Scripture: 1 Kings 3:1-3 & 11:1-4

1. Have you ever had a person you look up to, a Christian leader or model, a father figure or mother figure in your life, fall from grace? How did that affect you?
2. In the book of first and second Kings, the people of Israel grapple with going from a situation of glory to exile. As Will says they were asking questions like, "the real disorienting question, the faith crisis, is how did we get from up there to down here? How exactly did we go from flourishing to ruin? From blessed by God to what feels like cut off from God? Did God fail? Did God stop showing up? Did God pull out of this covenant agreement with us? And if that’s true, what hope can we possibly have here in exile? Have you ever asked any questions like these? 
3. King Solomon went from being a very wise king who followed God to taking many extra wives and going against God's wishes. It is clear what he did wrong but the real question is how did he get there? How do our leaders today or people we look up to get to those places? It is easy to identify that what they are doing is wrong but sometimes harder to see what changed. What kind of things do you think causes these things to happen?
4. How about you - is your life, or is this season of life, headed toward faithfulness, fruitfulness, and flourishing or are you on an unsustainable pace? Is it hard to see how you continue on in this pace, or this way of living? Do you anticipate a crisis, a crash coming? If not now have you been in a place before where that was the case? Take a minute to reflect on your own over these questions, then share if you feel comfortable. 
5. Read the scripture for today. If you aren't as familiar with the history of Kings or what is happening, take a minute to look into the background behind it or listen to a member of your group who can summarize it. What do you note in the scripture and Kings? How could scripture like this be relevant to our lives today?
6. "The story of kings is more than a genealogy of kings -- it’s a genealogy of the heart. It’s giving us a story of how hearts that at one time are fully devoted, wholly devoted to God, to justice, to mercy, to loving their neighbors are slowly compromised, weakened, and ultimately falter. Heart failure isn’t caused overnight. A leader’s fall from grace is not a random whoopsie." What do you think of this? How have you seen this play out in the lives of those you thought of earlier who fell from grace in your eyes? What about in your own life? What small things can lead to major "heart failure" in terms of devotion to God?
7. "The message of Kings is that the fall from grace is NOT God’s fault. It’s not that the mantle of leadership was too heavy for God’s grace and strength. It’s not that God stopped showing up. It was habitual inattention to the health of the heart that led to undoing." What things in our lives do we sometimes attribute to God failing when the reality is the source of those thing may lie in other places?
8. Matthew 6:21 says, "“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”" Where do you think your heart is now, and how are you tending to it? What behaviors might you need to stop or how might you be dividing your attention in a way that is causing you not to leave space for God? 

Scripture: 1 Kings 17

1. Do you feel like you're in a place where things are bad and just keep getting worse? Or have you ever been in that place?
2. Have you ever dug yourself so deep into a situation that you felt like you were on your own to fix it? How have you felt in those situations? What did you do next? In those moments it can feel like God isn't even there, have you ever felt that?
3. Our scripture today starts after things have only gotten worse for the Israelites, but deals with the question of what to do with that place and where God is at such times. Take a few minutes to read it. Highlight what stands out/you notice as well as any questions you have. Take some time to discuss them. 
4. While in the wilderness Elijah receives tender care from some ravens sent by God. Becky points out, "It’s important to note how important remembering this tender provision would be to God’s people reading about it in exile. It’s like when you go through a horrific time and God felt so absent, but then looking back, you see all the small graces, how you never would have made it through if that friend hadn’t shown up that day, or that check hadn’t arrived in the mail." Have you ever had an experience like that? Where in retrospect you noticed small graces you hadn't before during a hard time. If so share about it!
5. "What does all this tell us? That even in the middle of this hard, harsh, violent, lonely, seemingly godless world of 1st & 2nd Kings, there is this God who shows up. Not where anyone expects. Not in the power center, not under the flashing lights, not with brute force or a loud, domineering voice, but with tender compassion, with gentle nurture, with the intimate presence and care of a God continuing to make a way where there seemed to be no way." What are your expectations for God in difficult situations vs. how have you really seen God show up? What do you think of the idea of intimate presence being one of the primary ways God cares for us? And that as happens in 1 Kings 19, God speaks not in a powerful wind, earthquake or fire, but a "gentle whisper?"
6. God is always right where God promised to be, here, with us. God is always working in us and in our lives, just like God promised to do. The question is: do we have eyes to see it? Are we paying attention? Do you think you pay attention to such things? How can you be more attentive to God's presence?

Scripture: 2 Kings 4:1-10

1. Why do you think many churches have closed/ the church has lost a lot of popularity lately?
2. Kings is a confusing narrative in certain ways, starting and ending in destruction and the failures of ruelrs and the temple. 2 Kings 24:2 says, "The Lord sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders against (the king) to destroy Judah, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by his servants the prophets.” This adds to the confusion because God sent and allowed, others to come in and destroy Judah. Why do you think God would allow that? Does this line up with your picture of God or seem at odds with it? 
3. 2 Kings 24:3-4 says “Surely these things happened to Judah according to the Lord’s command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive.” Will says, "Why did Jerusalem fall and Solomon’s legacy end? It’s not because God didn’t show up, not because God failed. God actually says, ‘I allowed it to happen! I let your riches be taken away, I let your national and religious institutions crumble... as a consequence for your failure to do justice." What do you think of this? What failures of ours to we attribute to God when perhaps we didn't care for what was given us in the first place? 
4. In a way God said, "‘I didn’t leave. My presence is right here among you! But having a building dedicated to my name doesn’t mean a thing if you don't honor my image in the people around you. If you don’t protect the innocent and care for the weak." We just had the grand opening for our building. How can we work to make it a place where we do as God wants? 
5. Read the scripture for today. What do you notice? It is one of multiple examples in Kings of miracles that are ultimately about protecting or providing for those who need it. "In other words, it’s godly power used to create a more just and flourishing community - where neighbors, even outsiders, are loved, protected, cared for, and valued for being the image-bearers of God that they are." What are ways you personally or we as a church fail to do the same? How can we work to change that? How can we make our church one in whcih God's presence is found in large part through the promotion of justice inside our walls?

Scripture: Mark 2:1-5

1. In what has been a year where one of the only constants has been nonstop changes, how are you feeling going into the fall?
2. How can the reminder that God never changes be a comfort to you and others right now? What does it mean to you?
3. If you had to pick the most important Highrock or church values, what values would be on that list?
4. How would you define hospitality? When you think of showing or receiving good hospitality what comes to mind? 
5. Take a minute to read the scripture. What stands out to you? What can be learned about hospitality from this passage?
6. Will points out about crowds, "crowds can be so big that they encourage me-first, consumeristic behavior. They have a way of catering to the loudest voices while eclipsing the perspective and needs of the particular person. Crowds have a way of catering to the pushiest, most selfish people while pushing away those who are unwilling to or don’t have the ability to push to the front." Have you ever felt lost in a crowd? Or pushed to the back of a crowd?
7. Will points out that in the church we often have the same problems as crowds. We create barriers to people feeling welcome when we are meant to do the opposite. What are some barriers in the church to hospitality? 
8. "Someone may visit or journey with our community and have a different perspective than you. Or they might have a question…or doubts. Or they might be from a different kind of faith box, or political box, or whatever box than you. They might be from a different ethnic background than you. Or maybe they don’t identify as a believer in Jesus. Maybe you think there’s parts of their life that are spiritually questionable, even unacceptable." Bearing this in mind, how can YOU practice hospitality to all people and how can we as a church community do better?

Scripture: Matthew 14:22-36

1. What are everyday situations or areas of your life where you find it hard to be honest? Or maybe feel like people don't want honesty from you to begin with? Do you have a hard time being honest when you're struggling?
2. Have you ever felt like your life was falling apart in some way, and yet people you considered friends or close to you weren't being supports to you?
3. Sometimes as Christians we deflect from how we're really honestly feeling. For example, have you ever been with Christians in really scary or painful circumstances and instead of acknowledging it, they’re like, “Let’s just trust God! God has a plan! Where God closes a door, God opens a window!” How did this feel at the time? These sayings can have their place, but what are some of the challenges that come with them?
4. Take a minute to read the scripture. What stands out to you? What emotions are being felt and expressed in this passage? What can you learn about honesty from it?
5. Becky says, "Peter spoke honestly about what was actually in his heart, and because he did, Peter had the chance to learn that Jesus can take it! Take our baggage, our doubts, even our stupidity. He learned that wherever we're coming from, whether we're up or down, Jesus is unchanging. Jesus is constant. Jesus is faithful to catch us when we fall, and then, to send us on our way, more whole and more free, more like the people God made us to be. It's this faithfulness of God's grace that frees us to be honest!" How can God's constant faithfulness change how you approach hard situations? Is there an invitation for you for further honesty in this message?
6. Unfortunately, despite church being meant to be a place where we come as we are good and bad, it so often is not that. Why do you think that is? What are some particular topics or issues that come to mind where you think the church can feel like an unsafe place to be honest?
7. As Becky says, "We believe that we grow not in a context of condemnation, where you have to be dishonest in order to be accepted. Rather we grow in the context of compassion and grace, where you can be totally honest and know that you will be loved, accepted, and respected for who you are, and who you are becoming. We want to be a community where it’s okay to have weaknesses, struggle, and be afraid! We want to be like a safety net that catches one another, and shows grace to one another, on the journey of faith. Where it’s okay not to be people who dazzle on walk on water, but to take risks and fail." How do you think our church can be more like this community? What would it look like for you to be a part of that/what is an area of your life where you could be more honest?

Scripture: Matthew 18:1-5

1. How do you think about/how would you define humility?
2. What are ways in which Christians often lack humility?
3. Often Christians try to answer all the questions that come up with Christianity, not to genuinely wrestle with them but to "defend the faith." What are some of the problems with this? In what ways does acting this way actually lack humility?
4. On this kind of Christian defensiveness and use of knowledge, Will says the following, "It’s no wonder an entire generation of youth believe that doubts and questions disqualify them from belonging and believing. And when it’s not theological pedigree, it can be an impressive spiritual resume. ‘Show us all the amazing things you do and we can certify that you have genuine faith. Or prove your faithfulness with your big donation. These things must really prove you’re in with God, and in with God’s people.’" Have you ever seen this kind of behavior/thinking in the church? What ways have you had any of the above mentalities at different points in your faith journey?
5. Take a minute to read the scripture for today. How does it make you feel? What stands out to you? How does this passage flip some of the common modes of thinking Christians employ which were mentioned above?
6. While in our regular lives we grow up to be more physically and emotionally mature, catching up to the adults we once depended on, our spiritual lives are different. "In fact, the greatest spiritual problem, according to Jesus, is thinking we have grown up and now can figure out life on our own, trusting our own merits, our own wisdom. The true arc of spiritual maturity is learning that I never grow out of childhood when it comes to my relationship with God! The real wisdom of age is that I need to become more and more like a child before God!" What do you think of this? What would it take for you to become more "like a child before God"? Is the idea of that challenging or hard for you in some way?
7. Humility isn't about thinking we aren't great or gifted and thus depend on God, but rather recognizing we are finite and have a God who is bigger and greater than we could ever imagine. Highrock defines humilty as the following, "Awed by God’s grandeur and mystery, we depend on God fully while holding convictions humbly." How can we practice and embody that in our life together?

Scripture: Matthew 7:7-8

1. As kids we're unafraid to ask many questions, when we get older though we often stop asking questions. What do you think are some reasons for this?
2. Becky says curiosity increases intimacy and helps our relationships with God and others to grow. How do you think this is true? Can you think of examples?
3. Jesus, despite knowing so much, still frequently started conversations by asking questions. Why do you think that is? How can we emulate it?
4. Take a minute to read the scripture. What stands out to you/what do you think these verses mean for your life?
5. Curiosity can be a scary thing, in large part because once we start opening certain doors we can be afraid of what we might find. "Many traditions, theologians, and even psychologists have talked about this, how growth often requires some form of disorientation along the way. St. John of the Cross talked about the “dark night of the soul,” where God feels silent and distant. But as painful as it is, this experience of “darkness,” it can lead us from a more simplistic knowledge about God to deeper union with God." Have you ever experienced that? Like somehow through a really painful time when God felt far away, you ended up encountering God in profound ways.
6. Our curiosity shouldn't be thought of as a lack of faith but rather a desire to know more about God. What's a time you had a doubt or wondered something about God and explored it? How did it help/where did that journey lead?
7. What is something you are curious about right now that might be helpful to express with those around you or explore more?

Scripture: Philippians 2:3-8

1. What comes to mind when you hear the word solidarity? What feelings does it conjure up for you?
2. Phyllis says, "Solidarity is a coming together-- a unifying of two people or groups - that is not necessarily based on thinking the same things or looking the same way. It's a unity formed through action! The action of treating someone else's debts as your own. Of taking on someone else's burdens as your own. Treating their obligation as your obligation." How does this definition make you feel? How is this different from many of the surface level acts of solidarity we often see or commit too? Have you seen or experienced true solidarity like this? 
3. Take a minute to read the scripture for today. What stands out to you? What invitation might be in it for you? 
4. What do you think is the purpose of the church when it comes to solidarity?
5. Phyllis identifies three "c's" when it comes to showing solidarity in the way Jesus did. The first is showing solidarity consistently--to all people and groups. Jesus didn't pick and choose people who he found harder to love, but gave his life for all people. Sometimes the church and sometimes we pick and choose. We need to take an honest look at ourselves and to see where we might be inconsistent in our love. Whose life do we see not as valuable as our own? This is an uncomfortable question, but try to wrestle in humility with it, if you feel comfortable sharing please do! If that is too much, who in general does the church seem not to value as highly? Or society?
6. True solidarity is also costly. Dominique Gilliard in his new book “Subversive Witness,” says this about solidarity: “This requires humbly emptying ourselves and forsaking opportunities that exclusively benefit us and our biological family to pursue matters that further the kingdom and benefit our neighbors.” Often we show surface level acts of solidarity that take very little from us. What are some more costly ways you could show real solidarity, but perhaps have refrained from doing often out of personal inconvenience? 
7. Finally, solidarity is a catalyst. As Phyllis says, "Solidarity causes us to change. It is a catalyst to helping us deepen our relationship with Christ and with one another. It moves us from being individuals to being a community. It gives meaning when we call one another siblings in our baptismal family. It gives us the courage and the opportunity to say to Christ and then to one another, “Wherever you go, I will go. Your people will be my people. Wherever you die, I will die.” Have you ever seen this kind of change? Take a minute and pray about how God may be inviting you to show solidarity in a deeper, more life-altering way. If you are comfortable share what you prayed and thought about with those around you. Think through how we as a church can show greater solidarity. 

Scripture: Exodus 3:1-4

1. In general, are you the type of person who feels a lot of certainty on things or the type who can never make up your mind? 
2. Can you think of a time where you met a person, read a book, took a class, or traveled to a new place that revealed to you the limits of your own knowledge?  
3. Will says, "I’d suggest instead that the real goal of knowing God is loving intimacy. The reason God created us is so we could receive God’s love and we could offer love to God in return. Of course, in a relationship where loving intimacy is the goal, knowledge does play a role, but it’s NOT about gaining certainty." What do you think this means? What is it about if not certainty?
4. Read the scripture for today, what stands out to you? What invitation is there in it for you?
5. Moses responds to God’s strange act of self-revelation with neither a posture of absolute certainty or relative indifference; instead, he responds with curiosity! What are ways you could respond to God with more curiosity than certainty?
6. Will asks the question, "How do we at once honor God’s infinite mystery and our finite limitations, while also honoring all the ways God has chosen to share God’s self with us?" one way he answers that is the following, "we need to put God’s self-revelation in Jesus, as witnessed to in the Scriptures, at the center of our quest to know God, but we also recognize that I’m also interpreting Scriptures from a finite, limited perspective." What do you think about this? What are some of the ways your persepctve on God may be limited or clouded in a way that causes you to refuse to see other aspects of God or other understandnings of God in different contexts?
7. Where are you? Do you tend toward certainty about what you know? Or have you given up the possibility of knowing anything? What's a step you might take toward cultivating and practicing curiosity in your life, in your relationship to God and to God’s people?

Scripture: Luke 19:1-10​

1. What are times or situations where you felt out of place/unwelcome?
2. Church is supposed to be a place "where we can be free to be ourselves–where even in times of great vulnerability and self-hatred – we can feel safe and embraced wholly" yet so often it feels like the opposite--whether we just feel like we need to be on our absolute best behavior, or there is something about our identity itself that doesn't feel welcomed. Are there times where you have had this experience with church? If you are comfortable please share.
3. Take a minute to read the scripture for today. What stands out to you? What can you learn from Jesus' example? What about Zacchaeus' example?
4. Phyllis did an excercise during the sermon, which we invite you to do again right now: "Stop for a moment and close your eyes. Imagine that Jesus is calling out your name. Jesus sees you. Everything about you-- there is nothing hidden from Jesus. And despite whatever the people around you might be saying--maybe they are grumbling like those in our passage today and they are saying, “He has gone to be the guest of the one who is a sinner,”-- Jesus is still calling out your name. Loudly and boldly, Jesus is calling your name. You can open your eyes now." How did that feel? Did anythign come up for you? What does it mean that Jesus dees and makes space for you exactly as you are?
5. This space isn't meant to just be kept for ourselves, yet often we aren't great at inclusion for others. Phyllis says, "We want people to feel at home in Christ, but when we make it all about people coming to us, then anyone who has ever felt excluded is going to feel the pressure to fit in. The work is all on the person who may feel excluded to work hard at trying to be included. The story of Jesus and Zacchaeus transforms how we think about that! Jesus did not wait for Zacchaeus to meet him at the synagogue or on his terms, but like the father who ran to his prodigal son, Jesus went to Zacchaeus." What do you think of this? Is there a challenge in it for you? What are the ways you expect others to come to you rather than going to them?
6. What are ways the church is not inclusive and who are the people who come to mind for you that often end up excluded? 
7. There are often barriers we experience in trying to make the church a more inclusive space/be more inclusive people. What ones come to mind for you--whether they are walls you yourself have built for a sense of comfort, or ones that are outside of you and have existed for a long time? 
8. Take a moment to consider the ways Jesus has included you. What images of Jesus come to mind that make you feel that sense of belonging and inclusion? What stories of Jesus have highlighted that for you? Now think of ways that you could offer inclusion and a sense of home for someone in your life who may feel excluded. Who is that person that you can be home to? What can you do to make that person feel included?

Scripture: John 3: 1-8

1. What is a "spiritual concept" you picked up sometime in life thinking they were truths, that you later had to rethink and replace when you realized some of the flaws in it?
2. When you hear the term "born again" what associations come to mind?
3. There are many uses to the term "born again" but often it has been thought of or described as being rooted in a one-time, dramatic conversion experience where everything changed. Many would say you can’t see the kingdom of God, heaven is not your home, God is not in the business of redeeming your life, the door to eternity is closed unless you are born again." What are some potential problems you think might arise with thinking about conversion and being "born again" in this way? These could be problems you personally have experienced or seen others experience, or just ones you can imagine coming up for people!
4. Pastor Will gave the following two reasons for why the topic of being "born again" always stressed him out when he was younger-- "One, I couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment of my spiritual rebirth. Two, even if I did start to think, maybe it was that time I said that prayer or had that special spiritual experience, they just didn’t seem dramatic enough, or profound enough, and whatever “change” I felt didn’t seem lasting enough." Essentially, he developed a massive case of imposter syndrome. What do you think of this? Have you ever felt similarly? What might need to change in this line of thinking/what advice would you give a young Will?
5. The "born again" idea often comes with a massive amount of shame for people, when it isn't true to their experience or the "life-changing" effects of their conversion experience don't seem to last. The scripture though is more complicated than what it is often reduced to. Take a minute to read it, what context or details do you see that give a more nuanced way to look at this passage? Pastor Will also says, "In Greek, the word “anothen” has a double meaning - it can mean “again” or it can mean “from above.” So the passage could be translated “born again” or “born from above."" How might this translation, in addition to the other details you notice, offer a different approach to this passage than one that leads to feelings of shame and imposter syndrome?
6. Jesus’ focus is not on the precise when of the second birth described, but the who of this second birth! Your other mother - the Holy Spirit, who can't be put in a box or prescribed but works in many different ways in each person but rather blows where it pleases. Essentially, "God knows the right ways and right times to work in YOUR LIFE - and it probably won’t be the exact same as what I’ve experienced, or what your parents experienced, or what your friends experienced." Our journey with God is just that--a journey with ups and downs and differences from one person to another. How does this way of thinking about the Spirit and transformation change things for you? How does it make you feel? What further questions does it bring up?

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17-20

1. In Sunday School growing up, Becky was taught a specific atonement theory about how God's anger needed to be satisfied or appeased through a propitiation. Have you ever been taught something similar? What was the primary metaphor for atonement that you were taught?
2. "Insecure attachment is what happens when parents or caregivers either don't respond to their child's needs, or only respond sporadically." What about the atonement theology Becky grew up with contributed to a sense of insecure attachment with God? Reflect on your own spiritual and theological journey with God. Have you ever experienced spiritual insecure attachment? 
3. Becky shared the story of Swedish Covenant theologian P.P. Waldenstrom who re-examined scriptures like 2 Corinthians 5:17-20. Read over this scripture together. What are all the things this passage says about 'atonement' or 'reconciliation'?
4. Read this quote by Waldenstrom:  "it was not God who through this offering was to be appeased; it was man who through the same was to be made righteous--an action which was necessary if he were to be saved. For it was on man's side (in his sin) where the obstacle lay. It was man alone, and not God, who fell from goodness on the day of the Fall. It was man who became God's enemy and turned away from God, and not God who became man's enemy and turned away from man. No, when man went away as God's enemy, then God loved him so much that he in Christ went after him to remove, not God's wrath, but man's sin. When God, therefore, gave his only begotten Son, he did it not in order to find a person on whom he might satisfy his wrath so that he might be able to love the world, but in order to find a person through whom he might save man, the fallen child, whom he unchangeably loved, because he is love." How would you summarize Waldenstrom's point? What resonates in this quote with you?
5. Reading Waldenstrom invited Pastor Becky to think about the sacrifice of Jesus in terms of cleansing or expiation. What did Becky mean by this? What scripture verses or passages come to your mind about these themes?
6. The early church often described the atonement in terms of sickness and healing. Becky used the metaphor of sin as a cancer and Christ's sacrificial self-offering as a kind of chemotherapy that injects healing and new life into our lives. What resonated with you about this metaphor?
7. Understanding the atonement in a way where God's love is consistent and constant has helped Becky grow in secure attachment to God. What has helped foster security in your relationship with God's love? What are some things, maybe spiritual practices or theological adjustments, that you need to implement in order to grow in your security that God's love for you in unchanging?

Scripture: Psalm 58

1. There are a lot of implicit and explicit messages in the church about what emotions are more acceptable to express and which are not. Have you ever received these messages about certain emotions? If so which ones and how? 
2. How do you usually feel when you see people getting worked-up or angry? 
3. Take a minute to read Psalm 58. Name honestly how it makes you feel and why, what questions does it bring-up for you? 
4. Walter Bruggeman classifies the Psalms into two general categories—Psalms of orientation and Psalms of disorientation. The Psalms of orientation are joyous and praise God, acknowledging and thanking God for all that is beautiful and right in this world. The Psalms of disorientation though, acknowledge all that is wrong and broken in this world. Honestly naming the ways in which our experiences aren’t just what is beautiful and whole, but also what is not right, not as things should be. The psalms of lament and the psalms of anger both do this. Both types of psalms, those of orientation and disorientation are ways to worship God. They are honest before God and show a deeper level of trust in God through being able to express all our emotions just as they are and still name God as our King. What do you think of this? How do you tend to think of worship? Is it hard to imagine worshipping God through anger and saddness? What might it look like to do so?
5. Mary says that "In a way, the speaker is choosing the least violent option with their anger in the face of the intense injustice they are experiencing--relinquishing control over what happens to God. They know God is loving and won't do anything they ask if it is wrong to do so. This psalm is an attempt, in the face of extreme helplessness, to suppress the human desire for violence, and instead surrender everything to God—a God whose word of judgment is universally just." Do you think you are honest about your anger before God? What are ways you could surrender more of your anger to God and name it all honestly?
6. In Ephesians 4:26 Paul says, “Be angry, but in your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun set upon your anger.” While it isn't wrong to be angry or inherently bad to express that anger, we are still responsible for our actions when we are angry. What are some healthy ways to express anger? What are some challenges in doing so?
7. Some unhealthy tendencies we have when expressing anger or either to "bottle-up" (never expressing our anger and instead build-up resentments or act passive aggressive) or "blowing-up" (exploding with all our anger at once in unkind/uncaring ways). Which do you tend to do? What next steps could you take in changing some of how you express your anger?
8. When we express our anger in honest ways, we can work through it rather than hold onto it. How might we make more spaces in the church and in our relationships for loving expressions of anger?

Scripture: Matthew 17: 1-9

1. As we mature as disciples of Jesus, learn together in the community of God’s people, and the Holy Spirit speaks to us through the Scriptures-- it is good practice to re-examine and reevaluate those things we’ve picked up and held onto and discover new truths that replace old ideas. This is an important thing to do so we don't limit ourselves and God. What are some practices or ideas you've needed to reevaluate over the years?
2. What is your current understanding of worship, or the one you grew up with? In what ways might they be limited?
3. Take a minute to read the scripture. What stands out to you? What understandings about worship could you take from this passage?
4. One of the modes of thinking Travis fell into while young was that worship was conditional based on one's surroundings-- "real worship" required more and a special environment with the best songs after a week of being a "good follower of Jesus." Have you fallen into this mode of thought before? What about chruch culture do you think reinforces this? 
5. One of the problems with this mode of thinking is that it leads you to be a worship critic rather than worshipper--analyzing how logistically good a worship service was rather than just focusing on God. Another problem is we stop using our own words and let the songs or the service do it all for us (not bad to some degree but damaging over time). Think about how you worship? Have you ever been there? What could you do about it?
6. In the scripture nothing is actually happening that would indicate that a sacred and supernatural event is about to occur… there’s just Jesus. But it is Jesus. As Travis says, "that’s the invitation for us today: to set aside what we think we know, to let go of our preferences, our preconceived notions of what should be, and to humbly, honestly and vulnerably allow Christ to reveal himself to us." When you engage in worship, who do you see? How can you worship in different ways, that help you just see Jesus?
7. "A real barrier to this can be our own fear of what will happen if we actually engage with and enter God’s presence because we’re terrified of what God will see in us--our doubts, failures, hidden darkness, rejection of God, rejection of others, and our rejection of ourselves." Which of these fears resonate with you? Read Matthew 17:7-8. What invitation is there for you in these words?

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:6-10

1. Have you ever felt the pressure to be really "awesome" at one thing? How have you seen that pressure expressed in our culture or in the church?
2. Pastor Will shared how he avoided activities or quit classes that revealed his weaknesses. Can you think of times where you avoided your weaknesses?
3. Read over 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verses 1 through 10. Paul's authority in the church has been challenged by so-called "super apostles" who impressed everyone with their spiritual strengths. What stood out to you most about these verses?
4. Will suggested that a strengths-based spirituality can lead to two problems: (a) it can lead to self-reliance and (b) it can lead us to abdicating our responsibilities to love others. What did Will mean by these two things? Which of these two do you relate to more? Can you share an example?
5. Unlike those who boasted in their strengths, Paul says he will boast - even delight - in his weaknesses because it leads him to a greater dependence on God's grace and power. Can you think of a time where you felt weak and inadequate and it led you to a deeper encounter with Jesus?
6. "God delights in working through our weaknesses! The promise ISN’T that God will only call us to do things we’re strong at. The promise is that God’s grace is SUFFICIENT for the things God DOES call you to!" Where in your life right now do you need to cling to and apply that promise?
7. When Paul is settting up the theology of his letters to the Corinthians, he says, "the weakness of God is stronger than human strength" (1 Cor 1:25). What does that mean to you?
8. What's an area of weakness that you might stop avoiding and instead embrace this summer?

Scripture: John 15:9-14

1. Pastor Becky describes a pattern in her life, that is also encouraged by the church, to keep giving herself away until there's nothing left. What did she mean by this? Can you relate to this pattern, or do you have someone in your life who could be described by that pattern?
2. Becky compared how most traditional theology, written by men, naturally focuses on the sin of pride, selfishness, and an "over-inflated sense of self." She has found it helpful to also look at her life and scriptures from a female perspective where the primary struggle is with an "under-developed sense of self." She described it as "shame about everything I’m not, and a blind sort of compulsion to become somebody through giving to others." What do you think about this distinction? Which struggle resonates more with you and the story of your life?
3. John 10:17-18 helped Becky interpret Jesus' call to lay down your lives in John 15. Read over those verses in John 10. What do you think Jesus' point is?
4. Reflect on the gospels. Can you think of ways that Jesus laid his life freely as opposed to compulsively? 
5. Our series is about truths that transform. Here is how Becky describes the truth that transformed her: "the truth is, rather than blind self-sacrifice, rather than endless self-emptying, Jesus invites us to a witting and wise self-determination to love, to love everyone, myself included! To love myself as Christ loved me, and to love you because I choose to!" What resonates with you about this truth?
6. Jesus does not command us to "Love your neighbor and forget yourself," but to "love your neighbor as yourself." What does following this command mean for you? What are healthy ways that you can love yourself that fill you with life and give you a capacity to love others?
7. Becky suggests that one helpful criteria for discerning whether she is giving of herself freely versus a blind self-sacrifice is by identifying the joy involved in the act of self-giving. She lifts up Jesus' example in Hebrews 12:2. She shares the example of giving birth to her children. Can you think of times where your choice to sacrifice of yourself was guided by joy? Where's a place in your life where your serving and giving has become difficult or joyless - how might you need to adjust or approach things differently to recover a sense of freedom and joy? 

Scripture: Ephesians 1:3-14

1. What are your associations with the idea of predestination? How do you generally think of/define it? How do you feel about it?
2. Take a minute to read the scripture? What are your honest reactions to it? What stands out to you? 
3. One of the biggest problems with thinking of God as having "chose some but not others" is that it can all seem very arbitrary. Often we're presented with these kinds of images of God and told not to question it. Has the image of an arbitrary God cast its shadow over your faith journey?
4. When it comes to predestination, but also many other theological ideas, the image of God can seem confusing and Jesus is often thrown in as an afterthought. Theologian Karl Barth called out the problem in this by saying that he reason we’ve gone so off the tracks with our theology is that we start with some abstract concept of a God and then paste Jesus onto it later. Can you think of other examples of this? 
5. When we start our theology with Jesus--and not separating Jesus from God, we come to a different realization. Will says, "To say “God chose us in Christ,” is to say God chose, from the beginning of time, at the very depths of God’s own being to be wholly and completely for us! In fact, God is so for us, that far from choosing mercy for some over here and judgment for others over here -- in Jesus, God chooses personally take upon himself the consequences of all the world’s sin, even to the point to shedding his blood on the cross and descending into hell itself, so that humanity itself might be reconciled to God, raised to eternal glory with Jesus!" Reread and think about that for a minute. How does it make you feel? What does it give you to think about?
6. "The real mystery is not the nature of God’s will and choice; the gospel is that God is a God who is for us! The real mystery, the real drama of the story, is whether each one of us will wake up! The real mystery of the Bible is not on the side of God’s will; but on the side of our human will, and the ways we can stubbornly resist the direction God is bringing us even when the Spirit is working overtime to bring us along!" Can you think of how this has been true in your own life or in the lives of those around you?
7. Barth also says, while the church cannot promise a universal salvation with any kind certainty, we can have hope in the fact that God’s mercy and grace revealed in Jesus extend far beyond what we ask or imagine! Because we know who God is from the beginning of the story, we can always hold hope for the end of the story! What are some of your hopes for salvation, based on knowing who God is?

Scripture: Revelations 2:1-5

1. Generally speaking, do you like to stay where you’re comfortable, or do you like a challenge?
2. Have you ever hustled so hard that you lost your love for something? Maybe love of a sport or love of your job. Maybe love of an important person in your life?
3. Take a minute to read the scripture for today-- what stands out to you? What do you think is meant in verses 4-5? In what ways have you been like the people in this scripture?
4. "At first, the Ephesians didn’t follow Jesus just to earn or prove anything- they just followed Jesus as a response to God’s love! They followed him because they loved him! They had so much joy in the good news that God chose us that they couldn't help but choose God!" Do you remember that first love? What it’s like to live out of the fullness of God’s love?
5. Becky says the following about when she made the choice to quit/step back from basketball in high school, "It taught me and it reminded me that my wholeness as a person is more important than the hustle. That what God wants for me is not stress and pressure and trying harder, but to be whole, to be happy." This isn't to say we don;t have to work hard as Christians but that work should also lead to flourishing. How do you know when it is time to step back from things in your life? How can you tell what acts lead to flourishing in your life as a Christians, and which ones have become more about "the hustle"?
6. "Being a Christian is about laying down the hustle and receiving the love and affirmation and promises of God. It’s about the fact that you already are someone, even varsity-worthy!" We see this in Jesus' baptism which he did before anything in his ministry--accepting and embracing God's love, who said, "This is my son, with him I am well-pleased.” Take a moment and think about that statement. What does baptism mean to you? If you've been baptized, share about it! How can you embrace more the affirmation that God is well-pleased with you?

Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:14-17

1. What does your relationship with the Bible look like? How do you understand its truthfullness and value in your life?
2. Have you heard or even grown up with a description of the Bible as innerrant (without error)? What are the questions this idea brings up? What are the natural tensions or challenges you might feel with such a description? 
3. For some background, the emergence of the doctrine on Biblical inneracy was in the context of the rise of modern science, this presented challenges to parts of the Bible never observed in science, "Soon the Bible is not the story of the world, but a handful of feel-good fables about how we can have a relationship with a higher power that makes us into loving people." In response many Christians reaacted by asserting that the Bible was our "textbook" and innerant. Many theologians proposed everything in the Bible was fact, and if there was a single thing wrong that meant nothing in the Bible could be trusted. What do you make of these conflicts? Have you seen these tensions or this "either-or" mentality when it comes to the Bible? 
4. The thing is, if we're really using the Bible as a textbook...it might just be the worst textbook of all time! The Bible at times tells it's own stories differently (such as the creation story or stories of King David and King Solomon or the Gospels themselves). At other points instructions contradict themselves and Jesus challenges previous scriptures. Can you think of examples of this you've noted in the Bible that have perhaps causes questions for you before?
5. There are ways in which, insisting on the Bible's ineerancy makes God seem unreliable and inconsistant. In trying to claim an absolute trust in the Bible through presenting it as a textbook, inerrancy has actually held the Bible to a system in which it looks really untrustworthy! innerency imposes a concept of truth on the Bible (borrowed from modern science) that is foreign to the Bible itself. As Will says, "The truth of Jesus, and the truth of God, are different in kind than the truth of a blade of grass being green." What do you think of these distinctions? What kinds of truths are the Bible trying to tell that are different?  
6. Will poses the question, "If the reality of God, at every turn, is the reality of a being that brings together opposites and contradictions in a beautiful yet mysterious way that explodes our textbook logic at every turn, is it any surprise that the story that claims to be inspired - and breathed - by that God to give witness to the identity and actions of that God is not a singular book that lists out a set of logically consistent propositions, but instead a set of 66 diverse books that together tell a single story while trading in multiple perspectives and angles that are at times in tension and even contradiction with one another?" How does this explanation change how you view the Bible? How should it change how we read and treat the Bible? What does it offer us to have this more complex and intricate understanding to the Bible?
7. Instead of looking at God and the Bible as a textbook, we could start looking at God as a melody, a great fugue-- a living movement of melodic counterpoints each elaborating on one subject woven together in beautiful harmony. Errors and contradictions in the Bible can thus be expected as counterpoints which sound different but contribute to one distinct, more beautiful whole. We should explore contradictions instead of putting God in a box. Think of contradictions or errors you've found in the Bible, what are examples of how thinking of scripture as mroe of a symphony, could change how you understand these parts?
8. What are the unique overrarching messages you find in scripture even when individual parts or scripture trips you up? What have you learned about the melody of God from these messages and how can that inform how you live your life? 

Scripture: Luke 15

1. Read the scripture for today, what are some of the things this parable makes you feel? Who do you identify with in it?
2. What are some situations in which you felt like you were/are being treated unfairly? Are there situations where you were held accountable while someone else wasn't? 
3. Do you ever feel like you're competing in faith? Like if you work harder than everyone else or do the right things God will approve of and bless you more? What are some pitfalls of continuously thinking this way?
4. Travis identified three things he learned about selfishness from the parable above--"selfishness undermines my relationships, selfishness warps my perspective, and selfishness disconnects me from God's heart." Go through each of this, what are times where this has been your experience? What are ways in which you may currently being selfish and what might it look like for your relationships and perspective to start shifting that selfishness?
5. What drives your identity and who determines your value? 
6. Read Romans 8:38-39. God and the father in the parable model grace as an invitation to celebration rather than something to be envious of. How can the love they model change our actions and how we feel about things? What invitation is there for you in this message? 

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:12-20

1. Do you tend to think of your faith as more of an individual, personal thing or something communal? How does whichever it is play out in your life and spiritual practices?
2. Phyllis discovered that while she often thought being made in the image of God meant each individual reflects God themselves, its actually a bigger picture than that, "I came to realize that when God was creating humankind, God made ALL of humankind - collectively - in God’s image. This means that together we make up and reflect the image of God. Each of us as individuals are part of the mosaic that makes up that beautiful collective likeness of God." What do you think of this? How does this way of thinking about things change how we do things as believers?
3. Phyllis also says that in thinking about God and salvation in individualistic ways, she started to do the following, "Without realizing it, I had crafted God and my salvation into my own personal image. Without realizing it, I expected everyone to worship like me, know Christ like me, hear the Gospel like me…This individualism can lead us to remake Jesus into our own image." WHat are ways you have remade Jesus into your own image? 
4. Take a minute to read the scripture for today. What stands out to you? What invitation might there be for you in this passage?
5. One of the drawbacks of individulism is it can make us think unity is uniformity. Have you ever seen this? What about the opposite--unity found in and among differences/diversity?
6. We were not made to be just for ourselves. We were made to be for one another in Christ. How will you live this truth out this week--this month-- this year?

Scripture: Isaiah 42:13-15

1. What is something throughout this series (or recently in your life) where you realized God was more than you thought?
2. Have you ever heard God referred to as "she"? How does that feel for you? Uncomfortable? Exciting? Something else?
3.  If we’re comfortable talking about God with the personal pronoun “he,” when God is Spirit and more than a human, why does thinking and praying to God as “she” sound strange?
4. “Male” designations are often the default, just habitually, culturally. And the default is usually determined in a culture by those who are doing the defining, those with authority (similar to how we sometimes think of others as having accents when we ourselves have them too)! In Biblical translations terms meant to refer to everyone have often been translated to just include men. What are the ways this affects different people's (particularly women's) relationship with God and scripture?
5. "The male pronouns and the references to God as “Father,” “king,” and “Mighty Warrior” are all important lines in the symphony, but the Bible actually offers some pretty powerful imagery of God as woman too!" Read the scripture for today. What stands out? How does it make you feel?
6. In other instances of scripture such as the parables we see God represented differently side by side (the parable of the woman and her lost coin precedes the parable of the prodigal son). Can you think of other instances of scripture like this, if so share them and read them as a group? If none come to mind, feel free to look up Isaiah 49:15, or Proverbs 3:13-18 to start! How does it change the perception of God into something more complex than what God is often reduced to?
7. Becky shared that referring to God as "she" always felt strange and uncomfortable to her, until the loss of her mother. "And what happened is that without even trying to, my heart began to speak to this God, to the one and true God, who is both Father and Mother. I felt her arms around me, her presence with me. I felt her bolstering Spirit, challenging me to dig deep and believe in her power within me! Suddenly, without me trying to make it happen, these images of God the Woman Warrior, of God the Mother Hen, they filled me and surrounded me and it was like I was coming to know God all over again, to love God anew, the same God, but a God who is so much more than I ever knew." What does this stir in you? Is there an invitation for you through Becky's experience?
8. To be clear, none of this is to say that God is a woman. "All names for God are analogies. None say it just right! But at the burning bush, when God names God’s own self, it’s: “I AM Who I Am,” or, “I Am Who I Will Be.” There’s a future orientation to it! This reminder that we can never put God in a box, that any categories or containers we have for God, they’re always limited, only catching a glimpse of all that God is. Because God is always more." God uses human terms to help our understanding, but cannot be confined to those terms such as gender. It is important to recognize how the language we use shapes us, it is essential we have language but language alone can never fully describe some things. What are ways you have been limiting God, and how could trying other terms be helpful to you and expand your understanding of God?