Lakeside Church

The Christmas story doesn’t end with angels and manger scenes - it continues into fear, flight, and forced exile. When Joseph hears the words “escape to Egypt,” God overturns assumptions about safety, enemies, and where refuge can be found. This message from Robyn Elliott explores how Christmas is a story of reversal, vulnerability, and a God who meets us in the wilderness to make something new.

Discussion Questions:

1. What words or phrases make your own “blood run cold,” and why do you think they carry so much power over you?

2. Where in your life have you experienced disorientation, when what you believed about God or yourself was shaken?

3. Egypt represented trauma and fear for Joseph. What “Egypts” exist in your story - places or situations you’d never expect to find God?

4. Have you ever found safety, healing, or wisdom in a place or from people you once feared or rejected?

5. How does the idea that Jesus was safer among outsiders challenge your understanding of faith, belonging, or community?

6. When you’re in a wilderness season, do you tend to assume you’ve done something wrong, or can you imagine it as a place of new beginning?

7. In what ways do comfort and familiarity shape where you expect God to work?

8. How does this part of the Christmas story reshape what “peace” really means to you?

9. What might it look like for you to follow Jesus into vulnerability rather than control or security?

10. As we put Christmas back into boxes, what if the real question is whether Christmas has been packed into us? Will we keep choosing love over hate, conversation over confrontation, and relationship over retaliation when the season no longer reminds us?

Christmas doesn’t end on December 25 - it carries on as a reminder that Jesus is for the whole world, not just a select few. In this message from Joash Thomas, in the story of the Magi, we’re invited to move beyond certainty and fear toward humility, curiosity, and attentive listening. It’s an invitation to notice where God is already at work, often in places we wouldn’t expect.

Discussion Questions:

1. Where do you see yourself in the Epiphany story right now - the Magi, the fearful crowd around Herod, or someone else entirely? Why?

2. What does it mean for you to believe that Jesus is not only a personal saviour, but the saviour of all creation?

3. Are there places in your faith where you’ve become attached to certainty rather than curiosity? What might it look like to loosen your grip?

4. How do you typically respond to people of other faiths or Christian traditions - with curiosity, fear, defensiveness, or something else? And what might Jesus want to show you about himself through neighbours or communities that are different from you?

5. The Magi listened, learned, and then “went home by another road.” How has encountering Jesus changed your direction or perspective?

6. What gives you hope when it feels like powerful systems or forces are winning?

7. What is one small way you could practice courage, curiosity, or peacemaking this week?

Be Still and Know: A New Year's Reflection by Lakeside Church

Bethlehem was not a peaceful postcard but a place of poverty, occupation, and conflict, and God chose that setting to enter the world. In this message from Robyn Elliott, Advent reminds us that God’s path to peace comes through humility, justice, and righteousness, not force or empire. To take Christmas seriously is not to save the world, but to live like Jesus - carrying God’s peace into forgotten and broken places.

Advent reveals a God who completely redefines power. Instead of arriving with force, status, or spectacle, Jesus comes in humility - born in obscurity, announced to the overlooked, and crowned through self-giving love. In this message from Mike Carmody, we’re invited to surrender the world’s version of strength and discover where God might be reversing power in us today.

Discussion Questions:

1. When you think about “power,” what images or experiences come to mind from your own life?

2. Where do you most feel pressure to appear strong, impressive, or in control right now? And is there an area of your life where God might be inviting you to let go of control or status?

3. Mary responds to God with surrender rather than certainty. What would surrender look like for you this Advent?

4. Which part of the Christmas story most challenges your assumptions about success or greatness?

5. Who are the “overlooked” people in your everyday life, and what might it look like to notice or lift them up?

6. As a church community, where are we tempted to chase influence rather than faithfulness?

7. How might our relationships change if we truly believed that greatness in God’s kingdom looks like serving?

8. Why do you think God consistently chooses the least likely people throughout Scripture to carry out His purposes?

9. How does the cross reshape our understanding of victory, authority, and kingship in contrast to Roman - or modern - definitions of power?

In this message from Jack Ninaber, we explore the often-overlooked faith and obedience of Joseph - the quiet, steady figure in the Christmas story whose actions shaped the arrival of Jesus. Joseph models compassion, surrender, and courage in the face of misunderstanding, showing us what it means to step faithfully into God’s mission even when it places us in the background. His life invites us to embrace Advent as a season of trust, patience, and quiet obedience.

Discussion Questions:

1. What does Joseph teach us about doing the right thing even when it may cost reputation, finances, or social standing? Have you ever faced a situation where doing the right thing made you look wrong to others? How did you process or endure that season?

2. Have you ever felt compelled to act out of duty or conviction even when your emotions didn’t align with the decision? What was that like for you?

3. In a culture where honour and shame played such a significant role, what risks did Joseph take in choosing the “quiet” option, and why might justice demand such restraint?

4. How does the angel’s message shift Joseph’s sense of obligation, from social and religious duty to participation in God’s redemptive plan?

5. Do you tend to follow God more out of conviction, love, habit, or a sense of duty? How does Joseph’s story challenge or affirm the way you live out your faith?

6. In what ways can following Jesus place us in positions where we appear foolish, misunderstood, or dishonoured, and how should we navigate that tension?

7. How do we discern when our sense of duty comes from God versus cultural, familial, or religious pressure?

8. What is an area in your life right now where doing the right thing feels difficult or misunderstood, and what might faithfulness look like for you in that situation?

Resources:

Whisper: How to Hear the Voice of God by Mark Batterson

Sacred Pathways: Nine Ways to Connect with God by Gary Thomas

Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God by Dallas Willard

Advent is a season that asks us to face the tension between hope and fear - much like Bethlehem itself, the “House of Bread” and the “House of War,” where the Bread of Life was born into a world that was not yet as it should be. In this message from Robyn Elliott, we explore how God shows up in the shadows and in our waiting, turning the ashes of our lives into something sustaining and life-giving. Advent reminds us that Jesus comes not only to the beautiful parts of our story, but also to our deepest longings and pain, breaking through the darkness with quiet, resilient hope.

Discussion Questions:

1. How do you typically respond to waiting, and what does that reveal about your spiritual posture during Advent?

2. Where in your life are you currently waiting for God to break in or bring clarity? And are there places where you may have unknowingly put up walls to God’s presence or movement?

3. When you think of “ashes” in your life - places of loss, shame, or disappointment - what might it look like for God to make “bread” from them?

4. In what ways does the hurried, commercial Christmas season make it difficult for you to embrace quiet, reflection, and longing?

5. How does the theme of waiting connect with the larger biblical narrative of hope and expectation?

6. Bethlehem is described as both the “House of Bread” and the “House of War.” How does this tension reflect the world Jesus entered and the world we live in today?

7. What does the incarnation (God arriving in obscurity, poverty, and vulnerability) teach us about God’s character and the way He works?

8. How does Advent reorient us to a different way of being than the secular rhythms of December?

9. Robyn launched our Christmas Giving Campaign for this year as part of her message. There are three ways you can get involved. Which option resonates with you?

Why do some prayers get answered while others seem to go unheard? Jesus promises that faith can move mountains, yet we still face trials, disappointment, and mystery. In this message from Robyn Elliott we wrestle honestly with unanswered prayer, exploring biblical tensions, real-world complexity, and the hope the resurrection still offers.

Discussion Questions:

1. When have you experienced an unanswered prayer, and how did it shape your perception of God?

2. How do you reconcile Jesus’ promises in Matthew 21 and John 14 with the lived reality of suffering?

3. Which of the possible explanations discussed - contradiction, wounded world, free will, evil, sin - resonates most with you, and why?

4. To what extent is the modern Western expectation of happiness influencing how we interpret God’s role in our lives?

5. How does free will complicate the idea of God intervening in response to prayer?

6. In what ways does the biblical portrayal of spiritual evil (Ephesians 6) add nuance to the question of unanswered prayer?

7. What is the difference between having faith in God and having faith in the amount of your faith?

8. How does the Christian hope of resurrection reframe the way we interpret suffering, healing, and unanswered prayer?

The Lord’s Table is not just a ritual but a living prayer - a place where we encounter Jesus with our whole selves. Have you ever struggled to pray, wondered where God is, or felt like prayer is mysterious, intimidating, or even boring? This message from Robyn Elliott will help you rediscover the presence that meets us when we simply show up and the God who invites us into a more relational, embodied way of praying.

Discussion Questions:

1. When you think about prayer, what emotions come up first - delight, duty, confusion, guilt, comfort? Why do you think that is?

2. Have you ever experienced prayer as “showing up” rather than saying the right words? What did that look like for you?

3. Which part of the Lord’s Table - remembering, receiving, repenting, connecting - most resonates with your current season of life?

4. When in your life has God felt most “real” or “present,” and what were you doing in that moment?

5. In what ways does coming to the table feel like praying with your body? How might this reshape how you pray outside of communion?

6. Richard Foster says, “The Lord’s Table is at the heart of all prayer.” When you think about your own prayer life, how does communion help you experience or understand God differently?

7. In Luke 24, Jesus becomes recognizable while breaking bread. How does this shape the way you expect to encounter Jesus in everyday, physical, ordinary moments of your own life?

8. People debate what exactly happens at communion - symbolic, real presence, something in between. How have those conversations shaped (or complicated) how you approach the table?

9. Western culture tends to value thinking over experiencing. Where in your own faith do you notice this tension - wanting to understand God vs. wanting to encounter God?

10. If prayer and the table both “reorient” us, what shifts have you personally felt (or do you hope to feel) when you participate in these practices?

In this sermon, Pastor Johanna Kelly explores wordless or contemplative prayer—a form of prayer beyond language, where we meet God in silence and presence rather than through words. It reflects on those moments in life, whether joyful, sorrowful, or ordinary, when words fail and we sense the divine near. Contemplative prayer is not about doing but about being fully present, allowing God’s love to meet us where we are. As we open our hearts, we move from knowing about God to truly knowing God.

Questions:

1. Have you ever experienced a moment where words felt completely inadequate—either in sorrow or joy? What was that moment like for you?

2. Why do you think silence and stillness are often so uncomfortable for us? What tends to surface in you when you try to be quiet before God?

3. The sermon mentions that “progress in intimacy with God means progress towards silence.” What might this mean for your own prayer life?

4. What does it mean to you to bring your “whole self” to God in prayer—your past, present, hurts, and hopes?

5. How do your current images of God and of yourself shape the way you approach prayer?

6. The sermon says, “Maybe Jesus is inviting you to trust that God is love.” What might that invitation look like for you right now?

7. What practices (breath prayers, centering prayer, meditation, silence) help you become more present to God? Which ones feel most challenging?

8. If contemplative prayer is about “being fully present — in heart, mind, and body — to what is,” how might this posture transform your daily life, not just your prayer life?

9. The sermon highlights that God knocks and invites us to ‘sit and stay awhile.’ How might your community or relationships change if you embodied that same invitation for others?

10. How can contemplative or wordless prayer help bridge the divide between the seen (our human experience) and the unseen (the divine presence)?