Ordinary Time 03: Finding God In The Ruins

1. Early in his sermon, Tim said “American Christianity has largely sentimentalized the New Testament; but you can’t do that with the Old Testament.”

What do you think it means to “sentimentalize the NT?” How prominent is that in your experience of Christianity? How aware of it have you been or are you now?

What things can you recognize and identify as impacts or outcomes of that sentimentalizing? How have those things impacted you and your life of faith?

2. The phrase “the Canaanites” acts almost as a shorthand representation for the many smaller kingdoms that operated in the region at the time. These kingdoms operated in the mode of something Brueggemann called the “Royal Consciousness: a culture of domination, consumption, and social control where the few live extravagantly…at the cost of many.”

Common objects of worship in these cultures were Baal & Asherah. Baal was the rain and storm god, while Asherah was believed to have power over childbirth and family concerns. The Israelites, as noted in Judges 3:7, don’t last long before they lapse into servitude of these two gods.

In the cultural & historical contexts of Judges, Baal & Asherah could be understood as objects that were worshipped in attempts to avoid the threats of chaos & barrenness. These two themes have shown up repeatedly in our study of the first Old Testament books.

Where, in our own modern cultural context, do you see the same perpetual specters of chaos & barrenness? What does each look like in 2026’s America?

How do people today try to escape these modern iterations of chaos &/or barrenness? To what extent do you see that dynamic at play within our world today?

To what extent is that dynamic at play in you and your life? What things do you pursue as hopeful saviors from these timeless threats? Where do you tend to (consciously or unconsciously) look for rescue or safety in the face of them?

3. Tim described a pattern that is present in Judges; it’s a cycle that starts with loss of memory resulting in ideological capture.

Where can you identify these first parts of the pattern in a more contemporary context?

After reviewing the full cycle, how relatable or resonant does this pattern seem today? Does it hold true? Where might you call out additional nuance or variation?

Tim said that though this pattern is often referred to as the “sin cycle,” it is, instead, a Redemption Cycle. He added that “failure is the engine of every redemption story.”

What do you think about this framing? Where does it hold up? Where might you feel curious about gaps?

How might you conceive of yourself within its stages, especially in light of the things you identified in question 2 as places you may turn for safety in the face of chaos and/or barrenness?