“Geography of God” Lesson Plan for Chapters 9- 14
Life on the Road
Chapter Nine: Geography of God
Symbols of the Trinity
Triquetra Knot ; Celtic Cross ; Shamrock ; Trinity Shield ; Presbyterian Symbol ; Catholic Sign of the Trinity ; Rublev’s Trinity- Genesis 18
Trinitarian Affirmation
• II Corinthians 13:13 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit”
• The Words of Jesus in John “I am the way, the truth and the life”
• God doesn’t just show us the way, the Triune God is the way (Lindvall, pg. 52)
• “The most transforming affirmation embedded in the Trinity…an understanding of a God who is love, a God who is relationship, a God who is communion.” (pg. 52, Lindvall)
Three Forms of Devotions- Chap 10
• Worship
• Bible reading
• Prayer
Devotion is not either/or - It is both/and
– Corporate and Individual
– Discipline and discipleship are related
– Humans crave BOTH tradition and innovation
Chapter 11: Worship- Turning to the Center
• Worship is neither entertainment, therapy or education. These are all directed to the worshipper. So what is it?...
• It is God directed. God is the audience and the whole congregation are the actors, singers, readers, dancers performing for God’s good pleasure.
• Question “What did you get out of the service?” should be replaced with “What did you lose, give, or offer.”
• The opportunity we are met with on Sunday is to give ourselves again to God, to lose ourselves in the Absolute, to turn away from self and re-center on God
Packing a Bible- Chap 12
• “The way to defend the Bible is the same way that you defend a Lion. You let it lose.” Charles Spurgeon
• Three-fold word of God.
– Living word in Jesus Christ
– The written word of scripture
– The proclaimed word of the church
“Imagine the Bible as a great conversation of people who have witnessed what God has done history.”
• Three Things you bring to Bible study
• Identity- who are you in the story of the prodigal son…the good Samaritan…
• Recognition- what is the truth that comes to you; the “A-ha” moment. What do you discover about yourself in your relationship to God in the stories of scripture.
• Imagination- dare to enter into the world of scripture. Karl Barth calls it the “Strange new world of the Bible”
What best describes you sense of Scripture?
• Road map
• Lens through which we see Christ (Calvin)
• Love letter between God and God’s people.
• Cradle in which the Christ child is held
• Rule book
• The revelation of God’s love
• Other_________________________
On Your Knees- Chapter 13
• “Prayer is none other than expanding our heart in the presence of God” Calvin
• “To pray is to edge into relationship with God…in prayer the vector of your purpose comes to be more and more curved to God.” Lindvall, pg. 82
• “Prayer is not merely about changing the course of events…prayer is also about changing me in my relationship with God” Lindvall, pg. 81
List with the class the ways you pray
• ACTS of Prayer
• Prayers of Adoration
• Prayers of Thanksgiving
• Prayer of Confession
• Prayers of Supplication (for self and world)
Reflections on the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, the power and glory, forever and ever. Amen (Matt. 6:9-13)
Ways to pray
• Praying Scripture: Lectio Divina
• Praying the Psalms (check out Psalm 22/23)
• Prayer Phrases: Psalm 103 “Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless His holy name. Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all His benefits.”
• Prayer Books: Presbyterian Book of Common Prayer
• Prayer woven into life- Brother Lawrence “Practicing the Presence of God”
Traveling Companions, Chapter 14
• “We are built for relationship” pg. 87
• “If the deepest truth about God is that God is relationship, love, communion, the implications for those who would be in relationship with God are stunning.”
• “We who name a Trinitarian God are called to live in relationships of deep communion that are nothing less than an earthly reflection of the life of God.” pg. 88
Where do we find, live, build up Community?
• Church- ecclesia- “The gathered”(Matt 16:18; Acts 14: 27 and 15:3- The Church gathered and sent); “The Body of Christ”; I Corinthians 12:12-27
• Marriage and Family- Genesis 1 “It is not good that man should be alone. I will make a helpmate for him”; Eph 5:21 “Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ…husband love your wives as Christ loved the church.” koinos- “household” is the Greek word for community, partnership.
• Friendship: phileos; “I no longer call you servants but friends” John 15:15)
Monday, April 18, 2011
Lesson 6 "All or Nothing"
Lesson Six “A Geography of God: Exploring the Christian Journey”
Chapters 18-20 “All or Nothing”
Chapter 18 “Stuff and Work”
Michael Lindvall challenges us to find a balance point in Stuff and Work. When either our work or stuff becomes central to our life we risk idolatry.
What do you think of Lindvall’s claim that consumerism and careerism become idolatry when “what we have” or “what we do” defines us.
Do you think that the stuff we buy should have a warning on it “Warning: This thing, like all things, could be dangerous to your spiritual health.” Reflect on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) and the rich ruler (Luke 18:18-30), “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Lk. 18: 25) the Beatitude “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received you consolation.” (Luke 6:24)
And yet Lindvall claims that “the incarnation is necessarily an affirmation of the potential goodness of the physical.” (p. 119) How does Jesus redeem the physical part of life for God’s use?
Similarly, Lindvall challenges our “workaholic” nature as idolatrous when our work defines us, or when we seek our salvation through work or it becomes the center of our lives.
Contrast this with the Christian notion of “vocation”. Frederick Buechner once defined Christian vocation as “Our calling is where our deepest gladness and the world's hunger meet.”
Lindvall also contrasts the imagined stories of two great writers Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Karl Barth entering heaven with their life works “Confessions” and “Church Dogmatics”; Rousseau believing this is a great gift to the angels and Barth imagining that they would use his life’s work as waste paper on the floor. What do you think about each of these men’s assessments of their life work?
The ultimate workaholic remedy “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.”
Chapter 19 “An Expansive Lifestyle”
“The God encountered in Scripture and Christian tradition is a radically expansive deity”. (Lindvall, p. 124)
J. B Phillips wrote a book in the 1952 “Your God is Too Small” in which he claims “that we have not found a God big enough for our modern needs. In varying degrees we suffer from a limited idea of God. Phillips exposes such inadequate conceptions of God as ‘Resident Policeman’, ‘Grand Old Man’, ‘Meek and Mild’, ‘Managing Director” and explores ways that we can find a truly meaningful and constructive Gods for ourselves.”
Can you imagine ways that you might have limited God in your own thinking of God? Read Psalm 8 as a remedy to this little God syndrome. “O Lord our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory about the heavens’…When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that your have established, what are human beings that you are ever mindful of them, mortals that you care for them.”
Lindvall talks about a circle from God to us to others to all humanity (pg. 125) He also talks about the vertical (God to us) and horizontal (us to our neighbor) dimensions of the cross and the commandments “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and might” and “Love your neighbor as yourself”.
Chris Kettler (Professor at Friends University) speaks of the twofold movement of God in Christ. In the incarnation God reaches down to earth to redeem us but we often forget that even as we respond with faith to the God who redeems us that it is only in Christ that we can reach up to God in the worship and mission that God desires. Kettler calls this the “Vicarious humanity of Christ” or the two-fold movement of God in Christ.
Lindvall says that “the expansive love of the church is traditionally divided between evangelism and mission.” (Lindvall, p. 128) Reflect on both Lindvall and Kettler’s understanding of God’s expansive love and our limited response of mission, evangelism and worship.
Read the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40) in light of Deuteronomy 23:1-8 (Law against foreigners and Eunuchs in the temple), Isaiah 53:1-5 (passage about Jesus sacrifice) and Isaiah 56:1-7 (Passage opening up the Kingdom of God specifically to Eunuchs and foreigners.)
Chapter 20 “All or Nothing”
When you were baptized was there anything that you would have liked to “hold back”? What is the hardest part of your life to offer up to God?
Reflect on the Greek word Metanoia. We often translate this word as “repentance” and sometimes talk about it as change. What are the implications of this idea if we buy into the notion that it means a 180 degree turn in our life?
Reflect on the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10), What would you do if Jesus just invited himself into your house? “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay in your house today”.
Chapters 18-20 “All or Nothing”
Chapter 18 “Stuff and Work”
Michael Lindvall challenges us to find a balance point in Stuff and Work. When either our work or stuff becomes central to our life we risk idolatry.
What do you think of Lindvall’s claim that consumerism and careerism become idolatry when “what we have” or “what we do” defines us.
Do you think that the stuff we buy should have a warning on it “Warning: This thing, like all things, could be dangerous to your spiritual health.” Reflect on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) and the rich ruler (Luke 18:18-30), “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Lk. 18: 25) the Beatitude “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received you consolation.” (Luke 6:24)
And yet Lindvall claims that “the incarnation is necessarily an affirmation of the potential goodness of the physical.” (p. 119) How does Jesus redeem the physical part of life for God’s use?
Similarly, Lindvall challenges our “workaholic” nature as idolatrous when our work defines us, or when we seek our salvation through work or it becomes the center of our lives.
Contrast this with the Christian notion of “vocation”. Frederick Buechner once defined Christian vocation as “Our calling is where our deepest gladness and the world's hunger meet.”
Lindvall also contrasts the imagined stories of two great writers Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Karl Barth entering heaven with their life works “Confessions” and “Church Dogmatics”; Rousseau believing this is a great gift to the angels and Barth imagining that they would use his life’s work as waste paper on the floor. What do you think about each of these men’s assessments of their life work?
The ultimate workaholic remedy “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.”
Chapter 19 “An Expansive Lifestyle”
“The God encountered in Scripture and Christian tradition is a radically expansive deity”. (Lindvall, p. 124)
J. B Phillips wrote a book in the 1952 “Your God is Too Small” in which he claims “that we have not found a God big enough for our modern needs. In varying degrees we suffer from a limited idea of God. Phillips exposes such inadequate conceptions of God as ‘Resident Policeman’, ‘Grand Old Man’, ‘Meek and Mild’, ‘Managing Director” and explores ways that we can find a truly meaningful and constructive Gods for ourselves.”
Can you imagine ways that you might have limited God in your own thinking of God? Read Psalm 8 as a remedy to this little God syndrome. “O Lord our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory about the heavens’…When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that your have established, what are human beings that you are ever mindful of them, mortals that you care for them.”
Lindvall talks about a circle from God to us to others to all humanity (pg. 125) He also talks about the vertical (God to us) and horizontal (us to our neighbor) dimensions of the cross and the commandments “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and might” and “Love your neighbor as yourself”.
Chris Kettler (Professor at Friends University) speaks of the twofold movement of God in Christ. In the incarnation God reaches down to earth to redeem us but we often forget that even as we respond with faith to the God who redeems us that it is only in Christ that we can reach up to God in the worship and mission that God desires. Kettler calls this the “Vicarious humanity of Christ” or the two-fold movement of God in Christ.
Lindvall says that “the expansive love of the church is traditionally divided between evangelism and mission.” (Lindvall, p. 128) Reflect on both Lindvall and Kettler’s understanding of God’s expansive love and our limited response of mission, evangelism and worship.
Read the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40) in light of Deuteronomy 23:1-8 (Law against foreigners and Eunuchs in the temple), Isaiah 53:1-5 (passage about Jesus sacrifice) and Isaiah 56:1-7 (Passage opening up the Kingdom of God specifically to Eunuchs and foreigners.)
Chapter 20 “All or Nothing”
When you were baptized was there anything that you would have liked to “hold back”? What is the hardest part of your life to offer up to God?
Reflect on the Greek word Metanoia. We often translate this word as “repentance” and sometimes talk about it as change. What are the implications of this idea if we buy into the notion that it means a 180 degree turn in our life?
Reflect on the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10), What would you do if Jesus just invited himself into your house? “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay in your house today”.
Lesson 5 "As Good as It Gets"
Lesson # 5 Lenten Study Series “Geography of God”
Chapter 15 “As Good as it Gets”
Why do we do good as people of God?
Obedience
Imitation
Inspiration
What about sin? Can people change? Is repentance really possible?
“In order for people to change, something must die: Old habits of the heart must die, dear and self-centeredness must die, complaining and peevishness must die, anger and hatefulness must die…All that which is sin must be crucified, dead and buried.” Michael Lindvall, pg. 96
Other sources to look at on sin
“Whatever Became of Sin?” by Karl Menninger
“Moral Man and Immoral Society” by Reinhold Niebuhr
A good word for hypocrites: “We are a bunch of hypocrites”
A good word for love
“The core of Christian ethics is a tough and insistent love. This love draws into itself three gifts: obedience, imitation, inspiration…Love is not a feeling but an act of will, a commitment to act.” Lindvall, p. 103
Chapter 16 “Seventy times Seven”
David Freeman’s summary of the message of scripture (Old and New Testament) is: “There is forgiveness”
We struggle to forgive because we “underestimate the forgiveness of God.”
Read Matthew 18:21-35 (1 talent= 15 years wages so 10,000*15*$20K= $3 bill)
“To refuse forgiveness is to refuse God whose very nature is to forgive” (p.105)
Desmond Tutu “There is no future without forgiveness”
“How many lives have I seen eaten away by the acid of unforgiven hurt.” Lindvall, p. 105
Forgiveness is not to diminish the offense. Forgiveness also does not depend on our goodness. Lastly forgiveness does not even depend on the perpetrator asking for forgiveness?!?
Chapter 17 “Deserts and Wild Beasts”
“If God is good, why do bad things happen?”
Quick answers: “It’s God’s will”….”It’s not partly cloudy- It’s partly sunny”..
What about “I found God in the wilderness?”
St. Thomas of the Cross “Dark Night of the Soul”
Ultimate comfort “God is with me”
23 Psalm “Ye, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me…”
Matthew 1:24 “…and they shall call his name Emmanuel which means “God is with us”
Matthew 28:20 “And remember, I am with you to the close of the age”
Rev. 21:3 “See the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples and God himself will be with them, he will wipe away every tear from their eyes”.
Chapter 15 “As Good as it Gets”
Why do we do good as people of God?
Obedience
Imitation
Inspiration
What about sin? Can people change? Is repentance really possible?
“In order for people to change, something must die: Old habits of the heart must die, dear and self-centeredness must die, complaining and peevishness must die, anger and hatefulness must die…All that which is sin must be crucified, dead and buried.” Michael Lindvall, pg. 96
Other sources to look at on sin
“Whatever Became of Sin?” by Karl Menninger
“Moral Man and Immoral Society” by Reinhold Niebuhr
A good word for hypocrites: “We are a bunch of hypocrites”
A good word for love
“The core of Christian ethics is a tough and insistent love. This love draws into itself three gifts: obedience, imitation, inspiration…Love is not a feeling but an act of will, a commitment to act.” Lindvall, p. 103
Chapter 16 “Seventy times Seven”
David Freeman’s summary of the message of scripture (Old and New Testament) is: “There is forgiveness”
We struggle to forgive because we “underestimate the forgiveness of God.”
Read Matthew 18:21-35 (1 talent= 15 years wages so 10,000*15*$20K= $3 bill)
“To refuse forgiveness is to refuse God whose very nature is to forgive” (p.105)
Desmond Tutu “There is no future without forgiveness”
“How many lives have I seen eaten away by the acid of unforgiven hurt.” Lindvall, p. 105
Forgiveness is not to diminish the offense. Forgiveness also does not depend on our goodness. Lastly forgiveness does not even depend on the perpetrator asking for forgiveness?!?
Chapter 17 “Deserts and Wild Beasts”
“If God is good, why do bad things happen?”
Quick answers: “It’s God’s will”….”It’s not partly cloudy- It’s partly sunny”..
What about “I found God in the wilderness?”
St. Thomas of the Cross “Dark Night of the Soul”
Ultimate comfort “God is with me”
23 Psalm “Ye, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me…”
Matthew 1:24 “…and they shall call his name Emmanuel which means “God is with us”
Matthew 28:20 “And remember, I am with you to the close of the age”
Rev. 21:3 “See the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples and God himself will be with them, he will wipe away every tear from their eyes”.
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