1. In his sermon today, Tim pointed out that the writer of John didn’t say that The Word came into the darkness and then eradicated all darkness. Instead, Tim noted that God seems to want us to spend about half our time in the darkness. He theorized that maybe it’s because God understands that darkness is a necessary part of our lives, and that it’s necessary specifically for teaching us certain things we: the kinds of things we can lean and rely on.

How do you respond to these ideas? How comfortable are you with the idea of darkness in our lives as a necessity?

What do you make of the suggestion that we can learn certain things [only in] in the dark, and that those things are the kinds of things we can learn and rely on?

What have you learned in your own periods of darkness? Can you identify some that are now part of how support yourself and keep yourself upright? Do you think you could have learned those same things without the darkness in which you learned them? Why or why not?

2. Tim later talked about the idea of “enemy-making-spaces.” He talked about them as spaces where people are convinced that their side is full of goodness and light, and that others are full of darkness. These are often religious types, full of certitudes, unable to see their own darkness and/or acknowledge the lessons to be learned in it.

What is your experience with spaces like this? How easily can you identify them in your past, or in your present sphere of exposure? What kinds of emotions surface as you reflect on these spaces? What shifts do you feel and sense in your body?

Of these spaces, Tim said, “these spaces are efficient… they give clarity and something to do with our anger. Enemy-making-spaces let us discharge our pain without having to examine it.”

How do you respond to this characterization? What resonates for you? What feels true? What feels confusing? Where do you feel resistance?

3. Throughout his sermon, Tim highlighted John’s presentation of Jesus as tabernacle, and tabernacle as essentially the opposite of enemy-making-space.

Tim said that tabernacle is a space…

Where God’s presence can be noticed and practiced…and felt. 

Where a relationship with God can be re-learned. 

Of vulnerability & friendship.

Where humans can slowly get used to being truly seen and known as we are - without needing to reach for fig-leaves or weapons.

Where God can be with us, instead of over us. 

Jesus’ presence, by John’s telling, is the reality of God tabernacling again. And with God meeting us again, in human flesh, here on earth, God’s response to our brokenness was forgiveness. 

Tim pointed out that, even before the death & resurrection, Jesus just kept telling people that their sins were forgiven in acts of unending grace. 

How do you respond to this picture of Jesus as a tabernacle-space brought to life among us? How does that affect your understanding of Jesus? Of his presence here on earth? Of the gospel story? What does it make you feel or think about how God sees and responds to you - in your darkness and in your light?

What does it look like for us, as the church, to continue to act as a tabernacle space for the world and darkness around us? How can we show up as re-presenters of that same forgiveness and love? 

Practically speaking, how do we create that tabernacle space while also acknowledging the darkness, and maybe even its necessity? while also being a space for the brightness of God’s light to be seen in the midst of the darkest nights? What does that vision ask of us? What does that vision ask of you?