RECONCILIATION AND PENTECOST

RECONCILIATION AND PENTECOST

THE PROMISE – ISAIAH 59:15-21

“What did you do once you knew? ‘It’s 3:23 in the morning and I’m awake…because my great great grandchildren won’t let me sleep. My great great grandchildren ask me in dreams, What did you do while the planet was plundered? What did you do when the earth was unraveling? surely you did something?... When the seasons started failing? surely you did something? As the mammals, reptiles, and birds were all dying? surely you did something? Did you fill the streets with protest when democracy was stolen? What did you do once you knew?[1]

THERE ARE TWO STREAMS IN THIS WEEK’S STUDY, FEEL FREE TO USE EITHER ONE OR PARTS OF BOTH; THE FIRST STREAM FOLLOWS THE PATTERN OF PREVIOUS SMALL GROUP GUIDES, THE SECOND INVITES YOUR GROUP TO PRACTICE TRUSTING GOD’S PROMISE AS YOU DWELL IN THE BROKENNESS OF THE DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY

“When we are baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the triune God seals our adoption as his children and writes his name invisibly on our foreheads.[2]

             -God first placed his mark on Cain’s forehead to reassure Cain that he would not be murdered as he made his way in the world, even though he was known as a murderer.

              How does that baptismal mark reassure you of God’s care and provision in your life?

             -In response to God’s covenant promise, those who are about to be baptized vow to “devote themselves to the church’s teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” with God’s help.[3] If you are baptized, how often and in what ways do you reflect on these vows?

             -How do you seek to live out both of the vows put forth in the sacrament of baptism?

The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice

            -Do these words still ring true today?

            -What areas in our world today are most in need of God’s reconciling work?

            -What might God’s justice look like in those areas?

            -How might we be agents of that justice?

As for me, this is my covenant with them

            -Explore the theme of covenant throughout Scripture

            -What reassurances do we find that help us believe God will uphold the covenant?

            -How does Jesus’ death and resurrection reassure us of God’s covenant faithfulness?

My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words … will always be on your lips

            -What are God’s words that we have had placed on our lips?

            -What actions might these words move us to?

Looking at the Doctrine of Discovery through the Lens of Scripture[4]

For those who profess faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it may be helpful to look at the Doctrine of Discovery through the lens of scripture. The Bible has a lot to teach us about how to view one another and how to treat one another. Here are some readings and questions to get your conversation started:

1. Read: 2 Corinthians 5:16-20.

a. How are we to see one another according to this passage?

b. How does the Doctrine of Discovery conflict with this message?

c. How does this new way of looking at one another promote true reconciliation?

2. Read: 1 Corinthians 12:14-21

a. In what ways has the Doctrine of Discovery caused us to say we are not part of the body?

b. In what ways has the Doctrine of Discovery caused us to exclude others from the body?

c. What changes do you think would need to happen for the body to be “one body”?

3. Read: Matthew 28:18-20

a. This passage has often been used to biblically “defend” Doctrine of Discovery thoughts and actions. Having watched this film, what do you think/feel about this passage now?

b. How do you think that this passage has been used to promote what Primate Fred Hiltz called “spiritual arrogance” in the film?

c. What do you think Jesus had in mind when he said these words?

d. What would it look like to obey Jesus’ commission to spread the Gospel without attaching it to the Doctrine of Discovery and its ways of thinking and being?

4. Read: Acts 2:5-12

a. What does the Doctrine of Discovery film have to say about language?

b. What is significant about the many languages spoken at the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost?

c. What does this story have to teach us about how God “shows up” in our world?

5. Read: Ephesians 2:14-17

a. How does the life and death of Jesus affect ideas like the Doctrine of Discovery?

b. Why is it so hard to be “one body” without all having to be the same?

c. Jesus “proclaims peace” – what would that peace look like to you?

d. Can there be peace without justice?

RECONCILIATION AND PENTECOST

THE CALL – JOHN 7:37-39

“Sitting in corners wringing hands and wondering what to do is not going to advance anything, including yourself. Read the calls to action, and as you go through them one at a time ask yourself: do I belong in this call?”[1]

"It is the Spirit that creates the new humanity where God’s dwelling will be forever.”[2]

On the last day of the festival

Take some time to explore the Jewish festivals (Exodus 23, Leviticus 23, Deuteronomy 16).

At the beginning of John 7 Jesus suggests he will not attend the Festival of Booths, but ultimately, he does attend and begin teaching; on the last day he gives his speech about Rivers of Living Water.  

-How does this context inform our reading of Jesus’ teaching in this passage?

-What rhythms in the church year today remind us of our need to have God reconcile us to him?

-Where else in Scripture do we read about God desiring and bringing reconciliation?

Let anyone who believes in me drink

Jesus teaches that even those who have already come and begun to believe, are still to drink of the living waters found in him.

            -In what ways are you tapping into the source of living waters, Jesus?

            -How are you inviting others to come and drink at the living water?

Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water

-What is the call to believers in this verse?

“What a grievous thing it will be if we do not pay that loving homage and reverence to the Holy Spirit which is so justly his due. May it not be the fact that we enjoy less of his power and see less of his working in the world because the church of God has not been sufficiently mindful of him?”[3]

            -Have you seen Christians and churches not be sufficiently mindful of the Holy Spirit?

-How might we better live into the understanding that it is part of our calling as Christians to have the rivers of living water flow INTO AND OUT of our hearts?

-How does John 7:37-39 remind us that our strength and power to join in God’s work comes first and only from God through the Holy Spirit?

“In Jesus’ words we hear an echo of the words of the prophets Isaiah (58:11) and Amos (5:24). God has a desire for people to worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), which means that the way that Christians live and the faith that they profess cannot be separated.”[4]

-Close your time together praying for wisdom and discernment to recognize where you as an individual, and CCC as a church body, belong in answering the call to be a fount of living waters.