1. Walter Brueggemann often used the term “totalism” to mean “any system of power that claims to be absolute & self-sufficient.” It’s essentially synonymous with empire. Inherent is totalism is the idea that nothing good or necessary comes from outside of the system. 

For Brueggemann, the exodus was about God leading God’s people out of totalism. The place God leads them, as Tim taught, is “the wilderness…where they thought they were going to die.” But instead they were given manna and quail; they were given what they needed every day. The wilderness is, in reality, a paradigm for liberation. 

What experiences in your life come to mind when you think of the crumbling of or exodus from some form of totalism? 

Have you seen the liberation that can come from leaving totalism for the wilderness? Are you mid-process with an exodus in your own life? Share about the totalism you have left, are leaving, or are hoping to leave. 

What’s your sense, today, of the wildnerness in the context of the example you shared? Does it feel (right now) more like a place you might die or a place you might find liberation? 

What is the story/narrative you’re most likely to encounter internally when you are doubting that the wildernesses of your life leads to liberation? What narratives are prominent when you find it easier to believe in the liberation to be found in the wilderness? 

2. Tim summed up Brueggemann’s Prophetic Imagination & the 19 Theses like this:

Relinquish the failed script - thru lament (critique)

Articulate an alternative script - with the people of God 

Energize the new neighborhood - toward hope.

Think of a specific space/context in which this process seems to be underway - for you personally or for a community of which you’re a part.  

What does that process look like in this moment? What do you see coming next? What needs to come next? 

What might be your part in helping yourself or your neighbors to move through these steps? What resistance do you encounter? What motivates you to move forward? 

3. Brueggemann taught that “lament is the breaking of numbness by the admission of pain & loss,” and the importance of staying close to our pain (so that we can stay close to our neighbor’s pain). He also  underscored the importance of moving through that pain and lament into an alternative vision for the future. He said that “the difference between a whiner and the prophet is the prophet has an alternative vision for the future.” 

He taught that the children of Israel got stuck in lament. He said that, “when pain is brought to speech, it turns to energy. If it is not brought to speech, it turns to despair.” 

How much does despair feel like a part of your life these days? Do you have places in which you feel stuck in lament? In which you’re struggling to move into that space of energy? 

To what extent have you been able to bring your pain to speech? Who could you turn to & how could you ask for help coming up with a new imagination in a place where you’re struggling to find one? What’s stopping you from doing that? 

Tim taught that a big part of the church’s mission is to cultivate spaces in which we can be together and not be defined by the totalism of the world. What’s been your experience of this as a person in need of that exodus from totalism? What’s been your experience of this as someone who helps create that type of space by being a part of Redemption Church?