Before the Session
Facilitator: In advance of 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 (From the Mind Session Page)
Take a few moments to discuss the human desire for power and status.
- What do you think is at the root of our desire to “look out for Number One?”
- What does it mean to have power or status in today’s world?
- How can you see these desires at work in politics? In business? In the Church?
Content (From the Current Session Page)
Read aloud Mark 10:32-45 then play the Bible Background Video
Ask questions like these:
- In what ways does what Jesus said prepare the disciples for His passion?
- Why do you think James and John make a request like little children for anything they want?
- If you were Jesus, how would you have responded to the initial request of James and John?
- Why would people walking with Jesus have the same desire to be “on top” that we experience today?
- Do you think that the other disciples were upset with James and John because they missed Jesus’ point or were they jealous that they did not ask Jesus first?
- Why do you think the church is sometimes prone to count success as the world measures it: by finances, importance, and influence?
- Why is it so hard to connect following with serving?
Closure (from the Current Session page)
Share together the Washington Post Story and ask:
- As you look at this image of the Pope touching the prisoner’s hand what most stands out to you and why?
- If there is a model for Christian living in this image, what is it?
- Pope Francis said to the prisoners, ““I am here as a pastor, but above all as a brother, to share your situation and to make it my own.” In what ways is this like Jesus’ challenge for disciples to participate in suffering?
-In what ways is this like Christian ministry as you have experienced or envisioned it?
-The idea of sharing someone’s situation is powerful. What can participation teach us, and how can it transform us? - How do you feel about the image of every person having “dirty feet” in need of washing?
- What does Christian humility, as you’ve experienced it, look like?
Pray together to discover ways to give yourself away and participate in the life of someone else.