Before the Session
- Have the Bible Background Video ready to view.
- Review today’s scripture text and the session activities to help better facilitate the discussion.
- Encourage your group to listen to the Faithelement podcast ahead of the next session (Share the link via email or social media)
- Review the article about the firefighter attending the graduation
Introduce
Ask the group to think about the people they call “family.” Who is in that circle?
Have you ever adopted someone into your family, maybe through official adoption procedures or through an understanding that this person is an “adopted” grandparent or aunt?
Describe what it was like to understand this person as belonging to the family.
Family Beyond Relatives
Share the story about the firefighter who attended the graduation of a baby he rescued 17 years earlier.
Firefighter Story
Ask the group to think about how the firefighter called the rescue a “conclusion.” What ending to the story did he think he had experienced?
Then, ask the group to think about the connection the girl and the firefighter had later on. There seems to be a connection that resembles family; she invited this person to cheer her on at graduation.
- Why do you think this was important to the girl and the firefighter?
- Are there people in your life who share connections like this?
- How might this firefighter think of the graduation moment as a “full circle” moment? What does full circle mean?
We know that the family of God is made up people beyond our relatives. Think about the idea of full circle as we read Ephesians 1:1-14.
Read aloud today’s focal passage, Ephesians 1:1-14, and watch the Bible Background Video.
Full Circle
Continue the discussion by asking questions like these:
- How are we adopted into the family of God? Read verse 5 again. What stands out to you in this verse? What do you wonder about here?
- Verse 10 describes bringing things together. How do people sometimes make sense of life events in terms of things being brought together? Is this comforting or troubling for you?
- The firefighter got the experience of seeing the girl he rescued have grow up and reach some success. Have you experienced something similar? How do you understand events where you may not see the good that happens “down the road” later in life?
- The firefighter and the girl are connected by the rescue event. What happened to them changed everything. Is that how family bonds are sometimes made? What does this mean for our language of “adoption” – the way we hear it in this passage and the way we might use it?
- Do you look for glimpses of “full circle” moments in your faith journey? How have these impacted your faith?
- What is the good news for you in this text? Think silently about that question for a moment. Then try putting it into words: “For me the good news in this is . . .”
Closing
Pray together to end the session, thanking God for “full circle” moments that widen the circle of the family of God.
Writer: Erin Robinson Hall