Story, Shalom and then some (3/13/11)

It was great to see everyone yesterday! We started out talking about story and how:

• important it is.
• we have to train ourselves to value others' stories.
• we can use what we learn from other people's stories to gain wisdom for our own lives.

We recapped a bit of last week by asking the questions:
What's the point of God?
What's the point of church?

To begin to answer these questions, it's important to understand how our perspectives are formed out of the framework of belief or world view we, as individuals, have built.

Each of our frameworks will be different. Karl shared a bit of his framework with the group to give us a good example. "I grew up believing that God's purpose in my life was to help my life work out." However, he started to see things happen that contradicted this framework of belief.

If God seems to be a contradiction when I look at life, then something is missing:

Either God is wrong
OR
my understanding of God is wrong.

What we want to do here today (and continue in the future, of course) is to raise questions to help us start understanding some of that.

Discussion #1: What do you think God's general purpose is in our lives?

One answer to this question may be...
And one possibility we're going to explore is...

God's purpose in our lives is to bring us closer and closer to Shalom.

The goal is a movement, not an arrival. Here are a few moments in the Bible where we see this movement towards shalom.

Numbers 6:24-26

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Genesis 15:15

You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.

Matthew 5:23-24

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

After reflecting on these verses, Karl encouraged us to draw a picture of our idea of wholeness.

Discussion #2: Share your picture with your group and and explain what you think wholeness looks like in our lives.

(For the online discussion, you can talk about what you drew, if you were there. Or, if you weren't there, talk about the mental picture you get of wholeness in our lives.)

Have fun with the discussions. I can't wait to hear your thoughts!