Easter at Round Rock

TO START

This week, we celebrate the reality of Easter! Jesus, the son of God lives and He is risen. He has been resurrected and He has defeated the chains of death. The tomb is empty and Christ’s death and resurrection catapults us into a life of freedom, a life of rejoicing and a life of hope for the future regardless of our circumstances..

  • When you think of the resurrection of Jesus, what does it mean to you? What are the first things that come to mind?

TO DISCUSS

Read John 11:17-27 together:

  • When a form of death enters your life, your tendency is either to talk to God (to be pulled towards God) OR to want nothing to do with God (pushed away from God). Which is your tendency? And why?

Zane mentions that “what troubles and disturbs us also troubles and disturbs God”. In the moment from the story above, Jesus’s reaction isn’t one of making sense of death or saying something that sounds good. It’s a posture of weeping out of a love for Lazarus and love for all people. 

  • How does it make you feel to know that Jesus doesn’t just love you but Jesus hurts with you and is troubled by things that you are also troubled by? 

  • How does it make you feel knowing that God isn’t saying you have to fake how you’re feeling but rather Jesus wants you to acknowledge the pain in the world while also knowing it doesn’t have the final word?

Read John 11:39-44 together.

  • What is one thing in your life that “stinkeths” right now? One thing that you want to acknowledge is real and hard? (Each time someone shares have a leader say the following: Jesus hurts with you and He will wipe away your tears.) 

TO CLOSE

We want to invite your group to close by reflecting on the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Close with this prayer:

God, you are not silent to our tears of questioning, of pain or of longing,

God, you hear the cries of grief and of injustice, 

God, you know when our bodies ache and fail us, 

God, you know how much we long to take back the mistakes of our past,

And today, we remember the raisng of Jesus Christ from the dead, 

The act of love that is your promise of saying, “I do” to each and everyone one of us. 

Thank you that the tomb was empty.

Amen. 

Matt DeLano