Hurry! The Enemy Of Apprenticeship

hurry!_the_enemy_of_apprenticeship.mp4

PRAY:

Have someone read 1 Peter 4:8 aloud. After you read it, spend a minute or two silently reflecting on the passage. Then spend some time praying as a group for anything that 1 Peter 4:8 draws to your mind or stirs up in your heart.

ONE ANOTHERING:

Try to think of some practical needs you can share to give others the opportunity to step up and love you. It's okay if it takes some time to get comfortable with this. It takes time and practice to be vulnerable with one another... but amazing things happen when we are. Remember that the Benevolence Ministry is a resource for our comGroups.

  • How can we love or serve one another this week?

FOLLOW UP:

  • How did that practice from last week go?
  • What was challenging?
  • What was beneficial?

OPENER:

Try to recall the last time you were in a hurry. Maybe it was getting here tonight! Now, attempt to answer this question: why were you in a hurry? Keep asking why until you arrive at a non-superficial answer.


SHARE:

  • Pretend you’re in the Emergency Room: on a scale of 1 to 10, rate your hurry sickness. Comparing “impatience” with other vices, how seriously do you take your hurry sickness as a problem? Why?
  • Read Galatians 5:22-24 and 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. How does hurry counteract love? How does slowing serve love? Be specific.
  • Read and reflect on Matthew 11:28-30, remembering that a “yoke” is a rabbi’s teaching. What comes to mind when you think of Jesus’ teaching? How does Jesus’ teaching compare with the conventional wisdom of our day? Is his yoke “easy and light” in comparison? How?
  • Pastor Heath emphasized the difference between “training” and “trying.” Using a specific example like forgiveness, how would you articulate the difference when it comes to spiritual practices and why is it so important?
  • Identify one practical way that you can practice slowing this week. How can you turn your thoughts to God in the midst of that practice?

PRACTICE:

1) Practice Slowing – This week, follow up on your answer from question seven and/or commit as a group to not multitasking while eating. (If this is too daunting, do it during one meal a day). While eating, do not look at your phone, do work, or anything else besides talking to God or whoever you are eating with. Eat slowly and just be with God, paying attention to your thoughts without judging yourself. Report back as a group next week.

2) Practice Restraint – For the remainder of the series, when someone asks you how you are doing (or a variant of that question), do not answer with “busy” or “crazy” or any of their variants. Remember, “When we tell people we are busy, we are asserting our worth.” In other words, when we do that we are “practicing” finding our value in what we do.

Also, be sure not to judge others for answering that way! Report back weekly as a group on how this is going.

Bonus) Practice Restraint – Do not rush anyone else for the entire week, including other drivers on the road or your own small children. If you do, apologize even if they can’t hear you.

PRAY:

Have someone read 1 Peter 4:8 aloud. After you read it, spend a minute or two silently reflecting on the passage. Then spend some time praying as a group for anything that 1 Peter 4:8 draws to your mind or stirs up in your heart.