1. Tim juxtaposed religion that packages the cross and resurrection with certitude, as a solution for the puzzle of our “sin problem” and a faith that engages with the cross and resurrection as “a mystery of how God can be born into the world through us.” He discussed the ways in which this happens on both personal and societal levels. We lack insights that, in our present form, are simply beyond us, so God is always leading us toward something deeper.
As a group, generate a list of some of the ways in which you think that, as a society, we are lacking the insight we need to address places and things that simply aren’t working for us anymore.
How do you know those are places where we, as a society, lack the insight and wisdom we need? How can they be identified?
2. Tim taught that the cross and resurrection help show us that in order for new things to be born, we have to let go of old ideas that we are attached to, that feel like they’re a part of us.
Do you have experiences of this principle at work in your own life? Share any examples of times in which you recognize that, in order to survive and thrive, you had to let your old way of being die, so that something new could be born.
Continuing this theme, Tim talked about how, Thomas sat in fidelity with his friends, even though he doubted their story of Jesus’ resurrection, and that this mysterious space prepared him for the ability to see all new possibilities once he did finally encounter Jesus for himself. (This idea is connected to the fact that Thomas, after his encounter, was the first to recognize and declare Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” )
Reflecting back on the examples you just shared about places of death and rebirth in your own life, can you identify any new insights and visions of possibility made possible through those experiences?
3. Shifting back to some of the societal challenges the group identified in the first question, spaces in which society lacks the insight to move forward and address our challenges, which ideas do you think that you, personally, are attached to that might need to die in order to create opportunity for new birth and life in our society?
As we collectively sit in places of longing to know, while not knowing, Tim taught that we have to trust God in the mystery…that that’s the life of faith that leads to new life.
What do you think of this idea in the practical? How does it work? What does it look like? If you’re “doing it,” what does that mean??
How do you feel about the prospect of allowing death to come for ideas you’ve held as part of yourself and identity that may need to die? What feelings and spaces of resistance arise for you?
