What is Lent to You?
2 Corinthians
5:20b-6:10
Connect
Your groups have been meeting for a while, and Lent is
really the time for them to be in full swing.
This week we will talk generally about Lent, and in the weeks to come we
will reflect on the series Wholiness. I hope that will be a wonderful time for
Connect Groups to really dive deeper into the content and grow together towards
emotional health in Christ.
As your group gathers, ask them this question: What is the most significant aspect of Lent
for you?
Pray
Your group may choose to share different disciplines that
they are taking on during Lent.
Encourage people to share if they are going to try “praying the hours”
along with me this Lent. Or perhaps they
are giving something up, or taking something on.
You might ask them each to attempt to reflect on one of the Measures for all of Lent and continue to
answer and discuss it prayerfully each week:
Passion: Where did
I see God today?
Accepting: How am
I building diverse relationships?
Invitational: Who
am I connecting with God’s family?
Trusting: Where
does God rank?
Active: How am I
engaged with God’s work?
Reflect
Here are a couple resources if they help your group—you could
send them out prior to the group, or you could choose to use one of them in the
group.
This is an artsy video that reflects on the meaning of Lent:
This is a blog written by Kate Bowler, who I’ve referenced
before. She writes in this piece about
Ash Wednesday specifically, and all of Lent.
“In a world which prizes self-affirmation, confidence, and
pride, Ash Wednesday comes as a slap in the face, a bracing cold shower of
reality. Inescapably, we are told of our lingering weaknesses, faults, and
helplessness. We are, apparently, not such big shots after all. On this night,
our mortality is literally rubbed in our faces.”
Invite your group to reflect on how they feel or have felt
on Ash Wednesday. Is Ash Wednesday
morbid for them? Is it reflective? Is it holy?
Read together 2 Corinthians 6:5-10.
What is Paul saying about suffering in this passage?
-Is suffering part of following Jesus? What do you think?
How does this passage help us find some themes for Lent?
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