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)
Context
Show the images and video of the demonstration at the bridge
Demonstration at Bridge
And then ask questions like these:
- What most stands out to you as you look at these pictures of people on the bridge?
- Some say organizers expected about 3,000 people but over 9,000 people showed up. What does an overwhelming result like that teach us?
- What does this event tell you about how we might experience grace and love?
- In what ways have we seen God at work within people in response to the tragedy in Charleston?
- How have the events in Charleston and their aftermath changed us?
Content
Read Ephesians 3:14-21 and watch the Bible Background Video
Then ask questions like these:
- In what forms has God’s grace been shown to you, personally?
- How has it been shown to our society?
- How might grace appear in smaller messages and individual hands?
- How do we comprehend immeasurable love and grace?
- What markers would we look for to get some idea of the depth, the height, of God’s love?
- What does verse 20 mean about the power “at work within us?”
Closure
Ask the group to respond to these questions in one word or phrase:
- What is something that is bigger than you imagined it would be?
- When have you known for sure that you were in the presence of love?
- How big is God’s love, in terms of comparison? God’s love is more than _____.
- What is abundantly “more than you can ask or imagine” right now?
Pray together, using this prayer from Pastor Nadia Bolz Weber (Starts at 7:28):
Listen to Prayer
“So, my friends, I ask us this: If the power of the Gospel, the power of Christ crucified and risen is this strong – then I ask, is it not also strong enough to bring us to true repentance? Is it not strong enough to carry us as we look at ourselves and our country with stark honesty and fractured pride? I have no idea what dismantling racism even looks like and I remain suspicious of my own ego and desire to be seen as one of the good guys. But I stand before you and confess my belief that if the power of the Gospel, the Power of Christ crucified and risen is strong enough to be the source of Dr Martin Luther King’s work and strong enough to be the source of the hospitality they extended when they welcomed that young man into the Bible study and strong enough to be the source of their defiant forgiveness of the young man who stole their loved ones from them then it is strong enough to be the source of confession and repentance about white supremacy in our own hearts and in this nation of ours.
Let us pray: That your Gospel is more powerful than our hate, more powerful than our despair, more powerful than our pride, and more powerful than our delusions, we give you thanks O God.”
— Pastor Nadia Bolz Weber
Writer: Erin Robinson Hall