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 Current Session Page)
Share together this slide show of celebrity deaths from 2016 and ask:
- Which of these celebrities’ passing was most surprising to you and why?
- Which of these people’s passing was most significant to you and why?
- What do you imagine that some of these people feel about what they accomplished in life, and how do you feel about that?
- If your name was on a list like this, and another group was having this conversation, what would you hope they were saying about you and why?
Content (From the Mind Session Page)
Read 2 Timothy 4:6-18, then watch the Bible Background Video.
Then ask questions like these:
- What do you think the image of being “poured out like a drink offering” means in this passage?
- What does the writer indicate was waiting for Paul in his passing and for whom else does this prize await?
- What kinds of relationships do we see in this passage, and in what ways do such things matter at the end of someone’s life?
- Why do you think we see such mundane things as a spare cloak and scrolls mentioned here and in what way does it affect the way we see someone this time in life?
- How do you think the writer would show such a grace-giving attitude toward those who had deserted Paul at the end of his life?
- In what ways does the writer believe that our actions in times like these might give powerful evidence to our belief and commitment to Jesus’ way?
Closure (from the Media Session page)
Share the song “Alone Again, Naturally” and ask:
- What are some sentiments that this song shares with the writer of the scriptures we shared?
- How would you feel if those closest to you left you near the end of your life?
- The song had a lyric that said “leaving me to doubt talk about God and his mercy.” What kinds of doubts do we face when something seems to be coming to an end?
- From where do we get the faith to continue to trust in God even as we face our own mortality or disappointment in others?
- How might we share such a faith with people who feel “deserted” by God?
Close in prayer.