Community Guides
Community, Pt. 1: Communion
Take Communion
Leader: While most Communities begin their time with communion, tonight’s Practice is centered around communion, so consider waiting to take it together at the end of this Guide.
Read This Overview Aloud Together
On the night before Jesus was betrayed, he sat down with his disciples for one last meal. Throughout the centuries that followed, the church has observed this final meal under many names – earliest followers of Jesus called it “the love feast”, our Catholic brothers and sisters refer to it as the sacrament of the Eucharist, and many Protestants know it as the Lord’s supper or communion. Each offers important glimpses into the person of Jesus and his relationship to us; and, however it is observed, this historic and biblical Practice is one that ought to be taken up with great intentionality. In it, we remember the life that Jesus gave us through his death, taking communion as a symbolic celebration of the wedding feast we will eat one day with him in New Creation.
At Bridgetown, we primarily observe the Practice of communion through the weekly meal eaten together in Bridgetown Communities all over the city, attempting to model Jesus’ own meal with his friends. Taking a moment to mark this meal as separate from the other meals we eat during the week – through prayer, scripture, silence, or another way – helps us enter into a sacred space in which we look back to the death of Jesus and forward to our resurrection. And to do so with all present – kids and adults – helps us mirror the diverse beauty of God’s Kingdom.
Tonight, we are going to spend time exploring our Community’s current rhythm and Practice of communion (or building one if we don’t yet have one).
Do This Practice Tonight
Whether or not we have a regular rhythm of communion, our goal tonight is to establish one that is repeatable, simple, and intentional. Since the goal is to take communion together each week, we will need to have sustainable rhythms in place to make that happen. But, since there are many ways in which a Community can observe communion each week, there is freedom to find one that best fits our Community. Before we get to the brainstorming, let’s take a moment to talk about where we’re currently at.
To begin our conversation, let’s discuss our Community’s current rhythm of communion.
What does everyone understand our Community's communion practice to be? Do we have one?
If we have one, how does everyone feel like this is going? Are we observing communion weekly in a meaningful way?
Leader: Pause for people to explore your Community’s current rhythm.
The following part of the Guide is aimed at helping our Community establish or shore up our communion Practice through 3 questions. Each question provides a few of the most common ways Bridgetown Communities observe communion. So we’ll spend some time with each question and the options, making sure not to move on until we have returned to answer each question.
1. How do we want to take communion? Since communion is a symbol of the wedding feast we will eat with Jesus in New Creation, there are many ways to represent that meal. In Communities, two of the most common are:
Bread & Wine: Having tangible elements of communion can help symbolize the meal Jesus ate, so some prefer to take communion with some form of bread (e.g. bread, crackers, tortilla, etc.) and some form of wine (e.g. wine, grape juice, etc.).
The Whole Meal Together: In church services, the bread and the wine symbolize the whole meal that Jesus ate with his disciples and that we will eat one day with him, so some prefer to use the meal itself as the communion elements.
2. How do we want to lead communion? There are many ways to lead communion, none of them better than another. Here are some of the most common ways people choose to do it, though it’s ok to let whoever leads each week choose:
The Community Guide: Every teaching series will have its own communion Practice that we are welcome to use. It begins every Community Guide and anyone can find those at bridgetown.church/teaching
Scripture: Most common is to simply take a moment to read a passage of scripture – a psalm, teaching of Jesus, the story of that last meal Jesus ate with his disciples.
Silence & Prayer: Taking a moment in silence to remember God’s presence to us and then closing in prayer can be really powerful.
Gratitude: Take a moment to do some sort of gratitude exercise – “What is one thing you are grateful to God for from today?” – and have each person say it aloud as a quick prayer.
Sharing Personally: The communion leader may take a minute or two to share what God has been speaking to her or him about and then close in prayer.
3. Who leads communion? Our Community is made up of individuals who are unique gifts to the world around us. While not everyone feels comfortable immediately to lead communion, anyone can. Here are the most common ways Community’s figure out whose turn it is to lead:
Communion Point Person: Establish a person whose role is to oversee ensuring that communion happens weekly. They wouldn’t lead communion each week, but simply help coordinate who does.
Communion Tag: End communion each night by having the person who led it that week ask someone else present to do it next week
Communion & Meal Combo: If our Community cycles through who makes the meal each week, leading communion could be folded into that responsibility.
Read The Practice for the Week Ahead
Finally, before we take communion tonight and close in prayer, let’s take a second to talk about the Practice for the week ahead. The invitation is to set aside some intentional time to pray for our Community. Specifically, spend some time in intercession, asking God to guide and guard our Community as we work through this series together.
End in Communion & Prayer
Leader: We’ve provided an optional communion liturgy below that you’re welcome to use, but you’re welcome to lead communion however you would like.
As we close with communion, take a moment to breathe deep and to be still and silent before the Lord.
Ask God to help gather your scattered senses and to make you aware of his presence.
Leader: Spend 30 seconds or so in silence
Hear the words of Mark’s account of Jesus last meal with his disciples:
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
Leader: Spend 30 seconds or so in silence, then close in a prayer of gratitude.
Vision Series Guide: Our Community Vision
Take Communion
Leader: Begin your gathering by taking communion, whether as a full meal together or some version of the bread and the cup before or after dinner. If you don’t already have a Communion plan, have someone read these words from Paul in 1 Corinthians 11v24-26
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Read This Overview Aloud Together
Think of our Community like a boat out on the ocean: everyone has an oar and we’re all rowing together to go somewhere. But this 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, during the Vision Series every Fall, 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 These Practices Tonight
1. General Community Reflections
Let’s take some time to reflect over the last year of life in this Community by discussing the following questions?
What has this Community meant to you over this last year? Who or what are you grateful for? Where has God met you through this Community?
Have you noticed the Practice of regularly attending this Community change you as a person or as a disciple in any way? How so?
2. 6-Stage Cycle of Community
A Community is a bit like a living thing – far from being static and rigid, it is constantly growing and changing with those who are in it. With that in mind, there is a patterned story within most Communities that includes these 6 stages or seasons that repeat themselves again and again.
While these stages do not have a specific amount of time associated with them (and we won’t necessarily go through all of them in a year), Communities change stages all the time. Though it may feel uncomfortable, change isn’t always something bad and we don’t need to fear it. It can actually be a huge opportunity to grow deeper in vulnerability and transformation with God, yourself, and each other. There are healthy and restorative ways through each stage.
Let’s take a few minutes to work through the description of each phase. As we do, keep in mind where we think our Community might be. It’s ok if we don’t all agree about where we are at. This dissonance can actually foster important conversations as we explore not just where, but why each of us would place our Community where we do and to talk through what we think helpful steps forward might look like.
Let’s work through these questions together:
What was the state of our Community last year around this time? What changes (good or hard) have we gone through communally?
As we read this, what stages currently fit our Community? What evidence would you suggest supports that?
Based on where we think we are, what would our next stage be and how would we like to prepare for that?
3. Community Commitments
Next, we want to begin a conversation about recommitment. To commit to something is to actively participate in it; it is to show up in a way that you are engaged and contributing. Community Commitments are a way of framing the foundation of and setting the direction for our Community. None of them should be a surprise, as they are the list everyone agreed to upon joining a Community. We revisit this list each year as a way of a) reminding us about the commitments we’ve made and b) figuring out how we can recalibrate to get back on course if we’ve drifted. The Community Commitments are 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.
As we discuss them, it would be great if we could all open up the Community Commitments (or share a screen with someone next to you). Once we have them open, I’ll read each out loud to remind us what our Community is organized around and then we’ll work through a few discussion questions. As a side note, if there are any questions or concerns about any of these Commitments, please talk with me at some point (it doesn’t have to be tonight). I’d love to help you work through it or help point you to someone who can.
Leader: Pause here to read through the Commitments. Once you’ve read them all, move onto the following questions.
Consider this list, what do you feel like we do well as a Community?
Where might there be an opportunity for growth for our Community or for you as an individual? What might we be missing? (e.g. for Community: mission, taking more leadership responsibility, praying for each other, etc.; for an individual: regularly attending the gathering on Sunday, showing up to Community on time, being present, etc.)
In light of all this, what specific things do we want to grow in as a Community? And how do we get there? How will we each, individually, be a part of committing to that growth?
4. Other Important Conversations
Whether we have enough time and stamina left this week or we want to set aside some time in the future, there are likely some other conversations that may be helpful for our Community to have.
Leader: Not all of these will be relevant to your Community. Please have read through them in advance and pick out one or two that might feel helpful to discuss.
How is mission going? Is it time to revisit that conversation?
How is our meal plan working? Do we need to revisit that?
How are our Leader(s) and/or Coordinators feeling? Do they need help with anything?
Is there anything we want to start, stop, or continue doing as a Community?
How do we feel about the way we’re currently integrating kids in our Community? Do we need to talk about that again? Or do we need to get ahead of some upcoming transitions?
Are there any other conversations we need to have that we might be avoiding?
End in Prayer
Before we leave, let’s spend some time praying for our Community, asking God for the things that came up tonight, and inviting the Spirit to help us become more like Jesus together.
Video #6: Slow to Anger
We recommend working through this Guide in August.
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, take some time to reflect on these words from Exodus 34v5-7, in which God describes himself to Moses:
The Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with Moses and proclaimed his name, Yahweh. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “Yawheh, Yahweh, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished…”
Watch This Video Together
The video below explores one particular reality of how God reveals his character, namely, that he is slow to anger.
Discuss These Questions Together
As we watched the video, what stuck out that we may have not heard or thought of before, or that makes us think in a new or deeper way?
Considering the themes that stuck out, what might they reveal to us about God?
When something sticks out to us, it might be an invitation from God. Based on our discussion, what invitation might God be extending to us individually or to our Community? And how could we lean into this invitation this week? (e.g. meditating each morning on this theme, memorizing a particular scripture, taking time in the middle of our day to be present to God, doing a fast, practicing generosity, etc.)
Extra Time?
If your Community has any extra time, feel free to spend it praying for each other. You could do this many ways, but it could be fun to practice prophetic listening prayer for people in your Community by doing the second part of the “Do These Practices Tonight” section of the Community Guide on Prophecy from the Hearing God series.
Video #5: Visual Commentary: Ex 34:6-7
We recommend working through this Guide in August.
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, take some time to reflect on these words from Exodus 34v5-7, in which God describes himself to Moses:
The Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with Moses and proclaimed his name, Yahweh. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “Yawheh, Yahweh, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished…”
Watch This Video Together
The video below explores the most quoted verse of the Bible by the Bible – the one where God describes what he's like.
Discuss These Questions Together
As we watched the video, what stuck out that we may have not heard or thought of before, or that makes us think in a new or deeper way?
Considering the themes that stuck out, what might they reveal to us about God?
When something sticks out to us, it might be an invitation from God. Based on our discussion, what invitation might God be extending to us individually or to our Community? And how could we lean into this invitation this week? (e.g. meditating each morning on this theme, memorizing a particular scripture, taking time in the middle of our day to be present to God, doing a fast, practicing generosity, etc.)
Extra Time?
If your Community has any extra time, feel free to spend it praying for each other. You could do this many ways, but it could be fun to practice prophetic listening prayer for people in your Community by doing the second part of the “Do These Practices Tonight” section of the Community Guide on Prophecy from the Hearing God series.
Video #4: Exodus 19-40
We recommend working through this Guide in July.
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, take some time to reflect on these words from Exodus 34v5-7, in which God describes himself to Moses:
The Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with Moses and proclaimed his name, Yahweh. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “Yawheh, Yahweh, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished…”
Watch This Video Together
A continuation of the first Guide and video, the video below explores the second half of the scroll of exodus, providing a helpful framework and context for the second half of our series.
Discuss These Questions Together
As we watched the video, what stuck out that we may have not heard or thought of before, or that makes us think in a new or deeper way?
Considering the themes that stuck out, what might they reveal to us about God?
When something sticks out to us, it might be an invitation from God. Based on our discussion, what invitation might God be extending to us individually or to our Community? And how could we lean into this invitation this week? (e.g. meditating each morning on this theme, memorizing a particular scripture, taking time in the middle of our day to be present to God, doing a fast, practicing generosity, etc.)
Extra Time?
If your Community has any extra time, feel free to spend it praying for each other. You could do this many ways, but it could be fun to practice prophetic listening prayer for people in your Community by doing the second part of the “Do These Practices Tonight” section of the Community Guide on Prophecy from the Hearing God series.
Video #3: The Covenants
We recommend working through this Guide in July.
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, take some time to reflect on these words from Exodus 34v5-7, in which God describes himself to Moses:
The Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with Moses and proclaimed his name, Yahweh. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “Yawheh, Yahweh, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished…”
Watch This Video Together
The video below backs up a bit from just Exodus, exploring and giving helpful insight into the cultural and biblical category and theme of "covenant".
Discuss These Questions Together
As we watched the video, what stuck out that we may have not heard or thought of before, or that makes us think in a new or deeper way?
Considering the themes that stuck out, what might they reveal to us about God?
When something sticks out to us, it might be an invitation from God. Based on our discussion, what invitation might God be extending to us individually or to our Community? And how could we lean into this invitation this week? (e.g. meditating each morning on this theme, memorizing a particular scripture, taking time in the middle of our day to be present to God, doing a fast, practicing generosity, etc.)
Extra Time?
If your Community has any extra time, feel free to spend it praying for each other. You could do this many ways, but it could be fun to practice prophetic listening prayer for people in your Community by doing the second part of the “Do These Practices Tonight” section of the Community Guide on Prophecy from the Hearing God series.
Video #2: Moses & Aaron
We recommend working through this Guide in June.
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, take some time to reflect on these words from Exodus 34v5-7, in which God describes himself to Moses:
The Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with Moses and proclaimed his name, Yahweh. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “Yawheh, Yahweh, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished…”
Watch This Video Together
A large theme in Exodus and the Torah as a whole relates to Israel's need for a priesthood. The video below explores the failed beginnings of this priesthood along with the hope for a future perfect priest.
Discuss These Questions Together
As we watched the video, what stuck out that we may have not heard or thought of before, or that makes us think in a new or deeper way?
Considering the themes that stuck out, what might they reveal to us about God?
When something sticks out to us, it might be an invitation from God. Based on our discussion, what invitation might God be extending to us individually or to our Community? And how could we lean into this invitation this week? (e.g. meditating each morning on this theme, memorizing a particular scripture, taking time in the middle of our day to be present to God, doing a fast, practicing generosity, etc.)
Extra Time?
If your Community has any extra time, feel free to spend it praying for each other. You could do this many ways, but it could be fun to practice prophetic listening prayer for people in your Community by doing the second part of the “Do These Practices Tonight” section of the Community Guide on Prophecy from the Hearing God series.
Video #1: Exodus 1-18
We recommend working through this Guide in June.
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, take some time to reflect on these words from Exodus 34v5-7, in which God describes himself to Moses:
The Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with Moses and proclaimed his name, Yahweh. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “Yawheh, Yahweh, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished…”
Watch This Video Together
The video below will explore the narrative of the first half of the scroll of Exodus, giving a helpful framework for and understanding of what's going on. Since we'll be teaching through Exodus over about 3 months, this video offers a great snapshot of the context of what's going on.
Discuss These Questions Together
As we watched the video, what stuck out that we may have not heard or thought of before, or that makes us think in a new or deeper way?
Considering the themes that stuck out, what might they reveal to us about God?
When something sticks out to us, it might be an invitation from God. Based on our discussion, what invitation might God be extending to us individually or to our Community? And how could we lean into this invitation this week? (e.g. meditating each morning on this theme, memorizing a particular scripture, taking time in the middle of our day to be present to God, doing a fast, practicing generosity, etc.)
Extra Time?
If your Community has any extra time, feel free to spend it praying for each other. You could do this many ways, but it could be fun to practice prophetic listening prayer for people in your Community by doing the second part of the “Do These Practices Tonight” section of the Community Guide on Prophecy from the Hearing God series.
Hearing God, Pt. 4: God’s Voice in Nature
(Leader’s Note: If possible, consider working through this Guide outside. Whether in someone’s backyard, at a park, or even on a rooftop deck at someone’s apartment, it could aid the Practice tonight to be in nature of some kind.)
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
Throughout history, various parts of nature have been worshiped – the sun that gives light and warmth, the rain that waters and nourishes, the land that provides sustenance and shelter. Watching stormy waves break offshore or the flames of a raging bonfire stirs reflection on the power and majesty they hold. But how much more the One who made it all? Rather than worshiping the creation, the authors of Scripture teach us to worship the One who made it, the Creator. God is not the trees or the sun or the ocean, but God does allow his voice to speak through them. For millennia, creation has moved God’s people to worship of the Creator.
From cover to cover, the Bible speaks of nature and creation worshiping God, declaring his glory, and revealing his voice. In the Psalms, we read that the skies declare God’s glory and his works. Job tells his friends to ask the animals and the earth to teach them about God. Even Jesus tells the Pharisees that if his disciples are quiet, the rocks themselves will cry out. In fact, most of God’s miracles in the Bible interact with creation — Jesus turns water into wine, Moses parts the sea, Elisha uses a stick to heal poisonous water, Jesus uses mud to cure blindness. If we pay close enough attention, God is revealing himself to us through his creation.
Think about the last time you were intentionally outside. There is an aliveness that courses through us, even a hope that begins to grow. What if this is God speaking to us? What if we are hearing God’s voice outside of our early morning quiet time or the Sunday gathering? Perhaps our bodies, brains, and souls are hearing something about God in nature that, even when we’re not aware, causes us to respond accordingly. What could happen in our connection to God if we began to intentionally listen to the natural world around us? What revelation about God’s kingdom and character, big and small, might God be trying to show us?
Do This Practice Tonight
Tonight we are going to sit with Psalm 19, which has something to say about God’s voice in nature, and then we’ll take some time to share our own experiences of God in creation.
To begin, we are going to meditate through Psalm 19, letting the words guide us in how we can allow nature to teach us about what God is like. We have already spent some time during this series exploring how God speaks to us through the Bible, so as we read through this ancient song slowly a few times, pay attention to what sticks out in these verses. As a word or phrase or sentence pops out, stay with it and let it roll and your mind and heart. What might God want you to know about how creation is trying to teach you about him?
Welcome God to Speak – Take a few deep breaths and let your mind and body settle. Take a moment in the quiet to invite the Spirit to speak to you through his Scriptures about his creation.
Let’s Read & Meditate on Psalm 19 – After a moment of silence, we’ll read the passage slowly twice, allowing time in between each reading for us to meditate in silence. It may be helpful to have a different person read each time, so both readers get a chance to hear the Scripture read over them. As we meditate in the quiet, name what sticks out to you. Is it the active role creation plays in worshiping God? Is it that God’s way of living is likened to the sweet taste of honey? Is it the fact that God is called our Rock? What does this ancient song have to teach us about creation? What specifically might God want to speak to you through it?
Thank God for Speaking – As we move on, take just a moment more in the quiet to thank God for speaking to us in his Scriptures about how he speaks to us through his creation.
(Leader’s Note: After another moment, close in prayer and call everyone back together.)
Now let’s spend some time reflecting together. We’ll work through just a few questions together:
What was God saying to you (or teaching you or doing in you) during that meditation on Psalm 19?
What encounters have you had with God in nature before? Where do you feel that “aliveness” in you that wells up by being in God’s creation?
Read The Practice for the Week Ahead
This week’s Practice is pretty simple: Go on a walk with God. Whether at Mt. Tabor Park or in your own backyard, intentionally place yourself alone with God in nature. As you walk, invite God to open all of your senses to what his creation is saying about him. Take time to find 2 or 3 things that may have something to reveal to you about God. Perhaps it’s the smell of a flower or the sight of a tree or the sound of birdsong. Just as we stayed with the word or phrase that stuck out to us from Psalm 19, stay with this whatever seems to be drawing your attention and ask God to speak to you through it. Keep in mind that all of this will likely require you to go slower than you’re used to, so be willing to stop or sit down or linger when you feel God speaking. Take your time and be as present as you’re able. Whenever your time is up, thank God for speaking to you through his creation and make the intention to remember this practice next time you find yourself outside.
Two quick notes. First, this could be a helpful Practice to include in your Sabbath rhythm, especially during the summer – slowly lingering with God in the cathedral of creation, letting him speak to you about who he is. Secondly, this is an incredible Practice to do with children because they tend to be better at paying attention to what we may normally filter out as distractions.
End in Prayer
Leader: Close your time together asking God that we might grow as hearers of his voice.
Hearing God, Pt. 3: The Examen
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
Jesus said that his sheep know his voice. How do we know God’s voice? While there are many tools that can help us along on this journey, one that might not immediately come to mind is the historic practice of the Examen. The Examen – also called “the examination of consciousness” – is a form of prayer in which we take time with God to look back over our day, paying special attention to our felt closeness to God. Where did I feel the closest to God today? and Where did I feel the furthest?
The practice of the Examen has been used for centuries as a way of training oneself to stay tuned into God’s presence. Think back to what was mentioned a few weeks ago in the conversation around the Scriptures: meditating on what God has already said through the pages of the Bible helps us to know what God’s voice sounds like. The Examen functions similarly: looking for God’s closeness in our past day cultivates the ability to more clearly notice where God is at in our present. We begin to more easily recognize what God is up to around us, which helps us to keep in step with the Spirit.
Tonight we will walk through a simple framework for the Examen, taking some time to practice it together.
Do This Practice Tonight
While there have been various frameworks for the Examen over the centuries, the general aim is always the same: to review our day with God, noticing where we felt close to God and where we felt far from him. We’re going to practice this together now. So let’s take a moment for everyone to get comfortable and then we’ll begin. I’ll guide us through the four prompts, giving us space between each, and then we’ll share together after we’re done.
(Leader’s Note: Wait until everyone has settled in, perhaps inviting people to put away phones and other distractions. Invite the Holy Spirit to make you all aware of his presence, and then spend a few moments in silence, letting the Spirit gather you all back to yourselves. Leave somewhere around two minutes between each of the four prompts.)
First, review your day with God. Start from the moment you woke up this morning and reflect through your day up until this moment here. What did you do? What happened to you? What did you feel? Where did you go? Who did you see? What did you get done? What was left undone for another day? What did you say today? What victories did you experience? Where did you feel loss? Let’s take some time to review our days with God.
Next, ask the question: Where did I feel the furthest from God today? Filter back through your day again, this time noticing at which point you felt the furthest from God. And as it comes up, what about that moment made you feel far from God?
Then, ask the question: Where did I feel the nearest to God today? Once more, filter back through your day, this time noticing at which point you felt the closest to God. And as it comes up, what about that moment made you feel near to God?
Finally, in light of your reflections, pray one intercession for tomorrow. Taking stock of what you have noticed through all of this, take a moment to ask God for something for tomorrow. Is there somewhere you need him to intervene? Do you want him to help you pay better attention to your temper? Would it be helpful for the kids’ nap time to go smoother? Spend some time asking God for what you need tomorrow.
(Leader’s Note: Once you’ve given time for the final prompt, close with a quick prayer and invite people to share what that experience was like for them and if anyone wants to share about something God brought up for them.)
Read The Practice for the Week Ahead
This week, each of us is invited to practice the Examen this week. Follow through the prompts above at some point near the end of your day – on your commute home, as you’re doing the dishes, while you’re getting ready for bed, or perhaps even right before you go to sleep. Whenever you choose to do it, remember that repetition forms habit, so try to do it at some point each day this week.
End in Prayer
Leader: Close your time together asking God that we might grow as hearers of his voice.
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.)
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.
Hearing God, Pt. 1: Scripture
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
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.
God & The Whole Person, Pt. 3: Foot Washing
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 read John’s account of the Last Supper in John 13v1-17.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
God & The Whole Person, Pt. 1: Fasting
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 read Psalm 23:
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.
Knowing God, Pt. 4: The Vine
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, read these words from Paul to the church in Philippi.
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.
Knowing God, Pt. 3: The Resurrection & The Life
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, read these words from Paul to the church in Philippi.
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
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.
Knowing God, Pt. 2: The Gate
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, read these words from Paul to the church in Philippi.
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
“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.
Knowing God, Pt. 1: The Bread of Life
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, read these words from Paul to the church in Philippi.
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
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.