1. One of Tim’s slides in his sermon today read, “the trajectory of our lives will shape the way we react when Messiah shows up.”

How do you understand what this means? How would you describe the trajectory of your own life, relative to this concept? What has it looked like or would it look like for you to orient or position your life on a trajectory that is or would be better able to receive Messiah when Messiah shows up?

2. Part of John the Baptist’s message to those who came to the wilderness to hear him was that they can’t rely on their status as part of the people of Israel to ensure their ability to receive Messiah and move toward the Kingdom.

Reflect on the fact that this admonition also applies to us today. Consider that neither your status in church membership nor your embrace of Christian cultural traditions are reliable qualifications for your readiness to receive Messiah in your life. How do you feel as you sit in that idea for a moment? What questions arise for you? What ideas?

3. Whether you count yourself among their numbers or not, how does it feel to consider those who are in processes of deconstruction and reconstruction as people in the process of repentance? Tim called the undertaking brave and faithful. How does that tally with the ways in which you usually think about deconstruction and those in the process?

Do you consider yourself as one of the people in the midst of deconstruction and reconstruction? How does it feel to consider yourself, in that context, as brave? As faithful? As repenting?

Share about what this framework for deconstruction and reconstruction stirs in your thoughts and feelings, and how it relates to your own experience.

1. When Tim reviewed the story of artist Phil Hansen, he said that a doctor advised Hansen to “embrace the shame… so he did.”

Hansen’s story, when quickly summarized, boils down to a single sentence what was no doubt a drawn out time of harrowing struggle and evolution for Hansen, both professionally and personally. Yet, this is often how our own life’s stories are for others on the outside, and sometimes even for ourselves in retrospect. What we experience as a milestone period of extended struggle, crisis, or catastrophe can be told later in a simple few sentences in which it’s difficult to convey the profound and transformative nature of the time.

What experiences in my your life have become, with time, short easily summarized stories? Are you facing circumstances now that you hope will someday also be able to be seen as shorter, more easily summarized journeys? And how do you feel contemplating the possibility? What might you hope that story could sound like someday?

2. In Tim’s sermon today, he said that “only those who’ve cultivated a sensitivity to God will encounter God’s presence in ordinary everyday things.” In contrast, many will need some sort of catastrophe or exile experience to get them to surrender their old dying world and ready to embrace what’s next.

Do you tend to lean more toward sensitivity to God in everyday things or do you think you’re more likely to need a catastrophe to help you soften toward reshaping? Are there examples from your past that inform your thoughts on your tendencies? Are there different contexts in which you feel like your readiness for reformation may be more or less easy to access?

3. After saying, “some of what we think we are won’t survive [the process of reshaping prompted by catastrophe], but that’s okay, because it’s killing us,” Tim posed a question to us all: what are you hanging onto that you need to let go of? What crutch, pacifier, or way of being in the world might need to be released in order to allow you to embrace the experience of God that comes on the other side?

After sharing your response to this question, reflect on practices you might undertake to help with the process of release and share with the group.

1. When telling the story of Phil Hansen’s learned wisdom and artistic process, Tim said, “his limitation fired his imagination.” 

What limitations have you experienced or are you experiencing in your life at present? Are any of these limits in areas in which you also feel like you could really benefit from some firing of your imagination?

Have you seen ways in which your Christian faith (or that of another) has been well suited to these times of limitation or disorientation? How so?

Have you had times or circumstances in your past in which a limitation has led you to creative thinking, problem solving, or innovation? To new imagination? If so, share about how that came about for you. 

2. Within the limiting bounds of exile, Jeremiah advised Israel’s people to live fruitful lives in their new situation and station, and to seek the peace and prosperity of Babylon, as its prospering would translate to their own as well.

Rather than fall into despair and hopelessness, Jeremiah seemed to embrace an idea articulated by Hansen: when faced with a limit, one ought to consider, “how will I find a new way to flourish within the bounds of this limit?” 

If these two ideas represent a spectrum of response to places of disorienting limitation, with despair and hopelessness on one end and curious exploration of new possibilities on the other, where do you tend to fall on this spectrum? Has that shifted over time for you? Are there different contexts in which one response is more likely than another for you? 

Think back to any present-day limitations you thought of in response to the first question. Where are you on that spectrum in regards to those circumstances? 

3. Tim taught that as Empire desires to shape our lives, we can lean into the Christian practices that will help us to, instead, be formed into people of peace. 

He listed these practices for us to consider:

Baptism & Eucharist

Sabbath & tithing

Weekly worship & daily prayer

Community & solitude

Peacemaking & solidarity with the outcast

He then asked, “as you think about your decrescendo, what practices will you engage in during Advent to make space for the future of God to be born in you?”

As you answer this question with your group, share about any barriers that may hinder your practice(s). What might you do to avoid being stalled by these barriers? 

1. What does it mean to be a witness?

2. Is there a space in my life where I feel challenged to go against culture to follow Christ?

3. Where does my story intersect with the story of Perpetua and Felicitas (social conventions, crossing lines, advocating for others, speaking up, resilience, hope in another kind of life, seeing suffering in a different light, telling my story)?

1. In his sermon, Tim talked about two parallel lines of church history. The first, the Historical Tradition, is characterized by dogmatic theologians and the general domination of men within its points of significance. In contrast, the Wisdom Tradition is characterized by mystical theologians, and women take a much more significant role in its history.

The slide showing the two timelines is below. Does one of these feel more familiar to you? Its story more known or more relevant?  Are there specific people or moments of significance in either that are personally important to you? If so, share about why. Are there some that you feel led to learn more about? If so, share about why.

What thoughts are prompted by noticing the contrasts between these two timelines while also recognizing their concurrence? What influence might recognizing these parallel traditions have on your overall understanding of the history of Christian theology? Is it important to hold both of these traditions in view when considering Christian theological history? Why or why not?



2. Julian of Norwich’s theology was neither sentimental nor sweet. She dove headfirst into difficult topics, including the problem of evil. In doing so, she wrote about Christ on the Cross. But unlike the views of her contemporaries, she didn’t see anger and wrath in the picture of the cross, but rather God’s solidarity and love. In the cross, she saw God absorbing man’s evil and returning only forgiveness.

Consider these different ways of understanding the cross. How do they compare with your own sense? Do you think of the cross as being more about wrath & anger? Or about solidarity & love? Whether you lean more toward one of these interpretations or some mixture, share about your sense of the cross and its relevance to your own personal faith practices. How does your conception of the cross affect your overall practice of your faith?

3. Tim taught that Julian saw, in Christ, an invitation to bring our brokenness to God - a process that requires growing in self-knowledge. And that this process helps us to participate in God’s well-making more and more.

What are your thoughts about the link between growing in self-knowledge and God’s ongoing well-making in the world? To what extent do you tend to think of your own self-awareness work  as connected to God’s redemptive processes? Do they seem linked or rather separate? What do you make of the through line drawn by Tim through the theology of Julian of Norwich? How does this influence your thoughts and feelings about the extent to which you’ve engaged in self-knowledge work? What feelings does this entire idea prompt in you? How significant does it feel?

1. In his sermon today, Tim talked about the ways in which St. Guinefort was embraced as an example of two of Christianity’s core values: cruciformity & solidarity.

Do you have people in your life who exemplify cruciformity and solidarity especially well in your eyes? In what ways do they do say? Why are they such exemplars for you?

In what areas of your life are these two values particularly relevant? In which ways have you moved or do you want to move more toward cruciformity and solidarity in your own life & community?

Brainstorm as a group some specific small (or large) actions you (individually or collectively) could take that will help you to further embody cruciformity and solidarity in your own life.

2. Tim shared a simple formula for helping us to move our lives more toward cruciformity. He listed some examples of status (see slide below for examples list & formula). Once we identify our own places of status, then we need to be intentional about not using or leveraging those advantages for our own self-advancement (as is the “mind of” our culture). But, instead, we are to pursue the “mind of Christ,” following his example of “kenosis,” emptying ourselves and instead engaging those places of status to help lift others in solidarity.



Which advantages from this status list (or otherwise) do you identify in your own life? What do you think it would look like for you pour out, make void, and self-empty in that regard, rather than exploit or leverage your status/advantage/privilege?

Do you think there should be limits to kenosis in your life? If so, how would one determine where they should be? If not, why not? What do you think influences your answer to this specific question?

3. Tim taught about Jesus’ parable of the sheep & the goats (Matthew 25:31-46). He pointed out that in Jesus’ teaching, “those who refuse God’s grace to others they see as unworthy, are themselves unable to receive it.”

In contrast, “those who practice cruciformity & solidarity with the excluded will come alive with a life that is truly life.”

Further, Tim highlighted that Jesus’ call to cruciformity and solidarity includes no litmus test for who is worthy of that inclusion and solidarity, saying “there is no means testing for God’s grace.”

Where are the areas in which you are most tempted to try to apply restrictions to whom “should” be able to receive God’s grace, your solidarity, and/or any other form of inclusion? Why do you think those hesitations or refusals arise in you? Do you feel willing to move toward more cruciform solidarity in those areas? If so, how might you go about that? If not, why not?

1. In the first sermon in this year’s Saints series, Tim taught about Jürgen Moltmann’s life, work, and theological legacy.

What jumped out at you during this sermon and its stories? What ideas impacted you or caught your attention? What were some of the big ideas you heard as you listened?

2. When Moltmann, interred in a POW camp, first read the Bible, and read about Jesus’ cry from the cross, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?,” he thought, “here is a fellow who understands me.” He described Christ as “…the divine brother in need, the companion on the way…the fellow sufferer who carries you, with your suffering.”

Consider this view of Christ. To what extent does this align with the way you tend to this of the Son? Is there anything in this description that feels particularly resonant for you? Anything that feels kinda off? What, if anything, might you modify, add, or subtract to articulate your own sense of Christ more closely?

What emotions or thoughts are prompted in you when you spend a little time considering Christ through this lens? Does the hope that surfaced for Moltmann feel relatable? Accessible?

3. Following are three of the Moltmann quotes Tim shared. Read through them as a group (all at once or one-at-a-time), and discuss your thoughts on each. What’s stirred up for you? How is your sense of hope impacted? What resonates with your own experiences of hope and/or its absence?

Is there anything here you needed to hear or of which you often need to be reminded? Is there anything in these words that inspires intention or action within yourself?

“Peace with God means conflict with the world, for the goad of the promised future stabs inexorably into the flesh of every unfulfilled present.”

“Hell is hopelessness.”

“[the cross] encounters us as the great promise of our life and this world: nothing will be in vain…We are called to this hope, and the call often sounds like a command - a command to resist death and the powers of death, and a command to love life and cherish it: every life, the life we share, the whole of life.”

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1. In her sermon, Marina McClure spoke about the often unconscious assumptions we might make while we read the Bible. She specifically pointed out assumptions we might make about the underlying motives behind social interactions and/or the tone of voice being used in different exchanges.

What are your thoughts about these ideas and the examples she gave from today’s scripture reading? To what extent have you considered tone of voice when reading Biblical dialogue? How often are you aware of assumptions you might be making when you read?  How often do you explore ideas about  the different possible underlying social norms and subtext?

How easy or difficult does it seem to integrate this kind of slowed-down and curious exploration of different possibilities as you read the Bible? How appealing is it for you? How valuable does it seem?

2. In a couple places in the scripture’s story, Marina suggested alternative ways of understanding Jesus’ experience of the moment, or a variety of ways of interpreting what’s being communicated.

What’s it like for you to encounter alternative frames for understanding often familiar Biblical stories or ideas? Do you experience any resistance or does it feel interesting? Does it seem difficult to consider things in that way? Are there things about your own personality or background that might be especially congruent with your response to this way of thinking about the Bible?

3. Marina invited us all to try to engage with the Bible in a way that intentionally looks for questions and tries to practice active wondering as we read.

What thoughts & feelings surface in response to these suggestions? How do you feel about the idea of intentionally seeking things you can’t easily clarify? What do you think it might look like to try to engage in more “active wondering” as you read the Bible? What kind of impacts do you think this orientation toward reading the Bible could have for your own experience of the Bible and/or your faith?