- Acts 4: 8-12
- Psalm 118: 1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28-29
- 1 John 3: 1-2
- John 10: 11-18
- The unforgivable sin
- Falling into sin is rarely very dramatic. Instead, we get more and more invested in a lie of one sort or another, until we lose the ability to see any other alternative but to support and shore up that lie. Jesus continues to be crucified today by those who cannot bear to be confronted with the truth. There, but for the grace of God, go I.
- Think of a time where you have lived a lie. Maybe you did something that bothered you at the time, but you took the easy way out and tried to cover it up.
- What did you have to do to protect that cover up?
- How did you eventually break free of that vicious cycle?
- How was God present to you in all of that?
- Sleeping soundly
- It's usually hard to do when someone tells you "trust me". They tell you that they have something "covered", that it has been or will be handled, and that you need to "let it go". Usually, when that sort of conversation goes on, red flags go up because we fear that we are being kept in the dark for some unknown reason.
- Why do you think that God asks for trust from us?
- When was a time that you profoundly trusted God to come through in your life?
- What were you expecting God to do/be for you in that circumstance?
- Did God come through?
- Did God totally surprise you?
- How can we intentionally build greater trust?
- Ever emerging
- One thread of Ignatian spirituality is that all of creation is still unfolding, and that God calls us to be part of that process. Our stepping into our destiny occurs in and through the same awakening of creation itself. We and the rest of creation are all one in this redemptive process.
- How would you define redemption and salvation?
- Are those two processes/goals an end to be achieved, a process to walk in, both, neither, both and more?
- How are other people, communities impacting/responsible for your own redemption and salvation?
- Given that, how ought you to be supporting those other parts of the gradually unfolding creation story?
- Giving it all away
- Another thread in Ignatian spirituality is that we need to be on the alert for disordered attachments. An attachment becomes disordered when it comes between us and God. That attachment could be anything. A favorite place, a person that we dearly love being around, an activity, even a devotion.
- What is some thing in your life that you are very devoted to?
- Does that bring you closer to Jesus, or farther away?
- How would you recognize it if that thing in your life became an end in itself, rather than a means to God?
- What would you do then?
- Preparation for Reconciliation
- Where is God calling me to face the truth in some part of my life?
- Where might God be calling me to greater trust?
- Where is God giving me the strength to walk in His way?
- Where might God be inviting me into greater freedom by shedding something in my life?
Funny sheep
The Jesus people were always a little "out there".
They felt that a day without bringing at least one person to Jesus was a day wasted.
They were all about the abundant graces of God,
How God had saved them from countless forms of destruction.
I remember listening to their testimonies.
And wondered to myself what I had in common with such folk.
My God was much more calm, genteel, mannerly.
My life was placid, dependable, orderly.
But I've learned that my God can work with and through the messy.
I've learned that being open to Him breaking into the moment is key.
I've learned that I need His grace more than I could ever know.
I've learned to take nothing for granted in this life.
I have more in common with those Jesus people than I knew.
I need my God just as much as they ever did.
I just need to learn to celebrate that need, and God's abundance.
And embrace that I'm just another of those "funny sheep" in His fold.
No comments:
Post a Comment