SCRIPTURE: Mark 16

“We can be a church of people who are seeking amazement. Who are actively on the lookout for it, as our God keeps working. And you can be a person with a similar imagination and eager curiosity, too. What does a living Jesus mean for the way you see the world? What does it mean for your fears? What does it mean for your ability to be generous, or to be patient, or to be forgiving? If Jesus is alive, what changes for you? What is possible in our world?”

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Take some time to reflect on the series as a whole: what have you learned? Where does Mark’s gospel push you or stretch you?

2. This sermon is broken into two parts: an analysis of verses 1-8 and a discussion of the multiple endings in verses 9-20. Let’s start with 1-8! What are some of the details that stand out to you about these women and what they have set out to do? What does this reveal about the expectations of Jesus’s followers after his death on the cross?

3. Why are the women afraid? What are some of the mysteries produced by Mark’s enigmatic ending in verse 8?

4. Kenny said that “wonder wins” at the (original) end of Mark’s gospel. What do you think he meant by that? Why would this be a particular encouragement to Mark’s original readers?

5. The second half of the sermon focused on the puzzle of the 3 distinct endings to Mark’s gospel. What does each ending reveal or add? 

6. It’s okay to wrestle with hard questions! What do you make of the presence of these 3 endings? 

7. Kenny said that adding on to Mark’s gospel made sense in its original context, in part because the focus of the gospels wasn’t on enshrining the story as Scripture, it was on offering reassurance to early Christians. Did that make sense to you? How does the text offer help or comfort?

8. Where can we find hope in the story of Mark’s gospel, as a document? Why was it written? Why was it changed? What does its history teach us about God’s continuing concerns for the Church? 

9. How can we be a church (or be Christians!) “seeking wonder”? How can this help us with our own fears or worries?

SCRIPTURE:Mark 14 & 15

“Our whole calling flows from surrendering to Jesus’s incredible love for us, from first allowing him to reach us. When we do that, we experience a kind of death–of our rebellion, of our willfulness–but on the other side of it, at ‘12:01’, we believe that new life begins. Our challenge when we read this gospel is the same as the challenge facing those first listeners: can we find courage not to fight this kind of total surrender, but to face it? Are we willing to lose?” 

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Take some time to reflect on the series so far: what stands out to you in our study of Mark’s gospel? What kind of a king is Mark revealing Jesus to be? Where might you find hope or wonder in this?

2. The starting point for this week’s sermon was a question: why does Mark spend so much time on Jesus’s death and so little time (if any!) on his resurrection? What is your initial response to this?

3. Kenny framed the sermon as an “investigation” following three clues or leads about Mark’s initial audience: Christians facing persecution in Rome. The first was that they were a community facing persecution. How does the “passion narrative” in Mark 14 speak to people in this predicament? Where might they find hope or comfort?

4. The second “lead” was a reminder that Mark’s audience was a community that had lost its leaders. How does the possibility of Peter’s recent execution in Rome reshape what we see in Mark’s gospel? What is Mark trying to show Roman Christians about their leader/hero?

5. The third “lead” was a connection between Jesus’s death and the (un)likelihood of rescue for Mark’s readers. How does Mark’s framing of Jesus’s death offer any reassurance or hope at all?

6. Kenny said the “ extremity of Jesus’s suffering demonstrates the scope of God’s power… it [also] demonstrates the scope of God’s empathy, of His compassion, of His love.” Talk through this idea: what does it mean? What challenges you here? 

7. The final challenge for us, as we read Mark’s gospel, is to choose total surrender. What do you think this means? Why is it important? How in the world can this be “hopeful”?!

SCRIPTURE: Mark 12

“If we are bearers of God’s image, if our value comes from Him, if our future is secure in Him, and if we are called to recognize the image of God not just in our religious friends but in everyone (including Caesar!), then we have a task that is one and the same with who we are: we love as God loves. We trade with the ‘coins of God’s realm,’ honoring the eternal value of other people. People right now are putting their trust in the Church to be the hands of God in the world, trusting us to see them rightly and fully, trusting us to care for them in their need and their grief…are we giving our whole selves towards valuing who and what they really are?”

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Take some time to reflect on the series so far: what stands out to you in our study of Mark’s gospel? What kind of a king is Mark revealing Jesus to be? Where might you find hope or wonder in this?

2. Kenny said that there is more to a text like Mark 12 than just an opportunity to cheer for Jesus as he outsmarts the authorities who are questioning him. Why is it important to look for more in a text like this one?

3. There are three “imperial coin” passages this week. The first is the most literal: Jesus tells the Herodians to “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and God what is God’s.” What is the connection between these two statements? What is Jesus reminding everyone about when it comes to “what is God’s”?

4. The second passage builds on the first when Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6 about the “greatest commandment(s).” How does the call to love God with all of our strength, hearts, minds, and souls echo the call to “[give] to God what is God’s”? How does the call to love our neighbors flow from this connection?

5. The third passage sees a poor widow giving her “imperial coins” to the Temple treasury. What does this act reveal about her faith? Who is she trusting to support her?

6. How can we, as a church, be challenged by Jesus’s reminder that everyone bears God’s image?

7. How can you, as an individual, be challenged by this?

SCRIPTURE: Mark 11

SCRIPTURE: Mark 10

“What kind of a king is King Jesus? He’s a King who gives us His whole self, so we can have the courage to give up our whole selves, too. Truly, what’s stopping us? What legalism, what cynicism, what self-righteousness keeps us in fear? Do we believe God’s love is enough to hold us and shelter us? Are we willing to step into His Kingdom by living with radical compassion, radical generosity, radical hope? We are invited to.”

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. This series covers the second half of Mark’s Gospel (Ch. 10-16), and it begins immediately after the Transfiguration event in Ch. 9. Go back and read through that story: how does it answer the question that dominates the first half of the gospel (i.e. - who is Jesus?)? How does it anticipate the question that will dominate the second half of the gospel (i.e. - what kind of King will Jesus be?)?

2. In the Transfiguration story, the disciples talk about setting up tents for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah (v. 5). This connects to the Tabernacle tradition of the Old Testament, where God “dwells among the people.” But Jesus does not stay in the tent! What do we make of that? What is it teaching us?

3. There are 4 main episodes in Ch. 10. The first has to do with a question the Pharisees ask Jesus about the Mosaic laws for divorce. What does Jesus’s answer reveal about the kind of King he will be?

4. The second episode involves the disciples’ rebuke of children seeking blessing. What does this episode reveal about Jesus’s Kingship?

5. The third involves the encounter with the “rich young ruler.” What does it reveal? Why do you think the man walks away from Jesus’s Kingdom?

6. Why do we walk away? What connects these stories? What do they illuminate, together, about how Jesus will reign?

7. We didn’t talk about the 4th episode: the healing of Bartimaeus (v. 46-52). Read that story together and put it in conversation with the sermon. Why does Jesus say he can be healed? How can that challenge us, too?

SCRIPTURE: Luke 15 & Psalm 139:7-12

“We are always on the lookout for the God of power and might and authority. But Jesus’s heart is consistently set on revealing the God his hearers are not prepared to see: the God who lays down His power in order to pursue His people, one by one, person by person, that our hearts might turn back towards our Father. The Jesus standing in front of these Pharisees is the God, running down the road to embrace the wandering son! Discovering Him means opening ourselves up to a God whose power is nothing compared to His love. Indeed, whose power serves that love. Who rejoices when each and every heart turns back to Him.” 

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. How can anything (or anyone!) become “lost” to God?

2. Kenny agreed that God must be omni-scient, omni-potent, and omni-present (which are the three traditional, philosophical attributes of God). But he asked us to ponder why Jesus would tell stories that challenge those qualities. Before we move on, talk about this for a moment: in your view, what is Jesus trying to accomplish?

3. Kenny suggested a fourth attribute: God is omni-personal. What do you think he meant by this? What would this mean?

4. In the parable of the lost son, in what sense does the father “lose” his child? What “lie” does the father permit his son to believe (or, at least, to pretend is true) in order for the whole story to unfold? (think: inheritance!)

5. How does the father’s posture towards his son reveal God’s prioritization of His omni-personal qualities over and above His other “omnis”? 

6. What’s the older brother’s problem? Think about this carefully: what lies is he choosing to believe about his relationship with his father? Why is he permitted to believe them? What does he need to discover?

7. Now, let’s go back to the parables of the lost coin and lost sheep: what do these parables teach us about God’s attitude towards the “one”? What does it teach us about the temptations/fears of the “ninety-nine”? 

8. How can discovering God’s omni-personal character help you grow in your faith? What practices can help you meditate on, experience, or otherwise encounter this discovery more regularly? 

SCRIPTURE: Galatians 4:6, 2 Corinthians 5:14-20, & Luke 24:13-31

“What if what God is asking for from us is to be sincerely interested in His company? It’s true that what He has to say to us leads us to something great: it’s a road to salvation, to eternal life…but over and over again, Jesus shows us that God’s heart is not to threaten us into accepting heaven, it’s to open heaven up to us through a relationship with Himself.” 

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Do you tend to see “becoming a Christian” more as something which happens in an instant or something which happens over a lifetime? In what ways are both true? What is lost when we prioritize the former over the latter?

2. What are your thoughts on the Holy Spirit? What do you think it means for the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, as Christians? What work is the Holy Spirit doing?

3. The challenging truth at the center of the Christian journey is that we’re ultimately called to lay down everything before the sovereignty of God. What can make this frightening? What scares you about this calling?

4. Kenny talked about the “ship of Theseus” riddle: how does that riddle relate to our fears about surrendering our whole selves to God? How might it offer some reassurance or comfort?

5. Kenny also said that the metaphor of “walking with God” can help us understand how God can be both present and sometimes silent in our lives. Think this through: is it possible that sometimes God is actually present with us, even when we can’t seem to feel Him or hear Him? Are you ever present with others in a similar way? If so, what does that teach us about who God is and how God wants us to experience His presence? 

6. How can we be a church for others who sense Christian faith is a “journey” rather than a “destination”? 

SCRIPTURE: Luke 23:39-43, Isaiah 7:14, & Micah 6:8

“When we stand up for causes over people, we reveal that our actual heart is still fixed on ourselves. We want to be right. We think of ourselves as good people because we support something noble. But if our motivations don’t start with actual compassion, with an actual willingness to know and love our neighbors, we won’t stick things out when the spotlight is off us. If we’re going to be a church for anyone, that has to change.”

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Where do you see injustice in our community? In the past, have you been involved in “justice work”?

2. What does the Bible teach us about the role God’s people have in advocating for justice in the world? Whose “side” does the Bible suggest (or command!) us to “be on”?

3. Kenny said that sometimes we’re not there, for the “right” reasons. What did he mean by this? Can you relate?

4. He also said that sometimes we are there, for the wrong reasons. What did he mean by this? Can you relate?

5. What steps can you take this week to build real relationships with people who long for justice?

6. What do you think people who long for justice need from a local church?

7. How can Revolution do a better job of being a church for people who long for justice?

SCRIPTURE: Genesis 2 & John 3:16

“Feeling lonely doesn’t mean you’ve done something wrong! It means you’re sensing that something is missing in you, and you are hungry to fill it. And what’s missing isn’t any one thing, it’s three specific things: wholeness in your relationship with God, wholeness in your sense of purpose, and wholeness in your relationships with other people. God’s story with Adam is complete when He has helped Adam receive and accept all three. And if we, as a church, are going to mirror God in the world, we have to be about all three, too: a church for the lonely pursues God, is at work in the world, and draws people into relationships. That’s the task in front of us.”

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. When have you felt lonely? What caused that feeling? If you were able to find peace, how did you do it? 

2. A key point this morning is that loneliness is not sin: in fact, the first person God created felt it, even when the world was perfect! Why is this so important to remember?

3. The story in Genesis 2 reveals three important points about loneliness. The first is that God alone isn’t enough. How do you feel about this point? Is it true? In what sense? How do we–as individuals, as churches–lean too heavily on this solution to loneliness?

4. The second is that work alone isn’t enough. Is this true? Have you experienced it? What does it look like when a church focuses on “the work” over and above all else?

5. The third is that people alone aren’t enough. Is this true? Have you experienced it? Why is it risky to put all of our hope for love in other people alone?

6. Kenny argued that the space in us, which when left unfilled makes us experience loneliness, is there because we are made for love. Talk this through together: do you feel like you are “made” to receive and share love? What can get in the way of pursuing this? 

7. How can we truly be “a church for people who are lonely?” What can you do?

SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, John 3:1-9, Galatians 1:11-18, Habakkuk 1-2

“All faith is wrestling. It’s trying to hold onto something that is bigger than we are. And it’s healthiest when the goal is connecting to that bigger thing…not controlling it. Any mechanism we have built to control or limit our God needs to be deconstructed. But what if our imagination for the church wasn’t just introducing people to a packaged and sanitized God but living together in the awe, and even in the confusion, a real and amazing God creates?” 

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. How would you answer the question, “who is church for?” 

2. Every church isn’t meant to be the same! We exist as parts of the larger Body of Christ. What do you feel makes this church community unique? 

3. Have you heard people, either inside the church or outside of it, use the word “deconstruction”? What was your initial sense of what it meant? What did you think of Kenny’s definition? 

4. It can be really scary to “take apart” your faith! But, for many, it is an important step in truly accepting Christian hope. How can something good come from “deconstructing”?

5. Kenny said the first thing we can learn from Scripture about reaching “deconstructors” is the importance of asking honest and humble questions. How does this help? How can it be important for you?

6. The second step is putting the Jesus story first–even above the Church story. Which story do you tend to prioritize? Have you ever seen Christians try to “squeeze” Jesus into the system their church promotes? What happens–to us, to our churches–if we put Jesus first?

7. Lastly, when we open ourselves up to taking things apart, it’s important that we hold out hope that they can be put together again! How can a church community help support someone who is “deconstructing” in a way that honors and respects them?