Community Guides

Kylee Logan 5/4/23 Kylee Logan 5/4/23

Hearing God, Pt. 2: Prophecy

Take Communion

Leader: Begin your gathering by taking communion together, whether as a full meal together or some version of the bread and the cup before or after your meal. If you don’t already have a Communion liturgy, have someone lead through this guided prayer:

Holy Spirit, as we begin our time tonight, would you bring to our minds a moment in which we heard your voice really clearly this last week?
(Leader: Pause here for a moment.)
God, we remember that you are kind and that you love to speak to us.
We remember that you are patient and will continue to teach us to hear you.
We remember that you are gracious, gentle, and good.
And, for all of this, we are thankful.
Amen.

Read This Overview Aloud Together

At its most simple, prophecy is hearing God’s voice on behalf of yourself, an individual, or a group. Most often, when we speak of prophecy, we refer to having sensed an image in our mind, a feeling in our body, a verse from Scripture, lyrics to a song, a word, or some other thought in our imagination that God may have put there. In 1 Corinthians 14, we read that all followers of Jesus are to eagerly desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but especially prophecy. We eagerly desire prophecy because God loves to speak to us and to reveal his love for us.

A helpful way to think about and process prophecy is in three layers: Revelation, Interpretation, & Application. Revelation asks “What do I sense?” Interpretation asks “What might it mean?” And Application asks “What am I to do with it?” or “Who is this for? And when is this for?” This all takes practice and even the most seasoned person will get it wrong sometimes. We practice prophecy together because the people in this room are really safe to try and not always get it right. Prophecy is not about a technique or a strategy. Prophecy isn’t a superpower. It’s about stewarding God’s presence as he reveals to us who he is and his heart for us. With that, tonight we are going to try prophecy together.

Do These Practices Tonight

We are going to do two Practices tonight as a Community: listening with pictures and listening for someone specific.

1. Listening with a Picture: First is a practice adapted from Pete Greig’s “How To Hear God.” A picture is worth a thousand words because it requires some aspect of interpretation. Even a simple picture can have so much going on – color, perspective, background, foreground, contrast, tones, movement, etc. In this exercise each of us is going to invite God to speak to us through a photo!

(Leader’s Note: Take a moment for each person to select ONE photo. It’s ok if multiple people choose the same one. That said, because of the easy distraction of digital devices, it is ideal if you’re able to print out these photos. That said, if you’re not able to, that’s ok! Just send everyone the link below, have them pick a picture, and invite them to put their phones on airplane mode.)

Print & view Photos

Now that we each have a photo, I’m going to invite the Spirit to speak to us. Then we’re each going to take a few minutes to look at the image and ask God to reveal his heart in some way. There’s no hurry as we do this and there is no right answer. Take your time and try to be present to God. As you listen, remember that, in 1 Corinthians 14v3-4, Paul reminds us that prophecy is about strengthening, encouraging, comforting, and edifying. And remember that God loves to speak to us.

(Leader’s Note: Invite the Holy Spirit to speak and then allow the group to spend a few minutes with their picture. It may help to set a 3 or 4 minute timer, so that you can focus on your own photo. Once the time is up, continue below.)

Now we’re going to take a few minutes and share which photo we each picked and what it is we sensed God saying to us through these pictures. Maybe it was for you, maybe it was for someone else in the group or for the whole group. And once everyone has had a chance to share, we’re going to move onto our next Practice.

2. Listening for Someone Specific: Next, we are going to try hearing the thoughts of God for another person in the room by playing a bit of a game.

To begin, everyone will close their eyes while I walk around the room and quietly pick someone by tapping their shoulder. The person I tap will be “receiving” the prophetic words.

Then, I will set a 60 second timer and we’ll pause to listen on behalf of this unknown person. This may feel rushed, but it’s a great way to not overcomplicate things and to make sure there’s enough time to do a couple rounds!

After the timer goes off, we’ll stay in the posture of prayer, and anyone who wants to can share the images, words, feelings, etc. that came up during that time. But rather than talking through them, each person will share the image and then pray into it.

Lastly, once everyone who wants to share does, I’ll say “amen” and reveal who we were all listening for. This person then will share what resonated with them. The goal of this activity is not to get everything right. If you say something that doesn’t stick, that doesn’t mean you don’t hear God’s voice. In fact, when you don’t know who you’re listening for, it’s pretty safe to assume that you won’t get everything right. The goal is to practice learning what God’s voice sounds like and to practice sharing what it is you sense.

We’ll keep doing this Practice a bit. We may even consider ending each night of Community going forward with a quick round of this so we can commit to being learners of God’s voice.

(Leader’s Note: When the time comes, close in prayer. Thank God for speaking and for teaching us what his voice sounds like.)

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

For the week ahead, the invitation is to take some time to practice prophecy in an ordinary part of your life. Where might you build a container in your day to pause and turn your attention to hear God’s voice? Whether it’s first thing in the morning, on your lunch break, while the kids are napping, on your commute home, or right before bed, we want to become the kind of people who pause regularly to hear what God is saying.

There are a number of ways to do this. It could be great to practice that picture exercise for 3 or 4 minutes each morning. You could consider asking God to reveal his heart to you for someone in your life. You could even start by asking him to bring someone to mind and then to reveal his heart for that person. However you choose to engage, trying it at some point each day is a great way to practice hearing God’s voice.

End in Prayer

Leader: Close your time together asking God that we might grow as hearers of his voice.

Kylee Logan 4/20/23 Kylee Logan 4/20/23

Hearing God, Pt. 1: Scripture

Take Communion

Read This Overview Aloud Together

Since our aim is to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did, it is crucial to remember that the only way to get the life of Jesus is to take on the lifestyle of Jesus. The Scriptures played an essential role in Jesus’ life and ministry; he lived as if they were authoritative. The Scriptures were not as much a tool, instrument, or weapon for him, as they were part of how he viewed and interacted with both God and the world. The integration of Scripture in Jesus’ life was paramount to his ability to see the transforming promise of the coming Kingdom of God. In fact, Jesus is the singular person in all of biblical history to claim that the Scriptures were not only forming him, they were about him. The story of the Bible culminates in the person of Jesus.

The Bible has the power to translate the world around us and tell a truer, better story that exposes lies and reveals the coming hope of life as it should be. It is a book (or, more accurately, a library) unlike any other, in that as we read it, we are read by it. And yet, the Bible can be a polarizing topic because we all come to it with different histories and experiences. Tonight we want to take time to understand where each of us began this journey and where each of us hopes to go with it.

Do This Practice Tonight

In recognizing that the Bible is the best training ground in our quest of hearing God’s voice, it is important to name and know where each of us is coming from. Some of us have had beautiful experiences with the Scriptures, and currently find it easy to hear God’s voice in them; but others of us have a checkered history and find it difficult to look past some of what feels problematic to find God’s voice in them. So, for our Practice tonight, we are going to have a discussion in smaller groups about our individual histories with the Scriptures. Our goal tonight is not to solve each other’s problems or to make each other feel the same way we do, but to get a framework for where each of us is coming from as we lean into learning to hear God’s voice in the Bible. So let’s get into smaller groups, and then we’ll work through some prompts.

(Leader: Pause so everyone can split into smaller groups. At that point, invite everyone to work through the following questions, which you may consider putting into whatever communication platform your Community uses so everyone can see them.)

What did you grow up hearing about God’s voice as it relates to the Bible?
When we talked about daily Bible reading, what emotional response stirs in you, positive or negative? Where in your past might that response come from?
What obstacles come up for you as you consider reading the Bible every day? (These could be internal obstacles like anxiety, perfectionism, boredom, etc. or external obstacles like kids, shifting schedules, etc.)
In a year, what would you like your relationship with the Bible to look like?

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

For the week ahead, we are going to practice daily Bible reading. Some of us already have daily rhythms of engaging the Scriptures that are vibrant and fruitful – if that’s the case, keep doing that! But for those who don’t have a daily rhythm of reading the Bible or you have one but it feels a bit dry, consider finding a reading plan and giving it a shot. There are a plethora of great, free reading plans through platforms like BibleProject and YouVersion.

Starting this coming Sunday, Bridgetown will be selling a daily Bible reading journal that has prompts to help you pray, meditate, and journal through the Scriptures using a rhythm called BREAD, a form of lectio divina (which is an ancient and time-tested method of meeting with God in the pages of the Bible). The hope is that those who don’t have a vibrant Scripture reading plan would engage the Bible through BREAD.

Whatever tool each of us chooses, we want to follow in the footsteps of our Rabbi, by spending time in the Scriptures every day, so that they might come alive in us and so that we might see the world, know the Father’s love, and serve our neighbor the way Jesus did.

End in Prayer

Leader: Close your time together asking God that we might grow as hearers of his voice.

Kylee Logan 4/3/23 Kylee Logan 4/3/23

God & The Whole Person, Pt. 3: Foot Washing

Take Communion

Read This Overview Aloud Together

On the night before Jesus was killed, he had one final dinner with his disciples in which he would sum up much of his life’s message and teaching with a symbolic practice. Jesus — ever the master of using parables to illustrate and emphasize truths about God, humanity, and the evil one — would use these last moments not to tell one final parable, but to enact one. He would model for his disciples, and for us, exactly what God’s posture towards us was like in sending the incarnation and exactly what our posture, then, must be towards those around us. While this practice dealt with power, it didn’t do so in a way anyone expected.

“Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God…” This was John’s build up to the moment: Jesus knew he had all power and authority, he knew his source and his destiny. At this point, as the reader, we might expect Jesus to stand up and give a rousing speech or lift a sword to the heavens, shout some war cry, or set some covert plan in place to take down Rome — but this isn’t what Jesus does in response to his certainty about his identity. Instead, we read that Jesus rose from the meal, only to remove his coat, wrap a towel around his waist, and then kneel before each disciple, washing their feet each in turn.

The Maundy in Maundy Thursday comes from the Latin word maundatum, meaning command, and references the statement Jesus makes moments after he washes his disciples’ feet, when he seems to explain what he was doing: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Tonight, we will reenact Jesus’ symbolic gesture together by washing each other’s feet, as a way of remembering God’s love for us and embodying the love he calls us to have for one another.

Do This Practice Tonight

Tonight, we will be symbolically washing each others’ feet to remember God’s love for us and our call to love each other. Below you will find some helpful details to keep in mind.

(Leader’s Note: Make sure you have the following Supplies:

Some sort of pitcher or large cup or bowl filled with warm water

Some sort of bucket or bin in which to catch the poured out water
A few towels with which to dry feet and one on the ground below the bucket or bin)

Foot Washing: As the Community Leader(s), I/we will be “washing” each person’s feet. Then, if someone feels up for washing my/our feet, that would be great. Here’s how it is going to work:

To maintain an atmosphere of worship, let’s remain quietly reflective (Leader’s Note: Have some sort of worship or instrumental music playing like this playlist.)
Each person whose feet is being washed will sit in a chair with their feet in the bin or bucket.
I will “wash” your feet by simply pouring the warm water from the pitcher over your feet.
I will then dry your feet with a towel.
We’ll repeat steps 2 – 4 until every person has had their feet washed.

Discussion: Now that we’ve washed each other’s feet, let’s finish our night with a conversation. John’s telling of this story seems to suggest that Jesus washes the disciples’ feet without saying a word until he gets to Peter, who was likely increasingly uncomfortable and embarrassed as he watched his Rabbi move from person to person, getting closer and closer. You may have experienced some similar level of discomfort or awkwardness as you awaited your turn.

What was your experience like as you waited, as it happened, and afterwards? Did you notice anything interesting come up in you? (e.g. feelings of unworthiness, humility, honor, love, etc.)

Why do you think Jesus chose foot washing as his enacted parable to teach us to love each other?
Was it easier for you to wash someone’s feet or to have your own feet washed? Why do you think that was?
Foot washing was Jesus’ symbol for radically loving people. What is some way in which you could radically love a person or people in your life in response to his radical love for you?

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

For the week ahead, spend some intentional time reflecting on God’s love for you and ask the Spirit what you could do to radically love those around you. As you listen, do so ready to respond to what it is you sense him saying. Invite the Spirit to not just speak to you, but to empower you to love the way Jesus did.

End in Prayer

Leader: Close your time together asking for God to continue growing each of you into people who know his love, hear his voice, and abide in him.

Kylee Logan 3/23/23 Kylee Logan 3/23/23

A Liturgy Before Feasting

(place your hand on your forehead)

O Great Author of Our Minds,
you made us with the capacity
to think and to dream,
to solve problems and to love people,
to process pain and to enjoy life,
to heal.

You gave us minds that we might know you.
So we pause now, hands on our heads,
and ask that you would touch
our fatigued, anxious, busy minds.

With each breath we take,
would you begin to renew our minds:
rewiring our neural pathways,
healing our memories,
and restoring our mental health.

(pause)

For our minds, we say: thank you.
Let’s eat, drink, and remember Jesus.

(take communion)

(place your hand on your heart)

O Great Author of Our Bodies,
you made us with the capacity
to play and to feel,
to love and be loved,
to see, smell, taste, and hear,
to touch and to be held.

So we pause now, hands on our hearts,
acknowledging the limits of our our bodies:
our bodies that get hungry and thirsty,
our bodies that we don’t always understand,
our bodies that break down,
our bodies that will all return to dust.

Within the halls of our bodies
let us hear the resounding echoes
of the gospel truth of our embodiment:
That in the beginning we were made
from the dust of the earth
to be flesh and blood, to be alive.

We pause now, asking for you to fill our bodies
with the reminder of your resurrection,
knowing that, one day, we too will rise.

(pause)

For our bodies, we say: thank you.
Let’s eat, drink, and remember Jesus.

(take communion)

(open your hands on your lap)

O Great Author of Our Desires,
you made us with the capacity to yearn.
We take a moment to offer you our desires –
desires that will be met in this life
and desires that we choose to defer
for the sake of the Kingdom.

We envision, now, in our right hand,
open in our lap,
a longing that has not been met,
a desire that has not been filled.

(pause)

As it comes to mind,
a sadness and anger stir within us.
And an anxiety also pleads that we
try to meet this need ourselves.

In the midst of these experiences,
we extend our right hand, now,
and offer this desire to you in worship –
the worship of continuing to wait,
or the worship of surrendering again.

(pause)

We envision, now, in our left hand,
open in our lap,
a longing that has been answered,
a desire you have filled.

(pause)

As it comes to mind,
we are filled with the warmth of hope,
grateful for how you have provided.

And in the midst of these experiences,
we extend our left hand, now,
and offer this desire up to you in worship.

(pause)

God, from surface level longings
to longings that run deeper than we know,
our desires were made to remind us of you,
the only One who can satiate.

May expectation grow in us
as we wait for the unfolding
of what is to come and of what could be.
Let these hearts within us yearn for you,
the horizon of our expectations.

We lift our eyes to you –
even though some of our desires
remain distorted, unfulfilled, or painful –
believing as best we can
that one day each and every desire in us
will be filled as we are united with you forever.

For the desires that you have met
and – although we do not always know why –
for the desires that go unmet, we say: thank you.
Let’s eat, drink, and remember Jesus.

(take communion)

Amen.

Kylee Logan 3/23/23 Kylee Logan 3/23/23

God & The Whole Person, Pt. 2: Feasting

Leader’s Note: The Guide tonight will differ from our traditional rhythm. The “Take Communion” and “Do This Practice Tonight” sections will be combined into a Liturgy to guide your Community through. This is best done before the meal, but can be done afterwards, if that’s what works best. There are also some questions connected to the Sunday Gathering that you could work through before or after your meal.

Read This Overview Aloud & Do This Practice Together Tonight

God created us, he authored us. The very fact that we have desires was God’s idea. More than that, it’s part of what it means that we were made in his image. This means that desire, in its essence, is good – even while some of our desires are disordered and misordered. Throughout church history, desire has been understood as one of the ways by which God speaks to us. One day, every one of our desires will be satisfied in God. We will experience a union with him that will satiate every longing, hope, and dream that we have (even the ones we aren’t conscious of).

While there’s something about that that sounds good, there’s another part of it that, if we’re honest, can feel depressingly out of our grasp. This ache, though, has more to do with how disembodied we have allowed the idea of our eventual union with God to become to us. Many of us don’t even think about our union with God – what the Bible calls “the marriage supper of the Lamb” – as an embodied reality. But the Scriptures teach us that it will be! The separation of the soul from the body is how the Bible describes death, not resurrection. Resurrection means that, one day, our bodies will rise, just like Jesus’.

We can get to a place where deferring some of our desires now makes sense because we believe that their true filling can only be satiated in our resurrected state. And it’s in the midst of this tension that we will engage our Practice for tonight. I will lead us through a liturgy that will help us remember that our whole selves – soul, mind, and body – were made in God’s image. As we eat our meal afterwards, we do so remembering that, one day, we will sit at Jesus’ table forever.

Before we start, there are a few elements of this liturgy that are helpful to know about. First, each of the three movements will invite a different posture: hand on your head, hand on your heart, and hands open in front of you. These postures will help us to hold in our bodies the prayers we are praying. The other element is that after each of the three moments, we’ll pause to take communion together. (Leader: Make sure everyone has the communion elements. When everyone’s ready, guide them through the liturgy below.)

A LITURGY BEFORE FEASTING

Discussion Prompts

(for during or after the meal)

As or after we eat, let’s work through some or all of the following questions:

As we went through the liturgy, what resonated in you? Where did you feel resistance? What else stirred?
Why do we defer some desires, like Jesus, instead of trying to satiate them all?
Throughout the Old Testament, salvation was understood as a physical reality (e.g. the Israelites leaving Egypt, David being saved from his enemies, God opening wombs, etc.). Is this a new idea for you? What does it stir in you?
How is an embodied gospel better than simply “going to heaven when you die”?
What invitation do you think God might be extending to you throughout the last few weeks of this series?

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

This week, take some time to sit with God and have a conversation about any of the initiations you may feel him extending towards you these last few weeks. How would you name them? What do they involve? How do you want to respond to them? (Keep in mind that invitations can come through where you feel resonance and where you feel resistance.)

End in Prayer

Leader: Close your time together asking for God to continue growing each of you into people who know his love, hear his voice, and abide in him.

Kylee Logan 3/5/23 Kylee Logan 3/5/23

God & The Whole Person, Pt. 1: Fasting

Take Communion

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,

for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Read This Overview Aloud Together

The season of Lent is the 40 day period before Easter that corresponds with the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness, fasting and enduring Satan’s temptations. Lent witnesses to the power and beauty of our union with Christ and to the daily dying and rising with Christ that this entails. One of the primary ways that we lean into the observance of Lent is through the practice of fasting. While fasting allows us to enter into the suffering of Jesus, it is also meant to draw and center our hearts on the deeper gift we receive through his death, burial, and resurrection. Simply put, fasting is a way to place ourselves in the way of grace by withdrawing our reliance on earthly things so that we can feast on God’s presence and power. It is an ancient, embodied practice of giving up superficial desires to get in touch with our deepest desires.

Lenten fasting differs from traditional fasting, however, in that we observe “feasting days” on each Sunday of Lent, during which we pause our fast as a way of stirring up hope for what is to come — our celebration of the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. So, in Lent we fast and feast as a way of anticipating Jesus’ gift of life. Also, while the Lenten fast began on Ash Wednesday (February 22), it’s not too late to start! There is nothing magic about the 40 day period, so consider starting this week and join the global church in the Lenten fast, which ends on Easter (April 9).

Do This Practice Tonight

For our Practice tonight, we are going to have a discussion in smaller groups about how we want to participate in a Lenten fast. The purpose of fasting during Lent is to abstain from things like food, drink, or certain routine actions in order to remind ourselves that only God can truly satisfy our soul-level hunger. We fast from things that bring us comfort – our appetites, approvals, and ambitions – in order to feast on God’s presence. So let’s get into smaller groups, and then we’ll work through some prompts to discern how we each want to participate in Lent this year.

(Leader: Pause and have everyone split into smaller groups. Once everyone has settled, pray and invite the Spirit to speak his invitation to each person clearly and ask that God would stir our hearts to respond.)

As we have this discussion, remember that deciding what to fast from doesn’t have to be or feel dramatic or heavy; it is not meant to be a way of punishing yourself. If you’re not sure what to pick, go for something you will notice the absence of, not something that will genuinely cause you suffering.

Read This List. To begin, let’s consider the following lists of frequent things people fast from in Lent. As you listen, pay special attention to any invitation you may sense from the Spirit.

Foods Generally Associated with Feasting: chocolate, all desserts, coffee, caffeine, alcohol, meat, bread, etc.
Media or Entertainment: apps on your phone, television, a favorite streaming service, movies, radio or music in the car, computer use at home, video games, social media, etc.
Habits and Comforts: shopping (online and/or in stores), using elevators instead of stairs, parking in a spot close to the store or your work, finding the shortest checkout line, surfing the internet when bored, etc.

Discuss. Let’s take a few minutes discussing our experiences with fasting (Lenten or otherwise) and whether or not we may have sensed the beginnings of an invitation from the Spirit about what to fast from as those lists were read.

Read These Questions: Now, let’s read through a few prompting questions. As they’re read, pay attention to one that may stick out or could be connected to an invitation from the Spirit. (Leader: Read the following questions slowly, pausing briefly between each.)

Have I become dependent on something other than God to attend to the deeper aches of my soul?
What do I use to find pleasure, comfort, or emotional regulation?
What conveniences am I conditioned to automatically use? (e.g. elevators or escalators instead of stairs, close parking spaces, music/podcasts in the background, etc.)
What could I abstain from that might help draw my attention to my deeper need for
Jesus?

Discuss. Let’s take this last chunk of time to discuss what of those questions stuck out to you. Where might you have sensed an invitation from the Spirit? If anyone feels compelled to commit to fasting from something through Lent, feel free to share that with your group.

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

For the week ahead, engage in your Lenten fast. Take a moment to commit it to Jesus – this could look like journaling about it, writing it on a sticky note to keep on your bathroom mirror, or remembering it in prayer each morning. However you choose, it’s important to enter this journey with clarity and commitment around what God is inviting you to do. Once you’ve committed it to God, share it with your Community and/or a close friend who is also participating in Lent. We do not share as a form of accountability, but as a way to celebrate God’s invitations to us. Continue to celebrate and share with them throughout the Lenten season what you sense the Spirit is doing in and through each of you.

End in Prayer

Leader: Close your time together asking for God to continue growing each of you into people who know his love, hear his voice, and abide in him.

Kylee Logan 2/20/23 Kylee Logan 2/20/23

Knowing God, Pt. 4: The Vine

Take Communion

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2v5-11)

Read This Overview Aloud Together

The first miracle of Jesus takes place at a wedding reception. The party nearly crashes to a halt when the wine runs out. But before it does, Jesus makes a bunch out of water. It’s kind of a weird first miracle, but fast forward to the last “I am” statement of Jesus. We find him declaring, “I am the vine.” As the disciples heard him say this, they would have thought back to that first miracle and realized that he was revealing that apprenticeship to him generates really, really good fruit, which goes on to produce what he calls “life to the full”.

In this extended metaphor, Jesus says that the Father is the Gardener and that those who apprentice him are the branches. As the Gardener, the Father prunes branches so that they can produce more fruit. He goes on to call us to abide in him, the way a branch abides in the vine – it stays so connected that it is almost indistinguishable where one ends and the other begins. Tonight, we want to have a conversation around the season each of us finds ourselves in and what invitations the Spirit might have in order to produce more fruit in us.

Do This Practice Tonight

At first glance, cutting off branches may appear to hinder growth, not help it. But God, the trustworthy Gardener, knows how to prune in a way that brings life. How does God do this work of transformation in us? By cutting off and pruning branches to shape us into who has made us to be – our true selves. God transforms the ordinary into something extraordinary; he takes our lives and infuses them with Kingdom power to bear fruit we wouldn’t be able to on our own. This week, we want to have a conversation about what kind of season each of us might be in, and to explore together what the good Gardener might be inviting us into.

For this discussion, let’s break up into groups 3 to 4, so that we can have more time to talk and pray for one another.

(Leader: Pause until everyone has found a group.)

As we listen to each other, let’s also practice listening to God on each other’s behalf. What might he be revealing to each of us about our current seasons and invitations? We want to explore with curiosity, compassion, and as much trust as we can muster. Let’s work through the following questions together, taking time to listen thoughtfully – not waiting to respond, but really being present to what is being shared. The overarching question is this: What kind of season are you currently in with the Gardener? And we’ll work through it in three parts:

Where does it seem like God may be cutting away branches? Is there something in your life that isn’t producing fruit or even hindering it?

If something comes to mind, don’t let your heart grow hard. If you feel like, perhaps even take some time to repent – which means to tell the truth and to turn away from the sin – and to ask for help.

Where does it seem like God may be pruning you? Perhaps you are feeling disappointed for something you really wanted and didn’t get. Maybe something in your life is revealing to you an invitation to growth.

If something comes to mind, the invitation is to trust him. What might the Gardener be making room for? Take some time to dream about the fruit he might be trying to bring to you through this pruning.

How are you sensing God inviting you to abide?

If something comes to mind, press into it. Explore how you might draw close to him through that invitation.

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

This week, take a step forward into one of the invitations you sensed the Gardener extend to you. Is he inviting you to come into the light and allow a branch to be cut off? Is he inviting you to some kind of new growth as he prunes and recycles pain or disappointment in your life? Is he inviting you to abide in his love, as the goodness of his “life to the full” flows through you?

As we soon enter the season of Lent, a 40-day period in which we voluntarily abstain from good things in order to make more space for God, how might God be inviting you to make more space for him in your life? We prune back things like wine or dessert or social media or meat in order to turn our hearts towards Jesus and ask him for more. Consider spending time in our 24-7 prayer room or maybe trying the Daily Prayer Rhythm with us.

Whatever you do, big or small, practice making space for God in your life.

End in Prayer

Close your time together asking for God to continue to reveal himself to you all as the Vine and teaches you how to abide in him.

Kylee Logan 2/5/23 Kylee Logan 2/5/23

Knowing God, Pt. 3: The Resurrection & The Life

Take Communion

Read This Overview Aloud Together

When Jesus calls himself “The Resurrection & The Life,” he is making the claim that he holds the power of healing and salvation, which he wants to bring to all people. All through the Bible, we find God waging war against sickness and death. In fact, from the moment that sin and death enters the picture, the Scriptures are clear: God wants to heal. He wants to heal trauma, pain, sickness, injuries, and everything else that disconnects his creation from the fullness of life that he intended. And whether through an instantaneous miracle or a medical intervention like surgery, medicine, or therapy, all healing belongs to God.

Rightly understood, then, healing becomes a sign that points to salvation, which is the substance of the Kingdom. Remember that even after Lazarus was raised from the dead, he died again. All healing this side of resurrection is temporarily healing, but it is a gift of God to drag some of our future resurrection into the present. Salvation is the only kind of healing that lasts in this age and the age to come. Healing is the sign; salvation is the substance. Healing is the miraculous intervention of God in our world, making it a part of the church’s ministry, even though it doesn’t always happen in this lifetime. We are the people who carry the prophetic conviction that God wants to heal his world – more than that, that God wants us to be healed more than we want to be healed. We carry the prophetic message that one day our physical bodies will be resurrected into God’s restored and remade world.

Do This Practice Tonight

Tonight, we are going to lean into this Practice of asking God to heal people. As we do, let’s commit to keeping in mind that we are all bringing different past experiences to our time tonight. Some of us may have really positive experiences with it; some of us may have seen healing prayer misused; some of us may have deep pain or disappointment connected to asking God for healing; and some of us have no experience at all. Wherever we find ourselves, let’s commit to make room for each other and to practice following the invitations of the Spirit.

Healing prayer is complicated because it involves people’s pain and can have lifelong impacts on people’s faith, whether they are healed or not. But a simple prayer is all it takes. Jesus himself reminded us that we “will not be heard for [our] many words.” There is no formula in the Bible for healing prayer; it isn’t a magic trick where saying the right words unlock God’s healing power.

Healing, though, doesn’t always happen. But that’s true of a lot of things. When we preach, not everyone comes to faith. But we still do it. So when we pray for healing, not everyone will get healed – but we still ask. Because healing is simply a sign of the Kingdom, our ultimate hope is not resting on people being miraculously healed. We are freed, then, to ask freely of a Good Father who has good gifts for his children.

As we practice healing prayer tonight, we will do so using the following model:

1. Find someone who wants healing. Let’s take a moment to figure out who among us wants prayer. Who has some sort of injury, sickness, or pain that they would like our Community to ask God for healing for?

2. Pray a simple healing prayer. If appropriate and permission is given, someone can put a hand on the affected place on the body. Then simply say a short, simple healing prayer, like, “God, would you please heal Sam’s leg. We know you love him and we know that healing is your will, so we ask you to heal his leg even now. In Jesus’ name, Amen.” This part can take like 20 - 30 seconds.

3. Ask if it got better. Ask the person who was receiving prayer how they’re doing. Perhaps invite them to try something they couldn’t do before. Or have them rate the pain on a scale of 1 to 10.

4. Pray again. If there is still pain, we’ll just pray another simple prayer. Even Jesus had to pray more than once for someone to be healed in Mark 8.

5. Repeat Steps 3 - 4. If the person experienced healing, celebrate and thank God for it, reminding the person who experienced healing that it is a way that God is telling them he loves them. If they didn’t or didn’t fully, consider committing to ongoing prayer for their healing (and actually do it!).

When we have run out of time, we’ll pause and thank God for sharing his healing ministry with us, and ask him to let us see signs of his in-breaking Kingdom through physical healing in our life.

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

This week, we want to continue practicing asking God for healing for people in our lives. So, be open to praying for healing for someone this week – at work, a family member, a stranger. Remember to always ask for permission – the person you want to pray for may not be ready yet to ask God for healing. That’s ok. Asking for God’s healing for someone doesn’t have to be weird.

When someone you pray for experiences healing, remind or tell them that it is a sign of God’s Kingdom, that he deeply loves them. And if someone isn’t healed, it doesn’t mean that you or they didn’t have enough faith or did something wrong. The Father deeply loves you and them and does want them to be healed. Then, if you mean it, commit to praying for their healing ongoingly.

End in Prayer

Close your time together asking for God to continue to reveal himself to you all as The Resurrection & The Life.

Kylee Logan 1/19/23 Kylee Logan 1/19/23

Knowing God, Pt. 2: The Gate

Take Communion

Read This Overview Aloud Together

“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.” Of all the symbols or metaphors Jesus could use to reveal something to us about God, on the surface, a gate seems a bit anticlimactic. Despite what we may think, though, Jesus was actually making the incredibly profound and moving claim that he is able to save the lost. He was telling the story of a God who goes out of his way to bring back those who have wandered, who makes a way to restore them to right relationship with him.

Tonight and this week, we want to reflect on God’s heart for the lost, remembering that he alone is the Gate by which we find salvation.

Do This Practice Tonight

As part of our Daily Prayer Rhythm, we have been praying each midday for our friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, and others in our lives who don’t know Jesus, that they might come to find the saving love of God. Tonight, we want to check in about this rhythm, having a conversation about how it’s going and what next steps we might take in our relationships with the people for whom we’re praying. Let’s work together through the following questions:

How has the rhythm of praying for the lost at midday been going? Who are you praying for?
As you’ve been praying over the last few months, where have you seen God at work in the lives of those for whom you’re praying?
Where might the Spirit be inviting you to take a step towards one of these people and maybe even have a conversation with them about Jesus?

Let’s close this time by praying that the lost in our lives might hear the voice of the Spirit call them to salvation, and that we would pay attention to where the Spirit is inviting us to be part of that story.

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

This week, set aside some extra time with God to talk about those for whom you pray each midday. Is there anyone who he is inviting you to step out and have a conversation with about God? Our Practice this week has two parts:

Invite Someone to Alpha – Even though Alpha started last week, it’s not too late to invite someone to join. Alpha is an open and informal conversation about life, spirituality, and the person of Jesus without judgment or pressure. People are welcome to bring thoughts and questions as the group explores them together without the pressured atmosphere that usually comes with these conversations. You can learn more at Bridgetown.Church/Alpha
Start a Conversation with Someone about Jesus – As you talk with Jesus about each of the people for whom you’re praying, take a moment and ask him if he would invite you to begin a conversation with them about God. Or is there any way that he wants to care for them through you – to buy their lunch, to pray with them, to share a prophetic word, or to bless them in some other way that you can attribute to God’s prompting?

Go about your week with curiosity, asking God in various moments if there is an invitation to have a conversation about him.

End in Prayer

Close your time together asking for God to continue to reveal himself to you all as the Gate.

Kylee Logan 1/4/23 Kylee Logan 1/4/23

Knowing God, Pt. 1: The Bread of Life

Take Communion

Read This Overview Aloud Together

After Israel was freed from centuries of enslavement in Egypt, they wandered through the desert, very quickly realizing that they didn't have anything to eat. Moses, their leader, began a conversation with God, who proceeded to miraculously provide bread, or manna, for them in the desert. In doing so, God reminded them that he is the One who provides.

Fast forward to Jesus. In Matthew’s biography about Jesus’ life, right in between two separate incidents in which he miraculously feeds thousands of people, we find Jesus declaring himself to be “the Bread of Life.” Beyond a clever play on words, Jesus is picking up the imagery of the hungry Israelites in the desert to reveal something about God: God is the one who provides bread, but he also provides salvation to the whole world. God cares about our entire lives – the details about what we will eat, but also our destiny, and he will see to our needs.

Do This Practice Tonight

As we age, we may grow more sophisticated, more restrained, but we never quite lose that impulse to spiral into a panic and anxiety about something – that exam, that meeting at work, that relationship, that doctor’s appointment, or something else. There is a human tendency to dwell on things outside of our immediate control, as if thinking about them will fix them or make them turn out ok. When Jesus addresses this predisposition, though, he doesn’t moralize our worry. Instead, he invites us to practice remembering that God is the One who provides, our Bread of Life.

Tonight, we want to have a conversation about God’s provision and our desire to grow in knowing and seeing it. God’s provision, though, is not necessarily synonymous with everything in our lives going how we want it to or think it should. It is usually more complex than that. With that in mind, this can be a vulnerable conversation for those who haven’t thought much about it; but rather than letting that keep you from vulnerability, try to allow it to help you press in. Let’s work together through the following questions:

In which areas of your life do you find it easiest to trust God as your provider? (e.g. money, work, relationships, housing, etc.)
In which areas of your life do you take God’s provision for granted? Or, if you’re honest, in which areas of your life are you comfortable enough to not really need God’s provision?
In which areas of your life do you find trusting God the most difficult?

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

We all know what it’s like to freak out and to lose sleep stressing about something. But if Jesus revealed to us a God who will provide, a God who will see to it, we want to be the sorts of people who bring him into our anxiety and worry, to practice asking him about it and pausing long enough to hear him speak.

This week, we want to practice this type of prayer. So set aside some time to ask God the following questions:

God, where do I have a hard time trusting you? Without any sort of filter, what did you hear or sense him say? Keep in mind that he may bring up something you didn’t expect.
God, is there anything you want me to know about that? Give God time to speak to you about this area in your life that you have a hard time trusting him. Listen as, instead of focusing on any failure, he reminds you of his love for you. Perhaps there is also a lie you are believing that he wants to bring to mind that informs your view of who he is to you.
God, what truth do you want to tell me? Give God some final time to speak a truth to you about who he is, about who you are, or about the situation you’re in.

Close your time thanking him for his goodness and asking him to keep teaching you to trust him.

End in Prayer

Close your time together asking for God to continue to reveal himself to you all as the Bread of Life.

Kylee Logan 12/5/22 Kylee Logan 12/5/22

Advent Series 2022: Simplicity

Take Communion

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty

will accomplish this.

Read This Overview Aloud Together

All over the Scriptures we find language of waiting and watching. A story is woven from beginning to end about waiting and watching for a Messiah, whether for his first coming or his return. Before and after we learn that this Rescuer is Jesus, the Bible is filled with teachings from wise men and women on how to wait and watch for God’s coming. Jesus’ cousin John was one such messenger, sent to help people recognize God when he showed up in their midst. John offered three instructions to those who wanted to prepare themselves to wait and watch for God. To those with much, he advised simplicity. To the tax collectors, he advised generosity. And to the soldiers, he advised justice. While not many of us are tax collectors or soldiers, in the western context, most of us do qualify as having much.

It seems that one of the means by which Jesus curated joy in his life was by intentionally living a life of simplicity. In his teachings we find a theme of simplifying our consumption as a way of making more room for God in our lives. But consumerism is our default setting. Now, we’ll likely nod our heads in agreement or let that reality produce shame in us. However we respond, though, most of us will go on living our lives the same. But what if we didn’t? What if, instead, we let that reality – that we have accommodated ourselves to the constant, addicting, endless pursuit of more – invite us into something?

Tonight we want to invite the Spirit to show us what is competing with our undivided devotion to Jesus.

Do This Practice Tonight

As we consider the role that simplicity can play in our own lives, let’s remember that simplicity is not about what we do with our leftovers – it’s about our whole lifestyle. Simplicity is about what we do with our money, our stuff, our time, our attention, and so much more.

Throughout the gospels Jesus constantly called people to simplicity, though it entailed different things for different people. Jesus was not worried about stuff or money – Jesus was worried about the heart. Whoever it was, Jesus’ call to simplicity was a call to recognize and release an attachment to something besides God. As we have a conversation around simplicity, let’s keep in mind that everyone comes to this conversation from different backgrounds and that each of us may be invited by the Spirit to take different steps forward.

Have a conversation. We are going to begin our time by having a conversation through the following prompts:

In your experience, how have you noticed consumption getting in the way of or distracting you from your relationships with your family, your friends, or God?
On the surface, the idea of living more simply may sound refreshing, but the idea of buying less, getting rid of some of what we already have, and generally not numbing ourselves with more stuff can bring up anxiety, sadness, or dread. As you sit with it, how does the cost of simplicity actually make you feel?
How might simplicity actually help you make more room for God?
Has anyone experienced the kind of simplicity that makes more room for God? What has that been like?

Pray for each other. Let’s use the rest of the time for our Practice tonight by breaking up into smaller groups of 3 or 4. If anyone is feeling invited by the Spirit to take a particular step towards simplicity, take a moment to share that with one another. And once everyone has shared who would like to, pray for each other. Ask the Spirit for courage in responding to God’s invitation, for creativity in taking steps towards simplicity, and for the fruit of more room for God in our lives.

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

The Practice for the week ahead is to set aside some time to intentionally consider how we can simplify our consumption in order to make more room for God. Advent is a perfect time to practice simplicity because, beyond the hyper-consumerism of Christmas, simplicity is a practice for freeing our hearts to wait and watch for God’s return. Take some time this week to work through the following questions:

Do I have more than I need?
What has gotten in the way of me sharing what I have?
What are a few ways I could practice simplicity? (e.g. in your home, your appearance, your spending habits, your access to abundance, etc.)
Looking at this list, what is one step I want to take this Advent season to make more room for God through simplicity in my life?

End in Prayer

(Leader: Close your time together in prayer, asking that God would help us become the kind of people who wait for his return with hope by actively practicing simplicity.)

Kylee Logan 11/7/22 Kylee Logan 11/7/22

Vision Series 2022, Pt. 5: Community Commitments

Take Communion

(Leader: Begin your gathering together by taking communion together, whether as a full meal together or some version of the bread and the cup before or after your meal. If you don’t already have a Communion liturgy, take a moment to be still and have people reflect with gratitude on the prompt: Where did God go above-and-beyond today or this week? After some time in silence, have a few people share their prayers of gratitude to God.)

Review The Last Practice

How has Morning Prayer through the Lord’s Prayer been going for you?
How has Midday Prayer for the Lost been going for you?
How has Evening Prayer of Gratitude been going for you?

Read This Overview Aloud Together

Think of our Community like a boat out on the ocean: everyone has a paddle and we’re working together to go somewhere. But that can only work if everyone agrees on where we’re headed. If we all have a different understanding of or vision for where our boat is going, we’ll likely just paddle in circles. To make sure we’re not going in circles, every Fall, during the Vision Series, each Bridgetown Community sets aside intentional time to return to the Commitments and to have a conversation about what’s going well and where we can improve. And tonight is that night!

Do This Practice Tonight

To commit to something is to actively participate in it – to show up in a way that you are engaged and contributing. To that end, the Community Commitments have been organized into 4 categories – active participation in your own spiritual formation, active participation in Bridgetown Church, active participation in your Community, and active participation in Portland. If we are to succeed in our goal of practicing the way of Jesus together in Portland, we will need to each be actively participating in these four categories.

Read Over the Commitments – Let’s all open up the Community Commitments and then I’ll read each out loud to remind us what our Community is organized around.

Discuss the Following Questions – Next, let’s have a discussion about the Community Commitments and our active participation in them:

Reflect on what your commitment to Community has done for you in this last season. How has it shaped you or changed you?
Looking again at the Commitments, what do you feel like we do well as a Community? Where can we improve?
Which Commitments have been more challenging for you, personally, in this last season?
In light of all this, where do we want to grow in these Commitments as a Community? How can each of us, individually, be a part of that?

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

This week, we want to continue working on two Commitments. First, one of the newer Commitments to join the list: integrating the Daily Prayer Rhythm into your life. We want to build the habit of communing with God in the normal parts of our lives, so that we can grow in intimacy with him and participate in his coming Kingdom in and around us. So even if for a minute or two, try to make time to pray the Lord’s Prayer in the morning, to pray for the lost at midday, and to pray gratitude in the evening.

Second: involvement in your Community’s monthly justice initiative. We want to continue working towards and participating in doing something each month, as a Community, that works towards justice and mercy in our city. As a reminder, if we haven’t picked a mission yet, those can be found at bridgetown.church/proximity

End in Prayer

(Leader: Close your time together in prayer, asking that God would help us train to be the kinds of people who order our lives by rebellious fidelity to Jesus and that we would see his Kingdom break into our lives, our city, and our world.)

Kylee Logan 10/23/22 Kylee Logan 10/23/22

Vision Series 2022, Pt. 4: Moving From Prayers To Proximity

Take Communion

Review The Last Practice

How has Evening Prayer of Gratitude been going for you?
Which part of the Daily Prayer Rhythm have you found the most fruitful in your life? Which one has been the most difficult to keep consistent?
Does anyone have any new creative ideas that have helped them remember or enter into the Daily Prayer Rhythm?

Read This Overview Aloud Together

In prayer, the people of God throughout history have been moved by the Spirit to the margins. The rhythms of prayer and justice become almost an inhaling and exhaling of the church: we inhale the presence and life of God in prayer and, being pushed out of our living rooms and onto the streets, we exhale justice. When you find something beautiful and transformative, the only right response is to share it. And as we become more like Jesus, we begin to see God’s presence in our city – especially in places and spaces that we considered too dark or broken. We begin to become our prayers.

As we heard on Sunday, we believe the time has come for Bridgetown to be mobilized and sent out to serve our city, like Jesus, by becoming proximate to the poor. With this, our Communities are setting out to adopt a monthly rhythm of mission. Now, Communities have tried for years to wait and discern where we should serve, but since most of us have not been in regular proximity with those on the margins, we are not ready yet to discern in the biblical sense. Instead, Bridgetown leadership has asked each Community Leader to pick a missional expression for their Community. And while this is not necessarily our Community’s forever mission, it is one that will get us started. So, tonight, we want to explore this mission and what it all entails practically.

Do This Practice Tonight

With every Community adopting a monthly missional expression, we want to talk tonight about ours. We believe that our church and our Community is ready to take this next step. All the potential energy of our prayers over the last few months and years are transforming us to be a people who follow God to the ends of the earth. And we’re ready to start! Besides all that, we believe that it’s what Jesus is up to in our midst, so we want to yield to what he calls life that is truly life.

As we talk about our mission, let’s acknowledge that whenever something changes, some of us will feel the instinctual pull to critique it and talk about why it won’t work. These aren’t bad things to feel, but they also don’t have to take over the conversation. So, even now, remember that we’re all on the same team and let’s all do our best to lean into our conversation tonight. Instead of thinking about why something won’t work, try to offer creative solutions and ask “How can we make this work?”

(Community Leader: Let your Community know more about which mission you chose from bridgetown.church/justice. Helpful details for them to have might be:

The Organization – If the mission is attached to an organization, tell them about the organization.
The Commitment – What exactly is the commitment? Is it an ongoing commitment? How Long?
Day & Time – Will it be something you all can do the night you meet? Or is it on another day? If it’s another day, feel free to cancel your weekly gathering on the week you’re serving. Start by planning the next few months. If you have dates already for November and December, have everyone put them on their calendar. If the mission you selected is open and can happen whenever, have everyone take out their calendar and find a date for November and one for December.
Questions – Open up the room for questions. What else do people want to know about?
Close in Prayer – When you’re ready, close the prayer thanking God for what he’s done, for what he’s doing, and for how he will continue to be good to us.)

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

In theory, we worked out the dates and times we are going to serve in November and December. This week take those dates and make a conscious effort to work out your schedule in order to be there each month.

It could help to take some time to reflect on any emotional or schedule conflicts you are experiencing that could keep you from participating. And then, take some time to bring these things before God. Sit with him and list out all the reasons why you can’t do it or don’t want to and ask for his help (whether to change your heart posture or your schedule). God doesn’t need us to bring him to the margins – he’s already there. But he certainly wants us to meet him in the faces, stories, and lives of the poor. Because he knows that the overflowing love of our mutual relationship with those on the margin will change our city forever.

End in Prayer

Tyler Hanns 10/23/22 Tyler Hanns 10/23/22

Vision Series 2022, Pt. 3: Evening Prayer

Take Communion

Review The Last Practice

How has Morning Prayer through the Lord’s Prayer been going for you? How about the Midday Prayer for the Lost?
For those going to the Prayer Hubs, which one are you going to and what has that experience been like?
Does anyone have any creative ideas or suggestions that helped them remember to pray in the morning or at midday?

Read This Overview Aloud Together

The goal of this three-part Daily Prayer Rhythm is for each of us to build the habit of communing with God in the normal parts of our lives, so that we can grow in intimacy with him and participate in his coming Kingdom in and around us. So, as we continue building this ancient Practice into our own lives, the next layer to add is evening prayer. For our Evening Prayer Rhythm, we will set aside a few minutes at the end of each day and pray prayers of gratitude.

The evening is a time for resting and presence. In the evening, we are tired from the events of the day, and the greatest gift we can offer is our undivided presence to other tired people – but we often litter our homes, dinner tables, and relationships with the clutter we carry home from the day. In order to be present to one another at the close of the day, we must first become present to God at the close of the day.

Do This Practice Tonight

Tonight, we want to practice this rhythm together in a way that will help give tangible ideas of how to pray prayers of gratitude each evening.

During the Jewish Passover, Israel would sing a song of gratitude for God’s deliverance in the Exodus called Dayenu. Traditionally, Dayenu means, “it would have been enough.” A more modern translation might sound like, “Thank you God for overdoing it.” Dayenu serves as a historic prompt for giving thanks to God at the close of the day. So, for our Evening Prayer Rhythm, we are going to use this template to reflect on our days with gratitude.

Review the Day. As we begin, let’s take some time to silently review the events of our day: the people, tasks, messages, meals, demands, and surprises. As you make your way back through the day from morning to evening, silently give thanks to God for anything and everything you have to be grateful for.

Pray Gratitude. Now, let’s move to a time of praying these prayers out loud, in the format of the Dayenu prayer. It might sounds something like,

“God, lunch today would’ve been enough, but you provided me with the resources to choose the type of food I wanted to eat.”

“God, a normal day at work would’ve been enough, but you gave me enjoyable co-workers to have fun moments today.”

“God, it would have been enough to just get through the day, but you really helped the kids get along and love each other well today.”

Let’s pray one at a time, so we can build gratitude in the room and share in how good God was to us today.

Close in Gratitude. (Leader: When you’re ready, close the prayer thanking God for what he’s done, for what he’s doing, and for how he will continue to be good to us.)

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

The Practice for the week ahead is the exact same as it was tonight: take a few minutes each evening to reflect on your day and to pray prayers of gratitude to God. When we end the day in gratitude, we remember the fingerprints of God all across the hours of the day. We enter into the evening present and restful to others in need of restful presence.

End in Prayer

Tyler Hanns 10/23/22 Tyler Hanns 10/23/22

Vision Series 2022, Pt. 1: Morning Prayer

Take Communion

Review The Last Practice

How has Midday Prayer for the lost been going for you?
Who are you praying for? And does anyone have any stories they’d like to share about how God is using that time — perhaps how it’s shaping you or how you’re seeing God respond?
Does anyone have any creative ideas or suggestions that helped them remember to pray at midday?

Read This Overview Aloud Together

The goal of this three-part Daily Prayer Rhythm is for each of us to build the habit of communing with God in the normal parts of our lives, so that we can grow in intimacy with him and participate in his coming Kingdom in and around us. So, as we continue building this ancient Practice into our own lives, the next layer to add is morning prayer. For our Morning Prayer Rhythm, we will set aside a few minutes at the beginning of each day and pray through the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, what we now call the Lord’s Prayer.

Those closest to Jesus saw and felt the intimacy he had with his Father in Heaven and asked him to teach them to pray so that they could experience God that way too. But Jesus wasn’t after teaching them what to pray — he wanted to teach them how. When we pray through the Lord’s Prayer, we too are being taught how to pray by Jesus himself, allowing his prayers to guide our prayers. Jesus’ words become a jumping off point for our own intimacy with God. He offered a prayer framework that has been and is a model and a guide for the global, historic church.

Do This Practice Tonight

Tonight, we want to practice this rhythm in a way that offers a tangible framework we can use when praying The Lord’s Prayer each morning.

We will pray through the Lord’s Prayer piece by piece. And, as we do, we will allow each line to be thematic, adding our own words to Christ’s words. After I read each prompt, we will be directed to pray silently to ourselves, all out loud together, or just a few of us out loud, one at a time.

Our Father in Heaven – As we begin, we open with prayers of adoration. Jesus reminds us here of three aspects of God: God’s majesty, God’s approachability, and God’s restoration. God is “in Heaven,” incomprehensibly powerful and the true source and satisfaction of every human desire. God is also “Father,” so we come to Him not as beggars but as children and heirs to his Kingdom. But, through Jesus, God is more than just my Father, he is “our Father.” In God, everyone — family, friends, co-workers, and even strangers — becomes sister and brother. Let’s all pray out loud together, thanking God for who he is and what he’s doing.

Hallowed be your name – To “hallow” means to set aside as holy. Let’s spend a moment silently to ourselves recognizing God as holy, as the unique One worthy of our affection. You can recognize and name the blessings in your life to connect the gifts back to the Giver, recite a Psalm to yourself, or sit in silence, savoring the presence of God over all and in all.

Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven – Next, let’s ask for God’s will to be done in our life and world. Releasing our own control, we ask for God’s Kingdom in our midst. Simply, clearly, and specifically, let’s ask that God’s Kingdom would come where our world lacks it. Think of friends not in relationship with Jesus, needs in our city and world, situations (professional, social, and personal), and even emotions within yourself. Let’s all pray out loud together for anywhere and everywhere that comes to mind where God’s Kingdom of love and peace is lacking.

Give us today our daily bread – Now we’ll spend some time praying for specific needs and wants in our lives or that of our Community—a job, healing, or wisdom to make a decision. Let’s again pray one at a time, so that we can agree with the one petitioning God.

Forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors – Let’s take some time to quietly reflect on the areas in our life where we have sinned and where we have been sinned against. Let’s ask God for forgiveness for specific areas in your life, and for help to release others into forgiveness.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil – Finally, we’ll spend some time praying both against temptation (which can also be translated “trouble”) in our lives and against any kind of evil (spiritual evil, human evil or oppression, natural disasters, systemic injustice, etc.) in our world. Let’s pray all out loud together for God’s deliverance from evil for us or our Community, asking instead for God’s blessing — the divine flow of good things into our lives and Community.

(Leader, simply pray the following words to close.) For yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

The Practice for the week ahead is essentially the same as it was tonight: take a few minutes each morning to pray through the Lord’s Prayer.

Again, since good habits can take some time to form, Bridgetown has partnered with 24-7 Prayer to make a free app called Inner Room to help us build this rhythm. The app has the option to set reminders at certain times each day and has the prompts we used tonight (in long and short form) to help us “train” together to order our lives by radical fidelity to Jesus. We are also practicing this Morning Daily Prayer Rhythm scattered around the city for 8 weeks at our Prayer Hubs.

The next time we meet, we’ll start by checking in on how the Morning & Midday Daily Prayer Rhythms have been going for everyone — to share what went well, what was difficult, any cool stories, or any creative or helpful ideas.

End in Prayer

Tyler Hanns 9/25/22 Tyler Hanns 9/25/22

Vision Series 2022, Pt. 2: Midday Prayer

Take Communion

Read This Overview Aloud Together

For millennia and all over the world, the church has been pausing at set aside times during the day to pray – the Israelites, Jesus, the early church, Christian denominations and monasteries throughout history have all done it, and many followers of Jesus today do too. We sense an invitation from the Spirit to participate with the global, historic church by returning to this ancient Practice. Our Daily Prayer Rhythm will have three parts: morning, midday, and evening. And over the next few weeks we will explore this Rhythm as a church on Sundays and practice it together in Communities.

Tonight, we will dive into our Midday Prayer Rhythm: praying for the lost. Practically, this looks like setting aside a few minutes in the middle of your day to pause and lift up to God those in your life who don’t know Jesus, asking him to encounter them in a new way that might bring their salvation. But, more than that, we want to participate with God in these stories, so we will also ask him to send us out to become the answers to our prayers.

Do This Practice Tonight

Tonight, we want to practice this rhythm in a way that offers a tangible framework we can use when praying for the lost each midday.

Read Luke 15v4-7. First, let’s read the story that Jesus tells of a shepherd’s response to losing one of his sheep, a story that reveals to us God’s heart for the lost and invites us to become more like him. (Leader: Have someone read the passage.)

Pray for the lost by name. Next, let’s pause to ask the Spirit to bring to mind people we know who are far from God. We will take a few moments in silent reflection now to let him bring people to mind.

(After this moment of silence) Let’s all pray out loud at the same time for these people by name. Let’s ask God, the Good Shepherd, to go after them, to restore them, and to bring them salvation. Let’s pray together out loud.

Pray for compassion. Next, we want to ask God to give us his heart for the lost: seeing as he sees and loving as he loves. Let’s take some time in silent prayer asking God for compassion. As you do this, feel free to confess to God anything that’s getting in the way of compassion today. Ask God to soften the hard places in your heart, so that it might be made more like his. Let’s pray silently in our hearts.

Pray to be sent. Finally, we want to invite God to send us. As we have asked God to pursue our loved ones, we now ask him to send us out with his empowering presence to the lost around us. Let’s have a few people pray, inviting God to open our eyes and ears, that we might pursue the lost and pray for their salvation in the way our Good Shepherd does. Ask that he would inspire our imagination with ways to love, bring people to mind we don’t expect, and surprise us with invitations to be his hands and feet. Let’s have a few people pray these things out loud individually so that we can agree with them as they pray.

Close in Gratitude. (Leader: When you’re ready, close the prayer thanking God for what he’s done, for what he’s doing, and for all the people we will see come to faith in Jesus through these faithful, daily prayers.)

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

The Practice for the week ahead is essentially the same as it was tonight: take 5 minutes each midday to pray for the lost by name, to ask God for compassion, and to ask God to send us out and give us opportunities to share Jesus. So let’s all set aside some time at whatever “midday” means for each of us (e.g. lunch break, your child’s naptime, a walk, etc.) to pray for the lost.

Since good habits can take some time to form, Bridgetown has partnered with 24-7 Prayer to make a free app called Inner Room to help us build this rhythm. The app has the option to set reminders at certain times each day and has the prompts we used tonight (in long and short form) to help us “train” together to order our lives by radical fidelity to Jesus.

The next time we meet, we’ll start by checking in on how the Midday Daily Prayer Rhythm has been going for everyone — to share what went well, what was difficult, any cool stories, or any creative or helpful ideas.

End in Prayer

(Leader: Close your time together in prayer, asking that God would help us train to be the kinds of people who order our lives by rebellious fidelity to Jesus and that he would bring many to salvation as we pray.)

Tyler Hanns 8/7/22 Tyler Hanns 8/7/22

Becoming a Dwelling Place

Take Communion

Begin your gathering by taking communion together, whether as a full meal together or some version of the bread and the cup. If you don’t already have a Communion liturgy, pray these words from Paul to the church in Ephesus:

For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches God may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

(Ephesians 3v14–19)

Read This Overview Aloud Together

The final three chapters of this letter to the Ephesians are filled with highly practical and specific outworkings of those expansive promises in our everyday lives: the workplace, the home, and the complexity of human relationship and ethics. The bridge connecting the first part of the letter (Eph. 1–3) and the second part (Eph. 4–6) is a prayer written by Paul for the church from behind bars in a prison cell (Eph. 3v14–21).

Notice how Paul begins his prayer: he kneels before the Lord, posturing himself not instinctively, but intentionally as a significant and chosen embodiment of what he’s praying and who he’s praying for. Eugene Peterson describes kneeling this way:

“It is an act of retreating from the action so that I can perceive what the action is without me in it, without me taking up space, without me speaking my piece. On my knees I am no longer in a position to flex my muscles…I assume a posture that lets me see what reality looks like without the distorting lens of either my timid avoidance or my aggressive domination. I set my agenda aside for a time and become still, present to God.”

We don’t kneel in hopes to somehow woo God into responding to our prayers. Rather, kneeling keeps our day-dreaming at bay and helps us to pray with our bodies, to keep ourselves engaged with God’s promises for us. Just as Christ came as an embodied person, there is an appeal to the whole person through Paul’s prayer. We pray, not only with our intellect, but with our bodies. This prayer (Eph. 3v14–21) is Paul praying from prison, but his imagination belongs to Christ and his heart to his brothers and sisters. So, he’s crying out not for relief, but for love—so that we might grasp this love that surpasses knowledge.

In the beginning three chapters, Paul explained the good news of the Kingdom. In Eph. 3, he begins the second part of the letter, praying that we might experientially know the good news of the Kingdom in everyday rhythms of communing with God. While Paul was acutely aware of his own and others’ needs, he begins his prayers by declaring God’s promises. Our prayers, the honest and unprepared ones we pray when we’re alone, reveal to us what we really believe about God. Paul’s prayers indicate his confidence in God’s Fatherhood, in his abundance, and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

What if today, we lived believing that God actually loves us? That his love could anchor you in the face of disappointment, or while being falsely accused and unfairly criticized, or in the wake of betrayal, or enduring injustice and oppression? We don’t have a Great High Priest who holed up in the safety of the Temple, but one who got his hands dirty with every kind of mess we’ll ever find ourselves in – all so that we could find not only ourselves there but Him too, dwelling with and within us. We too can pray like Paul, by remembering the width, height, and depth of God’s love at the mountain top and in the deepest valley. This is the power of the Holy Spirit on glorious display.

Do This Practice Tonight

Read the second half of the letter (Eph. 4–6) out loud and then break into smaller groups and discuss.

Discuss The Following Questions:

What word, phrase, or idea stands out to you in these chapters?
Fear is part of life. What would it look like to pray God’s promises into the areas where you feel fear? What would it look like to “take thoughts captive” in prayer?
What do your prayers reveal about how you see and what you believe about God?
Are there ways God is inviting you into a fuller understanding of his love for you?

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

Practice Option 1:

In his book, The Attentive Life, Leighton Ford offers an exercise for personal reflection on the dimensions of God’s love. Take time, without distraction, and follow the prompts below to create your own charts indicating how expansive God’s love has been for you. This practice doesn’t require more than a pen and paper – feel free to apply as much creativity as you’d like. The hope is that the Spirit would dwell in you even more fully as you invite him into your inner world.

How Long: Draw a chart, dividing your life into chapters, recalling just how long God’s love has carried you.
How Wide: Trace your life geographically, to the various places you lived or traveled, measuring the width of God’s love for you.
How High and Deep: Draw another chart naming the major emotional and spiritual highs and lows over the years. Where are the peaks? Where are the valleys? And where has God been in all of it?

Practice Option 2:

Read Isaiah 43v1-3, inserting your own name into the blank spaces that stand for you. What is it like to read Scripture in this personal way?

But now, this is what the Lord says –

he who created you, ____________,

he who formed you, ____________:

Do not fear, for I have redeemed ____________;

I have summoned ____________ by name; ____________ is mine.

When ____________ passes through the waters,

I will be with ____________;

and when ____________ passes through the rivers,

they will not sweep over ____________.

When ____________ walks through the fire,

____________ will not be burned;

the flames will not set ____________ ablaze.

For I am the Lord, ____________’s God,

The Holy One of Israel, ____________’s Savior.

End in Prayer

Close your time together by thanking God for how wildly deep his love is – and that it would reach into the darkest valleys so that we may become a dwelling place for Jesus.

Tyler Hanns 7/31/22 Tyler Hanns 7/31/22

New, Unified Humanity “in Christ”

Take Communion

Begin by taking communion together, whether as a full meal or some version of the bread and the cup. If you don’t already have a Communion liturgy, read aloud (by the Leader or all together) John 15v1-5, 8-10. Praying scripture invites God to shape our prayer life through connecting us to the mind and heart of God. Enter in by slowing down to a pace that serves a listening posture. After reading, pause to thank God for his loving presence at the table with you.

John 15v1-5, 8-10

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, 

and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 

Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 

Abide in me, and I in you. 

As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, 

neither can you, unless you abide in me. 

I am the vine; you are the branches. 

Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, 

for apart from me you can do nothing. 

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

Abide in my love. 

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love

Read This Overview Aloud Together

(adapted from Bible Project’s Ephesians Study)

Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus is best understood in two major movements held together by prayer (Eph 3v14-21). The first three chapters are pure theological poetry, exploring the expansive promises of reconciliation to God and one another. The final three chapters are the highly practical and specific outworking of those expansive promises in the narrow environments of our everyday lives – the workplace, the home, and in the complexity of human relationship and ethics.

Ephesus was a bustling, cosmopolitan city in the ancient world. It was the center of culture and religion. We know from the book of Acts that Paul spent at least a couple of years there helping to start a community of people who were devoting themselves to Jesus. While we don’t know the details, we know for certain that church communities would have been very diverse. Yet, Paul can write to this diverse group of people and say things like “all things under heaven and earth, can be unified under the Messiah” (Eph chapter 1) or “Take great pain to keep the unity of the spirit through the uniting bond of peace,” there is one spirit, one body, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father who is over all and through all and in all. (Eph chapter 4)

Through Ephesus, the world would see God’s Kingdom through a unified people. Paul calls this the “new humanity” from chapter 2. A new family was created by the love of Jesus and unifying people across the dividing lines!
So it’s not hard to see how important this message is for us right now, living in a city like Portland.

Core to this letter, we find this question in Paul’s letter to Ephesus: what does it mean to be that new, unified humanity in a culture where followers of Jesus could be found on both sides of any divisive political or cultural issues? And the hope is that our allegiance to Jesus could compel us to reach out to other Christians that we know hold different views so that we can really listen, and share in meaningful conversation.

Surely this is the kind of relational community that Paul envisioned for the Ephesians. He said get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, fighting, or slander, and rather, embody kindness, compassion, and forgiveness towards each other, in Christ, just as God forgave you. Paul emphasizes this point – the most powerful ways that we can experience the Gospel right now is to embody it by building bridges within the body of Christ.

Do This Practice Tonight

Read the first half of the letter (Ephesians 1-3) out loud and then break into smaller groups and discuss.

Discuss The Following Questions

What word or phrase caught your attention?
Reread Ephesians 1:9-10 and 2:11-22 and notice all the words that communicate unity (both, all, together, etc.). What about this communicates the heart of God?
What would a prayer response to this first half of Ephesians look like, when you think about what God is renewing, revealing, and reviving in your life? In Portland?

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

For the week ahead, establish a time and place that is quiet and free from distractions to set aside 3 – 5 times to practice lectio divina. Any passage of Scripture can be utilized for the practice of lectio divina. Here are a few suggestions with which to start:

Ephesians 3v17-19

Psalm 23

Psalm 100

After selecting one passage, read and move slowly through each of the five movements of spiritual reading.

Prepare to meet with God: Turn your phone off and leave it in another room. Situate yourself comfortably in a quiet, solitary place. Calm your body and quiet your mind before God as you work to prepare your heart to receive what God has spoken through the text, and to respond accordingly. Finally, invite the Holy Spirit to guide your thinking and feeling as you read.
Read (lectio): Read the passage slowly and carefully. Take your time. As you move through the text, pay close attention to what words and ideas draw your attention in unique ways. When your focus is drawn to a particular word or thought, pause momentarily to reflect on them.
Reflect (mediatio): Upon completing the passage, return to the beginning and read again. On your second journey through the text, allow the text to connect with you personally. Which words or phrases assume a particular resonance in your heart, your season of life, your person in this moment. Ask, “What do I need to know, or be, or do in light of the text? What does this mean for my life today?”
Respond (oratio): Talk to God about your experience. If you’re confused, say that. Moved? Express gratitude to God. Upset? Tell him about it. Compelled to worship? Worship. If the text has brought something else to mind, talk to God about that.
Rest (contemplatio): Pause to sit in God’s presence before fleeing from the moment. You might express wonder, awe, gratitude, or praise through words, or you might allow yourself to feel and experience these things quietly before God.

End in Prayer

Close your time together asking for God to awaken your hearts to all the wonder and walking of being alive “in Christ.”

Tyler Hanns 6/12/22 Tyler Hanns 6/12/22

Blessing Each Other

Before working through this Guide, make sure that everyone has caught up through the teaching on June 12, 2022.

Take Communion

Begin your gathering by taking communion together, whether as a full meal or some version of the bread and the cup that proceeds the meal. If you don’t already have a Communion liturgy, pray these words from Paul to the church in Ephesus:

I pray that out of his glorious riches God may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3v16-19)

Read This Overview Aloud Together

On the first page of the Bible, we read that God speaks and something happens. Again and again his words directly correlate to something new being brought into existence – land, water, sky, light, birds, fish, people, etc. The ramification of our being made in the image of this God who speaks life into existence is massive: some of God’s life-bringing power exists in our words as well. Our words and what we do with them matters. It’s why Proverbs 18v21 says that “the tongue has the power of life and death.” And it’s why James appeals to followers of Jesus of his time this way: “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.” (James 3v9-10)

As we read in the stories of the Scriptures, one of the most powerful acts we can do with our words is to bless someone. But a blessing is more than just a few kind words that brightens someone’s day. In the Old Testament narratives, children’s lives are shaped (and reshaped) by the blessing their parents give to them. There seems to be a generative, destiny-creating life force behind the blessings we read about. Like Abraham in Genesis 12, we are blessed in order to be a blessing. God blesses us, so we now bless one another. Mature discipleship, then, is expressed in blessing. It’s why the last thing even Jesus did with his disciples was bless them! With our words and actions, we have the gift and ability to shape and reshape someone’s reality – not just their internal beliefs about themeselves, but the world around them as well. Blessing is a mysterious act of sewing into someone’s life and identity without always knowing what the harvest will look like.

So how do you bless someone? Well, a blessing involves three components: to see and admire someone, to speak well of them, and then to sacrifice for them. “To see someone” speaks to that primal need to be noticed, recognized, and appreciated. “To speak well of them” gets at a whole body acknowledgement of their goodness – using words, body language, attitude, and actions to delight in them. These two components alone, though, only add up to an affirmation. The third component that transforms it into a blessing is “to sacrifice for them.” This refers to giving some of your life away to them. It points to the reality that a true blessing costs something – like a parent who sacrifices to give their children a better life, a teacher who spends countless hours helping a student get caught up, someone who donates vacation time to a coworker with a sick relative, or someone who invites a friend who is going through a hard time to live with them – blessing is a small way of dying for someone. It’s a small echo of Jesus’ own death for us.

Tonight we want to spend some time talking about blessing and working to figure out how we can actively and intentionally bless someone in our lives, as we continue to live in our true selves.

Discuss The Following Questions

Is the concept of blessing familiar or new to you? How could blessing change your own life and reality?
Have you ever been the recipient of someone’s blessing? What did that experience feel like?
Why is blessing important in discipleship? What is the impact receiving a blessing? And what happens when someone doesn’t receive a blessing they need or want? (e.g. a blessing from a parent, etc.)
Have you ever blessed someone? What did that experience feel like?

Do This Practice Tonight

A natural part of early life and discipleship is to seek our own safety, comfort, and wellbeing. As we move more into our true self, though, we come to see that all we have is gift; nothing is earned, everything has been freely given to us by God. With this comes a shift in trust structures that allows us to say with David in the opening line of Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.” Acknowledging that God is the giver of all allows us to move from stinginess and self-preservation to generosity and generativity.

Tonight, we want to have a conversation about each of the components of a blessing and to brainstorm various ways in which we can step into each on behalf of those in our lives we want to bless.

1. Seeing Someone – Really, truly seeing someone requires that we are able to slow our frenetic pace enough to pay attention to their words, disposition, body language, and what the Spirit is saying to you about them. Jesus, whose ragtag group of misfits and outcasts changed the world, was the best example of this. He was consistently really seeing people, beyond the outward appearance or initial judgment. We aspire to be like our Rabbi in this.

Take a moment together and invite the Spirit to bring to mind someone in the last week who you did not really see. Perhaps it was a grocery store clerk ringing you up or your child trying to show you something or a houseless person on the freeway on-ramp. Whoever he brings to mind, ask him for help to really see them. What would it have looked like to really see them?

After you’ve done this, discuss as a group who came to mind and what the Spirit revealed about how to really see someone.

2. Speaking Well of Someone – Oftentimes, really seeing someone naturally pours over into some sort of interaction, which is where speaking well of them comes in. More than just an offhand compliment, this component requires a tailor-fit and intentional acknowledgment of them. So instead of saying, “You’re really nice.” it could sound something like, “I’ve noticed how good you are making every person you come across feel welcomed. I always feel like I belong when I’m around you and that really means a lot to me.”

Take a moment to ask the Spirit to bring to mind something you appreciate about the people in your Community. What is something about someone around you that you’ve noticed and that you really appreciate?

After you’ve done this, open up the room to practice saying these things out loud. What do you notice and appreciate about the people around you? Take some time to share these as a Community. Remember that the more specific it is and the more personal its impact the better.

3. Sacrificing For Someone – Finally, the most challenging component of a blessing, to sacrifice for someone. This requires that we are willing to give up some of our “life” on behalf of someone else. It’s one of the most profound gifts we can give because it implies that we believe that they are deserving of our giving something up. There is an innate dignity given in this practice. Sacrifice becomes blessing when we do it with purpose. It’s something we give without resentment or obligation, but out of deep desire and joy.

Take a moment to ask the Spirit the following questions: Where have I intentionally sacrificed on behalf of someone else? Is there anything keeping it from transforming into a blessing? (e.g. bitterness, apathy, hesitation, etc.) If I have not intentionally sacrificed on behalf of someone else, what could that look like?

After you’ve done this, discuss as a group if there were any invitations you sensed from the Spirit.

End your time by thanking the Spirit for his invitations and asking him for the empowerment to follow through.

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

Since blessing is a form of mature discipleship, it is not something that should be rushed into, so for the week ahead we simply want to take a step towards it. Spend some time working through the following prompts with the Spirit to figure out who you are being invited to begin or continue blessing and how.

Who? To start, list out the different spheres of your life: work, home, school, various friendships, grocery stores, etc. Once you do that, ask the Spirit to bring someone to mind who he would invite you to lean towards in blessing. Let one person come to mind. It could be someone you have already actively blessed or someone you hadn’t really thought about blessing.

What Could You Do? Next, consider each of the three components of a blessing. Ask the Spirit which step you are being invited to into and what that could look like. Take some time to really dream with God about this here. He wants to use your creativity, personality, desires, and gifts to bless people. Remember that we are blessed to be a blessing, so have a conversation about where you have been blessed and what it is you have to give away in blessing – words, time, a skillset, money, creativity, etc.

Make a Plan: Next, take some time to plan out what you’ve been invited into. When do you want to do it? How?

Thank the Spirit: Dignity is not just given in blessing someone, it is also received. Thank the Spirit for giving you the opportunity to bless someone and for all the ways in which you have been blessed.

End in Prayer

Close your time together thanking God for the ways in which he has blessed each of you and your Community. Ask him to help you really see people, to speak well of them, and then to sacrifice for them, in the same ways that he has done so for us.

Tyler Hanns 5/29/22 Tyler Hanns 5/29/22

Recognizing the False Self

Before working through this Guide, make sure that everyone has caught up through the teaching on May 15, 2022.

Take Communion

Read This Overview Aloud Together

Each human being is totally unique from every other person who has or will ever exist. Think about that for a second. You are wholly different from every other person, whether you’ve met them or not – no repeats, no copies, no mistakes. How can this be? It is because everyone was made in the image of a God who is infinite, so we each reflect different combinations of his infinite nature.

The goal of spiritual formation is not to become clones of each other, but to become our true selves by becoming like Jesus for the sake of others. The best, truest gift you have to offer to the world around you is your own transforming and transformed self. But becoming who we were created to be is easier said than done. It requires that we know God and that we knowourselves. On this journey, we quickly come to find an interconnectedness between these knowings. Knowledge of God produces knowledge of self, since we were made in his image. And true knowledge of self reveals to us the intricacies of God’s beauty and design.

The only way to discover our true self is to do so according to God: his Spirit, his Scriptures, and his community. He knows how we were wired and his truth is a map to unlocking all of the unique complexities that make us us. This is why we’ve been practicing hearing God’s voice; he alone is the way to unravel our true selves.

But crouching around the corner is what the church has for centuries called the false self, the glittering image that we use to hide our brokenness. The false self is the part of us that overcompensates, deflects, and distracts others (and sometimes even ourselves) from the parts of us we’d rather others not see. It is not only the part of us that sins, but also the part of us that tries to hide our sin and shame, to cover it. While the false self attempts to produce its own covering, the true self allows God to be its covering. To really know ourselves, then – our real, true self – requires more than just a Christian personality test or spiritual gifts inventory. It requires self knowledge without deception, without the self-protecting shiny exterior that we use to hide the parts of us we don’t like or feel ashamed of.

This week, we want to begin the journey of recognizing the false self and welcoming it into the light of Jesus’ warm embrace.

Discuss The Following Questions

Why is it important to learn to recognize the false self? What happens if we don’t?
What are some examples of what someone’s false self could look like? How have you seen people compensate for sin, shame, and insecurity?
What is your experience of the fallout of having lived in your false self? (e.g. someone embraced something about you that wasn’t actually true, you had to go back and tell others the truth about what you were covering up, you didn’t get the acceptance you were hoping for, etc.)

Do This Practice Tonight

A big piece of our journey with the false self that we have not yet discussed is what we do with it when we recognize it. Contrary to what you may think, will power, determination, and rigidity won’t make it go away. In fact, those may be part of what gives the false self its power. Instead, we have to face it with an incredible amount of compassion, understanding that it is trying to keep us safe. As one spiritual formation practitioner even suggests, we have to befriend it, to understand what it’s trying to say to us, what it wants to reveal to us, but to still be honest about the fact that it is trying to deceive.

Each one of us will struggle to find the balance between the brutal honesty and the radical self-compassion required in the hard work of telling the truth about ourselves. We will need the Spirit’s help for both.

For tonight’s practice, we will split into same-gendered small groups and explore some questions together around our own journey with the false self. Remember that the journey with the false self will be lifelong, so don’t try to solve it tonight. Press as much into the questions as you feel comfortable to, only sharing what you feel ready to.

Once you have split into small groups, work through the following prompts and questions:

1. Embarrassment: When we begin to feel embarrassment, shame, or humiliation, we can be sure that the false self is going to try and rear its head. Take a moment to think back to the last time you were embarrassed about something, whether at work, with friends, at home, or somewhere else.

What were you feeling in that moment?
How did you respond? Did you overcompensate in some way or try to become invisible?
What can that experience teach you about your own false self?

2. Motives: Proverbs 21v2 reminds us that “a person may think their own ways are right, but the Lord weighs the heart.” If we are paying attention, the Spirit will often reveal to us when we are not doing something out of good intentions. While, in reality, there is no such thing as a pure motive (we’re all a mixture of motives), one way to recognize the false self is by reflecting on our motives. Invite the Spirit to bring to mind a situation in the last week where your motives may not have been as good as you assumed.

Take a minute to briefly describe the situation.
What did you think your motives were? What did the Holy Spirit begin to reveal about your motives?
Knowing what you know now, what would it have looked like to be your true self in that situation?

Close up by thanking each person for sharing and praying for each other. Thank the Spirit that he reveals our false self so that we can hear him reveal our true self.

Read The Practice for the Week Ahead

One way to live into our true self is to become aware of where and how our false self presents. This week, we want to practice reviewing interactions and to work to name the motive behind it. We must have the courage to look through our false self and face our shame and failure if we are going to hear Jesus reveal our belovedness, our true self. Our goal is not just to know ourselves, but to know ourselves without deception and to invite the Spirit to close the gap between how we interact with the world and our true self.

Very simply, take some time near the end of this week to review three experiences you had this week with three different people (e.g. a family member, a co-worker, a friend, your boss, etc.) in the presence of the Holy Spirit. As you call to mind each situation, reflect on the following questions. Remember, journaling could be helpful in this process because we write slower than we think; so journaling allows us to pay attention to more than we can by just thinking through it.

Where in this interaction did you hide yourself in the name of self-preservation? What are the signs that you were doing that? (e.g. embarrassment, feeling caught, guilt, shame, fear, anxiety, etc.)
What were you hiding and how did you hide it?
Our surface motive is usually to cover or hide yourself in order to avoid conflict or attention, to hide a mistake, to be seen as good/right, etc. But there are deeper, purer motives and aches in us when we do this. Sometimes we are wanting to belong, to fit in, to be loved, or to be accepted. What was your deeper motive in hiding?
Looking back on this interaction, how would things have played out if you stayed in your true self?

Spend some time in prayer, acknowledging where you attempted to cover yourself. And then invite the Holy Spirit to meet that deeper ache in you and ask him to be your covering.

End in Prayer

Close your time together by asking for God to continue speaking your belovedness or true self over each of you. Invite him to reveal how your false self is getting in the way and ask him to gently guide you deeper into your true self.