center located in northwest Ohio in a couple of weeks. We use this time to do some ministry planning, but it's really meant to be a time to reconnect with Christ on a personal level.

Happy Birthday, Joy Bunch!

Last night, a small group in our church invited me to join them for their December gathering. Not only was the discussion great, (they've been focusing on a small group book on the meaning of Christmas) but one of the couples in the group provided an incredible dinner!

This particular small group began four years ago as part of our church's launch of the PALS model of small group ministry. PALS is based on the four major components for a healthy and growing small group:

P - Prayer. How meaningful to hear the prayer concerns and joys of this small group and to pray with them last night!

A - Action. This small group has reached out to various needs within our congregation and they collect household products for people in need.

L - Learning. One of the members led a discussion on the Christmas bible study book last night.

S - Sharing. This choked me up last night. One of the small group members reminded everyone that December marks the 4th birthday anniversary of this small group. They spent time reflecting on the original members of the group, newer members, marriages, deaths, and other life transitions they have experienced together as a small group. One of their small group members is now home bound but is still part of the small group.

This small group gave themselves the name, "The Joy Bunch" and I can see why. After being at one of their gatherings, you can sense the hope and joy they have through their faith in Jesus Christ. Notice their smiles in the picture from last night's meeting.

Happy birthday, Joy Bunch! And thanks for your Prayers, Action, Learning, & Sharing.

Christians Having Fun

Salt Shakers is the name of one of my church fellowship groups in which people who at first didn't know each other very well, get together about eight times a year to eat, pray, and have fun!

We recently had our monthly outing playing miniature golf at Young's Dairy. The women beat the men by five strokes, but the pain of defeat was lessened by a vanilla milkshake that was enjoyed afterward. The barbecue chicken dinner before we played didn't hurt either!

In the middle of Young's Dairy, we offered prayers for various needs among our group - not something I usually do on my own in the middle of an ice-cream store!

The Book of Acts tells us that the early Christians often got together for meals and fellowship (Acts 2:42-47.) I don't think it's any coincidence that the church grew because of the deep relationships that were formed among those first disciples in the name of Jesus.

One of the goals of our church is to help every person in the congregation get connected with a fellowship group that will help them grow in their faith and feel part of the larger church family.