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 Media Session Page)
Play the Fireman makes host… video and ask:
- How many of you have ever watched this show, and, if so, why?
- How do you feel about the excerpts from this episode and why?
- Why do you think some people enjoy seeing others go through rejection?
- How do you tend to respond when you feel rejected or overlooked and why?
- In what ways do such reactions reflect your faith?
Content (From the Mind Session Page)
Read Genesis 21:8-21, then watch the Bible Background Video.
Then ask:
- Why was Hagar in this position to begin with – what did Abraham and Sarah do to Hagar, and why?
- Compare the promise God makes to Hagar in 16:10 and the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 and 15:5. Why does this narrative show God making this kind of promise to two different people?
- Why was Sarah so jealous?
- Why do you think we sometimes act as if God’s blessings were limited to only one person or group and how might this story speak to that tendency
- Why is the name “El Roi” such a significant declaration for Hagar?
- How did God “see” her in ways others did not?
- In what ways might this story change the way we see Abraham and Sarah as “heroes of the faith?”
- Why might it be helpful to know that even great “faith heroes” were broken and sinful?
Closure (from the Youth Session page)
Share the Bruno Mars “Grenade” video and ask:
- What are some of the more powerful images of rejection in this video and what makes them stand out for you?
- If you can talk about it, when have felt rejected and discarded by someone you cared about?
- How did it make you feel to be treated that way?
- From this passage, how does God treat those who are discarded by those around them?
- Why do people sometimes feel as though God has abandoned them?
- What is our role in regards to doing the work of God in this matter?
- What would it look like for us to love those who our world does not want?
Close this session in prayer.