Here's How (Part 1): Here's How To Be Together

TO START

This week, Zane invited us into the beginning of a new series called Here’s How, a series that invites us to actually live out our mission to Live Love together through our 7 core behaviors. To start we leaned into one of the seven ways we practice living love: being together. 

  • How have you seen the practice of being together in action in your life? What did it look like? How did it make you feel? (Encourage your group to share how they’ve seen it in this group if they have an example) 

TO DISCUSS

To begin Zane’s message, he pointed out that intentions do not always lead us to our desired destination. We always have great intentions at the beginning of the year, but we all face turbulence in our lives as the year continues.

  • In what ways big and small, has the turbulence of this year changed what you had intended for you, your job, your family, your faith journey, etc.? Where has the turbulence knocked you completely off track? Where has the turbulence actually allowed you to see things more clearly?

In order to get to the heart of the first practice necessary when following Jesus… Read Acts 2:42-47 together.

  • In the early church, the starting point for responding to Jesus was devoting themselves to gathering together. Has your stamina/desire for gathering together increased or decreased this past year? Why?

Zane mentioned there were three practices that flowed out of the early church devoting themselves to gathering together: the practice of God’s Words, God’s People & God’s Table.

In reflection on the practice of God’s words, think back to Zane’s ABC’s example… 

  • Do you have an example of when the words of God have been taught, retaught and imprinted upon you? Bible Class? Habitual Prayer?

Zane mentioned that so often we focus on whether church did something for us instead of focusing on what has been done for us in Jesus. In other words, we are much more focused on whether the church matches our preferences than the beauty of why we are gathered.

  • What preferences or details distract you from the beauty of gathering with other believers?

Even more, Zane argues that we can’t let our tendency to be ruled by preferences lead us to separate loving God and loving the people of God. 

  • Are you prone to separate your love for God and your love for God’s church? What’s been an obstacle for you in loving the people of God?

Near the close of his sermon, Zane pointed us to the fact that the way of being together invites us into the practice of breaking bread at God’s table (communion; sharing a meal) with people whom we love and those who at times are hard to love. We are called to come to God’s table because we need it, we need to experience God there. 

  • Encourage your group to consider who they need to sit at God’s table with this week, this month or this year to share in the mystery and power of it. 

TO CLOSE

As a group, pray for the Holy Spirit to enliven your group in a way that enables them to consider ways that they can take on or reignite the practice of being together (even invite folks to share ways they’d like to respond by reigniting this practice) and then pray this prayer together: 

God, we know you desire for us to be together 

So help us to decide this week, 

Help us to decide every week, 

To be together this year. 

Amen.

Matt DeLano