Sacred Space – Small Group Resources

Year A Letters

Ordinary Time, Proper 22

Philippians 3:4–14 NRSV

Gathering

Welcome

Ordinary Time is the Christian calendar period from Pentecost to Advent. This part of the Christian calendar is without major festivals or holy days. During Ordinary Time we focus on our discipleship as individuals and as a faith community.

Prayer for Peace

Ring a bell or chime three times slowly. Light the peace candle

Today’s Prayer for Peace is inspired by Community of Christ Sings 303, “Till All the Jails are Empty,” by Carl P. Daw, Jr.

...in classroom, church, and office, in shops or on the street; in every place where people thrive or starve or hide or meet: God has work for us to do.

Servant God, sometimes we forget that you serve as often as you lead. You are the lawyer working to make the system just. You are the teacher empowering the timid youth. You are the kind coworker standing up for the ignored new employee. You are the scientist working for a more sustainable future. You are the volunteer unlocking the doors and cleaning the floors. You arrive early and stay late. You see beauty and wonder in it all!

When we grow tired of working for peace, remind us that seeds crack before they sprout into tiny leaves, which take many sunrises and sunsets to grow and to produce fruit. Open our eyes to see the beauty in the work, so we would be energized to do your good and beautiful work of bringing peace to our world!

In the name of the One who sows seeds with us, Jesus. Amen.

Spiritual Practice Unity

Our Enduring Principle for this week’s spiritual practice is Unity in Diversity. Not one person on Earth is exactly like another. We all are shaped by our culture, genetics, upbringings, families, experiences, beliefs, etc. But we all have one thing in common: We all are divinely made. Unity in Diversity respects the differences while honoring the Divine in all voices.

But God has so arranged the body…that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

1 Corinthians 12:24–26 NRSV

Think about the past week. Who showed compassion when you felt sad or were suffering? Who rejoiced with you in the good things that happened? Invite people to share. Who do you know who has suffered this week? How were you able to share this burden with them?

Who had cause to rejoice this week? How have you celebrated with them? Invite people to share.

Offer a short blessing of unity and close with “Amen ”

Sharing Around the Table

Philippians 3:4–14 NRSV

Even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

In our hyper-competitive world, street cred is one thing people use to get an edge, just a little step ahead of the competition. In most communities around the globe, an organization or church counts as its members some if not all community power brokers.

This is so common in some societies that no thought is given to the dynamics it represents. Those who find their meaning and purpose wrapped up in belonging to the power church and fix their identity on righteousness as defined by the church will tend to ignore those on the outside or at worst persecute them. This was Paul’s life before his road to Damascus experience.

Afterward, the Apostle Paul spent the rest of his life trying to understand the meaning of this experience with Christ. It was so profound that his entire worldview changed. The realization that being in right relationship with God through our own actions or by following the rules exactly comes into stark contrast to the righteousness found in faith in Jesus and the liberty of the gospel. When Paul says he wants to be found in Christ, he is saying he wants the righteousness that comes to us through what God has done instead of what we, ourselves, have done, which is always short of the mark.

Questions

1. Paul discovered that his time and effort trying to save himself was lost to him when he found himself in Christ. Have you ever had a sense of wasting time and effort chasing salvation by your own means?

2. Paul alludes to the grace of God expressed in Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. If grace is true, what implications does that truth have on your life, neighborhood, city, the world?

3. According to the letter, being in Christ is Paul’s sole pursuit. What does “being in Christ” look like in your daily life?

Sending

Generosity Statement

Beloved Community of Christ, do not just speak and sing of Zion. Live, love, and share as Zion: those who strive to be visibly one in Christ, among whom there are no poor or oppressed.

—Doctrine and Covenants 165:6a

The offering basket is available if you would like to support ongoing, small-group ministries as part of your generous response. This offering prayer is adapted from A Disciple’s Generous Response:

Discipling God, as we navigate our world of debt and consumerism, help us to save wisely, spend responsibly, and give generously. In this way may we prepare for the future and create a better tomorrow for our families, friends, the mission of Christ, and the world. Amen.

Invitation to Next Meeting

Closing Hymn

CCS 550 “We Are Pilgrims on a Journey”

Closing Prayer

Optional Additions Depending on Group

Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper

Thoughts for Children

Thoughts for Children

You will need:

• playdough or clay (homemade or store-bought)

• various small objects that will leave an imprint when pressed into playdough (It is especially good if these objects represent joy, hope, love, and peace in some way.)

In today’s scripture, Paul writes to the Philippians to encourage them to continue pressing toward their goal of God’s preferred future. In Community of Christ, we call this preferred future Zion. We believe that in Zion peace and wholeness will exist for all creation.

Just as Paul encouraged the Philippians to press on, we are invited to press on in Christ’s mission. Pressing on means we keep trying, no matter what. Even when bad things are happening, we are called to believe that a better way is possible. Then we are to work to make that better way a reality.

When we press on, we leave our mark on the world and hopefully help it move closer to God’s preferred future.

Today, I am going to give you each some playdough. I want you to press the various objects I’ve brought into the playdough so you can see how they leave a mark.

After participants have explored pressing objects into their playdough, say: You each can take your playdough with you. Each time you play with it, remember to press on and leave an impression of God’s joy, hope, love, and peace on the world.