Movie Night - This Tuesday

This Tuesday at 7:30 att he Dixon house we will be watching the Documentary "The Merchants of Cool"

Eat dinner before you come, and join us as we watch the movie and have a discussion following the film.

Questions for 7/21/09

 If you did not get a chance to be there last Sunday night you can find the talk on our podcast page here.  Here are some questions that will hopefully keep the conversation going during the week. 

1) What was going through your mind/emotions as you hear the story that was read to start the night?

2) We talked about the Priest and Levite having a theology problem considering there were commands not to touch the dead/ bodily fluids, but there are also commands about caring for those in need.  Do you feel like you experience problems like this with scripture sometimes?  What do you do if you feel like the Bible might be telling you to do 2 different things?

3) Do you think the church today has their own "Samaritans"? (People that they avoid at all costs b/c they are seen as "unclean"somehow)  How have you seen the church succeed or fail in their relationship to "Samaritans"  What could they have done better?

4) In the story the most Christlike character is the most disliked character.  Why do you think it might have been important for the Samaritan to be the one helping the man and not the other way around?

5) What are some of the practical implications of this controversial story for you as an individual follower of Christ, and for us as a community?

Questions from Sundays Talk

We talked out of Luke 10 last night about the typical Father's Day topic of exorcism!

If you were not there last night than you can download the talk through itunes or directly from our website here.

Here are some questions that might help keep the conversation going a little bit.

1.) What is your initial reaction when you read in scripture about things like exorcism?  If your honest would you say you tend to ignore them, think about them literally, or think about them symbolically?

2.) Do you feel like the images you have attached to things like exorcism, demons, etc are more influenced by popular culture, the Bible, things you have actually seen, or some combination if these?  Explain...

3.) One thing we seem to know for sure from these passages is that the life of discipleship has power.  Do you feel strange talking about power in regards to your Christian life?  If so why?  In what ways have you experienced the power of following Christ?

4.) Did the talk Sunday night cause you to think about things like exorcism any differently?  How so?  Was there anything in particular you found thought provoking, or any thing you think you disagree with?  (and yes, as always, it is more than ok to disagree with something said on Sunday night)

5.) We talked about the fact that the Kingdom of God doesn't accupy the same space as the Kingdoms of this world.  Do you feel comfortable sharing some ways in which you experience the tension in your own life of the two kinds of Kingdoms trying the push the other out?

6.) If we are all, in a sense, called to be exorcists (those who embody/help establish the Kingdom of God which pushes out all competing Kingdoms)... How do you see that playing out practically in your own life?

Questions from Sunday 6-14-09

If you were not with us you can catch last week's talk on our podcast page.  Here are some questions that will hopefully keep the conversation going.

^{Luke 10:16}"He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."

1.) How would you react/feel hearing Jesus say this to you?  Does it seem like Good news, bad news, unrealistic....?

2.) Do you tend to see yourself as a person that represents God's words in this world?  Why or why not?

3.) Was there a time in your life when you felt confident speaking on behalf of God?  Have there been times when you felt totally unqualified?  Have you ever seen God really use something you have said?  Have you ever said something that you thought represented God, that you are now sure did not?

4.) What are some of the best or worst things you have heard said "in the name of God".

5.)  we talked about two safeguards against the dark side of speaking for God.  How do you see humility helping to protect us from the dangers we discussed? 

6.) How do you see the guiding question of , "Does it look like Jesus?" helping to protect us from the dangers we discussed?

7.) Mike mentioned the recent murder of a Doctor in Kansas as an example of a time and place where those safeguards could have changed things.  Can you think of specific instances in your life or the news where those two safeguards mentioned should have been in place?

Questions from Sunday 6-7-2009

If you did not get the chance to come out this last week you can download the talk from the last week on our website. 

Here are some questions that might help unpack the topic a little bit.

1) Can you relate to the tension that is sometimes present in the way we talk about the Love and Peace of God on one hand, and the Judgment of God on the other hand? In what ways do you think we over-emphasize or under-emphasize either God's Peace or God's judgment?

2) We talked about having glimpses in our life of the Shalom of God.  Those moments when everything seems to be the way it was intended to be.  When are some times and places in your life when you feel like you get these glimpses of Shalom?

3) How do we as followers of Christ really offer Peace to those we come across?

4) In what ways do you see yourself, or people of faith in general, lean towards judging instead of offering peace?  What are some times and places where you have seen Christians take the job of judging as there own?  What are some times and places in which you have seen some choose a message of Shalom when it would be much easier to judge?

5) How do you think the message "the Kingdom of God is Near" can simultaneously be a message of Peace/Hope and a message of Judgment?  What does this mean practically for you in the way you live out your faith?

Questions from Sunday 5-24-09: Luke 10:4-11

You can listen/download the talk here

1.) Do you feel like you have a kingdom?  A domain where you make the rules etc.?  What does your domain communicate?

2.) The message that is given to those sent out is "The Kingdom of God is near".  We talked about the present and future aspects of that message.  Are either of those aspects more difficult for you to embrace or believe at times?  Does either aspect bring you more comfort?  What is the importance of both?

3.) We talked about the importance of the medium and the message.  Can you think of any examples in your personal history (in or out of church) where the medium undermined or did not match the message?

4Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road….7Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you

4.) What do you think about the importance of dependence in the way we are living out of the message?  Why was it important to Christ's message that he came to earth so dependent?  Why is it for us?

7Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages

5.) What about the importance of having an open table/sacrificing our ideas of who is clean and unclean?  How was it a pivotal part of what Jesus communicated about the Kingdom?

Do not move around from house to house.

6.) Why is it a necessary part of the message to not spend your life "shopping for a better deal"?  Why was the message of Jesus supported by his constant moving down the ladder of life?

8"When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. 9Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.'

7.) Why is healing so much a part of trying to communicate the idea that the kingdom of God is near?  What do you think "healing" looks like for you as a follower of Christ in the 21st century?

' 10But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.'

8.) Why is it necessary to respect when people we encounter say no to the message?  Why is it important that the message does not change even when that happens.

Questions from Sunday Nights talk

If you weren't able to make it out on Sunday night we have posted the talk on our podcast page here. 

Here are some questions which can hopefully keep our discussions going a little while.

1.) As a Christ follower do you tend to view yourself as someone who is preparing the way for the work God is still going to do, or only as someone who reflects on the work Christ did?  What difference would it make to see your role, in part, as preparing the way for what is still to come?

2.) It was mentioned that we are called to be a glimpse of the coming Kingdom (or a tremor/firstfruit).  Name some people, places, or times you have experienced that served as that glimpse for you?

3.) Talk some about your struggles or successes with trying to be a "firstfruit" in your life. (at work, in our family, with your friends etc.)

"Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves"
(Luke 10:3)

4) What does this verse say to you?  What do you think it means practically for us?

5) We talked of being both "sent" into this world, and of being something different than the world.  Have you ever faulted on one side or the other of this tension?  Do you still struggle with it some?