Making Sense of the Christian Faith

Session 6 Discussion Questions - Life Wins

1.  Why do you think people got upset when Jesus proclaimed the coming kingdom of God?  Should we be upset about it today?  Why or why not?
2.  Jesus' parable in Matthew 20:1-16 seems to suggest that in God's kingdom we are all treeated as equals - not in terms of what we deserve or what we earn, but simplhy in terms of how much God loves each and all of us.  Is that problematic, comforting, both, or something else?
3.  Why is it so important that someone who says, "I love you," also knows you?  Woyuld you trust someone's, "I love you," if you were hiding something?  What is hard about letting someone really know us?

Read Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

4.  Do you think that the younger brother is truly repentant, or is he merely rehearsing a speech that he believes will at least get him back into his father's household?  Does it matter?
5.  Can we go through life living like the father does, just forgiving everything?  Do we ever need to be older brothers?  How do we redoncile the differing reactions of the father and the older brother to the younger brother's return?
6.  How does this parable help us to understand what is going on in Jesus' cross and resurreciton?

Making Sense of the Christian Faith

Discussion Questions for Session 5 - God con Carne

1.  It is easy to think that the Bible is a little boring, because it is an ancient book and can be challenging to read.  But what happens to our understanding of the Bible when we think of it as an adventure or "wild ride," the story of a passionate God committed to saving God's beloved children?

2.  Does it matter who makes a promise?  For example, does it matter if a sales clerk or the store manager promises you a discount on an item?  Does it matter if a colleague or your boss promises you a raise?  How are promises affected by the person and the authority of the person making them?  Does this help to explain the importance the early Church put on Jesus being really and fully God?

3.  In Greek philosophy during the time of early Christians, God was sometimes described as an unfeeling, unchanging, powerful deity.  How do you think the idea of God becoming human and experiencing human feelings, pain, and hope would have played in a culture heavily influenced by Greek philosophy?  Why do you think it was important for the early Christians to argue that Jesus was truly God and fully human?

4.  What difference does it make to your faith to say that God not only knows that you exist, but understands what it's like to be you and cares very much for you?

Read John 1:1-18

5.  What are the most important details that stand out to you while reading this passage? 

6.  What claims is the author making about the Word?

7.  This passage is often read at Christmas, the Feast of the Incarnation.  Why do you think this is?

8.  How does John 1:17-18 help us understand John's story of Jesus in relation to the Old Testament story?

Making Sense of the Christian Faith

Session 4 Discussion Questions - East of Eden

1.  How do promises function in our lives?  How do they affect the future?  How does it feel to have a promise kept?  Or broken?  If God makes and keeps promises, how does that shape our sense of God's covenant?

2.  What are the most significant covenants (or promises) in your life?  How do they keep you in relationship with others and remind you of that relationship?

3.  How do our laws today reflect the Ten Commandments?  What are some current laws that help us treat our neighbor well?  What kinds of laws would better reflect God's will that we care for each other?

Review Exodus 19-20

4.  God declares Israel to be God's chosen people before giving Israel the law.  What difference does this make?

5.  Behind each "you shall not" phrase in the Old Testament is a positive value.  How would you re-write a low to express its intent in more positive terms?

6.  The Ten Commandments deal with our relationships with God and with each other and creation.  Are there any laws that seem to be missing?  Any essential relationships we would want to add today?

Making Sense of the Christian Faith

Session 3 Discussion Questions, "Missing the Mark"

1.  In what way does thinking about the human condition as being fundamentally insecure help you make sense of the world we live in?  What other ways of describing the human condition help you understand the problems and brokenness we see all around us?

2.  What are some of the ways in which we see ourselves and others trying to fill our "God-shaped hole?"  If it regularly doesn't work, why do you think we keep trying?  What are some of the problems that result from thinking we can fill our deep needs apart from God?

3.  A modern proverb says, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing."  In what way does the biblical story seem to be saying that "desiring too much knowledge" is also dangerous?

Read Genesis 3:1-24; Matthew 4:1-11

1.  From where does temptation come in each story?

2.  What is the response to temptation?

3.  What role does trust in God play in each story?

4.  How does the text seem to view the human condition?

5.  Where do we see similar temptations in our own lives?  How can we respond to them in light of the message of the story?



Making Sense of the Christian Faith

Session 2 Discussion Questions - "Original Blessing"

1.  Do you read the Bible as a devotional, as story that describes how things are, as history that explains how things came to be, as a confession of faith in the God of Scripture, or some combination?
2.  When you think of "creation," what comes to mind?  Is it a point in history?  Is it something that God does?  Is it something that we do?  What about the word creating?  How does moving from a noun (creation) to a verb (Creating) affect how you think about God's activity?
3.  If we extend "creation" to "cfreating and still sustaining," then where do you see God at work?  and where do you see God using humans - including you - to share in God's creative activity?

Read Luke 10:25-37

1.  How is the Samaritan serving as a steward of God's creation?
2.  Jesus lifts up the Samaritan as an example of someone who fulfills God's great commandments.  While we will spend more time discussing God's law in chapter four, for now it may be useful to consider how God's laws lead us to caring for our relationship with God, and our relationship with each other and creation.  Can you think of any laws - either in the Bible or in our world - that don't seem to be concerned with these two things?
3.  The Samaritan  extends his care for his neighbor by not only taking the man to the inn but also by paying the innkeeper to keep him for as long as necessary.  If we were to make this story contemporary, what other kinds of things might a "good Samaritan" do in this situation to care for neighbor?  (For example, we might advocate that lights were up on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem to make it more safe, or we might ask that more police be assigned to the roads, etc.)  Feel free to be creative.  Sometimes we most fully appropriate a biblical story by extending it into our own world and lives.

Making Sense of the Christian Faith

Session 1 Discussion Questions - "God Talk"

1. When have you felt most comfortable or at ease with your faith?  What were some of the factors that made it easy to believe?
2. Conversely, when has faith felt difficult or challenging?  When was it difficult to believe?  How did having other Christians around you help (or not) during this time?
3.  What are some of the adjectives that you might use to describe God?  Compassionate, loving, stern, just, tender?  What kind of picture do the words you choose offer you of God?  And where do you think your picture of God came from - Sunday school, your family, the Bible, experiences with and of other Christians?

Read Luke 24:1-35

1. Where do you see evidence of questions or doubt in these stories?  What do you make of them?  How are these doubts resolved?
2.  If the disciples had questions and doubts, how does that rflect on the questions and doubts we might bring to this study?  After reading these passages, how do you imagine the relationship between doubt and faith?
3.  Why do you think it seems that Luke emphasizes the believing community in his story about Jesus?  That is, Luke doesn't share any stories of an individual's encounter with the Risen Jesus.  Instead, Jesus appears to groups - of the disciples, of the two walking to Emmaus, etc.  What do you think this says about the importance of gathering with other Christians to talk about our shared faith?

Getting to the Heart of Interfaith

November 10 Discussion Questions

Question 1.  The authors talk about the mountain of spiritual paths and spiritual purpose.  Can you identify with this image?  Where are you on that mountain?  Where would you wish to be?

Question 2.  In the oasis story, people tended to believe theirs was the only one connecting to the deepest source, just as in the early stages of the interfaith dialogue, some imagine that their faith alone is true.  How would you encourage people to appreciate that there are many traditions connected to a single Source of life?

Question 3. The authors present inclusive spirituality as a spirituality shared by many different faiths and traditions.  If this is so, what do you think is the value of having different religious traditions?

Question 4.  One of the controversial moments the authors describe involves the sharing of communion.  What were your impressions of this moment?  What are your feelings about this kind of interfaith sharing?

Question 5.  The end is always also the beginning.  As you think about what you have felt and learned during your reading of this book, how have you changed?  What new thoughts and ideas are emerging for you?  Where will you go from here? 

As you contemplate that question, what possibilities come to mind?  Can you imagine ways in which you can expand interfaith dialogue and understanding in your world?  What are your hopes for what this could bring about?