MARCH 2012
celloutlines | overview
Boundless easter! This month we are looking at the subject of Boundless Easter. We will follow Jesus, and also the followers who lived and journeyed with him, as he took on the most decisive and influential event in the story of everything that has ever been, or ever will be! We cannot put enough emphasis on the boundless nature of this, the climax of God’s story. Through an analysis of Easter, we are brought closer to the very nature of our creator, and whilst we will only barely scratch the surface of the story over this coming month, we are invited to look upon the face of a God who loved the world enough to give his son for it. Easter combines all the ingredients of a great story: love, fear, relationships, life, death, life again… and there is the added impact of the fact that this story is true, with more books dedicated to its telling than any other, and with millions upon millions of people claiming to be in love with the author. More importantly, the author first loved his followers, and that’s why we needed the story! So as we have highlighted the importance of the story – we are going to spend a fair bit of time reading this month! It’s a story month! It would be great to get your group to commit to reading the gospel of Luke, as the Easter part of Jesus’ story does not make sense unless you first take the time to read about Jesus time spent growing up; his family, his followers and his ministry. We will be exploring the fact the Jesus was the Messiah, but also (and equally) a prophet, a Jewish Rabbi (teacher), a son and friend, and many other things that all come together in his death and resurrection. Ask your group about how they are going to be able to fit in reading a whole book of the bible over a month. Think through good strategies to make this work – i.e. breaking it up through the day, dedicating one evening to giving a few hours of reading armed with a notebook and pencil.
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Luke is 24 chapters long, so if you think that realistically there is no way your group will read it, then consider other formats where Jesus story is told. There are many movies, musicals, youtube clips etc that pick out key milestones of Jesus life. The reason we have chosen this gospel is that Luke structures his themes in a brilliant way. It is thought that he was a doctor, and he wrote the book of Acts as well as this intelligent gospel. Disclaimer: Sometimes we gloss over the fact that Jesus was killed in an incredibly gruesome and inhuman way. As group leaders, it is vital that you choose how to talk about this, and present any written or film material in an appropriate manner that considers the age of your cell group members and their emotional capacity. There may be individuals who would be upset if content is not presented in the right way. Please talk to your officers, youth leaders and/or parents of your young people about what material is appropriate to use. If at all possible, it is helpful to find a good explanation of what is going on in the biblical text, and the best example of this we can recommend is ‘Luke for Everyone’, by Tom Wright. Tom is an Anglican Bishop and leading New Testament scholar who writes in an accessible way. There are lots of passages in Luke including Jesus’ parables that were designed to tell us what God’s kingdom is like, and what he was setting about doing on the cross. These passages have been interpreted in many ways both helpfully and unhelpfully from then to now, and so we will take the time to apply the ALOVE Shelf Life App’s (Pray, Read, Explore, Question, Dig, Live) to the story, and try to understand a bit more of what God has done, and what that means for our lives. For week 1: Read Luke 1-7. Write down the bits that you think are most important. Also, write down any bits that you do not understand. By Week 2, read Luke 19 - 20 continued over >>>
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By Week 3, read Luke 22 – 23 By Week 4, read Luke 24. You will need lots of arty materials throughout the course – pens, paint etc. Get a big pad of paper A3 or A2 would be ideal, some card and different coloured post it notes for weeks 1 and 2. Food/snacks and ambient music tracks for week 3. Research pictures of the resurrection and bring magazines with pictures for week 4. Bring a camera (or camera phone) for week 4.
celloutlines
MARCH 2012
celloutlines | overview (continued...)
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MARCH 2012
celloutlines | week one These Cell Outlines are written by ALOVE UK. They are available each week from our web site. For more information and other cell resources, visit www.salvationarmy.org.uk/alove/resources *Preparation. Write/print the following verses onto pieces of card (Choose a simple version like The Message or another that your group use regularly): John 1:1, Philippians 2: 5-11, Psalm 22:12-19, Isaiah 53: 1-12.
Prophecy to Ascendancy Jesus is the son of God. Fully God, fully man. An equal member of the Trinity. To try and understand why he died and resurrected at Easter, we have to get our heads around the fact that his story begins way before the baby Jesus being born in Bethlehem, and lasts longer than the man Jesus dying at Jerusalem. We begin our theme of Boundless Easter, by considering how God’s son came to Earth and put on flesh.
Welcome: Before we begin to delve in to the Easter story in detail, it would be great to get a picture of how much of the story we already know from memory. On a large sheet of paper, draw a horizontal line across the centre of the page, dividing your sheet in two. You are going to use this sheet of paper as a timeline. Write the word Prophesy at the far left of the page, and Ascension at the far right. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, the prophets of Israel started to tell stories of the coming Messiah, so that when he came everyone would recognise that God was with his people. So prophecy is a good starting point for our timeline. The Ascension comes later in the story, it is the moment Jesus returned to Heaven after raising from the dead and spending time with his disciples. We know that one day he is coming back bringing Heaven to Earth, but for this exercise, the ascension can be the end of our timeline. Now as a group, recall as many elements of the gospel story as you can, and write them onto the timeline. You may not all agree on the right order, but get as many important things about Jesus life onto the timeline. (*hint – don’t forget Jesus’ birth, baptism, and list some of his miracles and parables etc…).
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Have some the more arty members of your group add pictures around the events on your timeline. *Keep the timeline somewhere safe as you will need to add to it in future weeks during this series.
Word: Read John 1:
The Word Became Flesh 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. continued over >>>
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MARCH 2012
celloutlines | week one (continued...) 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, this was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No-one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known. Jesus is described here in John 1:1 as being present at the creation of the Universe. He is also mentioned in many prophecies about the coming messiah written hundreds of years before his birth. We can read about his time on Earth in the New Testament through the gospels, and then through Pauls letters and the book of Revelation, we can fully understand that this God/Man is the key to the entire universe. Through him we are saved from sin, and in the end, his way of life will rule forever!
Discuss: • Which lines from John 1:1 stand out to you and why? • Why do you think the author mentions John the Baptist, and Moses?
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In small groups, read the other bible verses prepared on card – they are all prophecies about the Messiah. Remember, hundreds of years before, Israel was once held captive by Egypt, until God saved them. The idea of God saving them again through his chosen King or Messiah is really important to their identity.(A prophecy is simply a word inspired by God). • What do the prophecies have in common? • Is there anything that surprises you about how they say the Messiah will be treated? • Do you think Israel recognised Jesus to be this predicted Messiah? • How does John 1 and these other passages fit alongside what you have read so far in Luke 1 -7?
Worship: Chat through: Sometimes the Easter part of the Jesus story takes us by surprise. We read about 3 years of his ministry where amazing things happen, people are healed, thousands are fed, a new way of viewing the world is revealed, and Jesus is welcomed into Jerusalem by crowds of people calling him the Messiah, then within a few verses we learn Jesus is to die on the cross. 1. The Bible describes Jesus in lots of different ways (King, shepherd, prophet etc). Using the verses we have continued over >>>
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read earlier, how many ways can you think of describing Jesus? 2. How do you experience these many aspects of Jesus’ character in your own life? 3. Do you think Jesus always thought of himself as God? 4. When on the timeline do you think Jesus knew he was going to have to die and be resurrected? In our word section we asked why John the Baptist and Moses were mentioned. One thought on this is that John represents the prophets of Israel, and Moses represents the Law (The Ten Commandments which he brought back from the mountain top). Living according to the message of the prophets, and the law was important to Israel – It was called Halakah, or ‘The Way’. When Jesus came, he described himself as the way, truth and life. John 1 is saying that Jesus was more important than every great prophet Israel had known. Even more important than the Law. We worship the same Jesus. Take some time in small groups to pray. Thank Jesus for being willing to come to Earth and become a man. Think about what that meant for him – how much he had to leave behind. Thank Jesus for being a friend, teacher and the Lord of our lives. Thank Jesus that he was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and give up his life so that all our sin could be swallowed up and forgiven. Write or draw your prayers onto card and stick them around your timeline.
For next time: Read Luke Chapters 8 – 20 (If you cannot manage all of this, then DEFINITELY read Chapters 19 and 20!)
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MARCH 2012
celloutlines | week one (continued...)
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MARCH 2012
celloutlines | week two These Cell Outlines are written by ALOVE UK. They are available each week from our web site. For more information and other cell resources, visit www.salvationarmy.org.uk/alove/resources
Pilgrimage to Passover. What did the disciples think was going to happen as they approached Jerusalem?
Intro: The challenge of the Easter story for modern followers of Jesus is the familiarity factor. As we were reminded last week, the original disciples did not see the crucifixion coming – even those who picked up on the fact that Jesus was the Messiah. For us however, the story does not always seem new. Some of your group will no doubt have heard the Easter story every year of their life (or as far back as they can remember). They may have seen bits of it acted out by older members of the corps or family members (dressed in tea towels like Christmas, but with a more serious tone), or heard a million songster songs/ band pieces… even the movies and more recent interpretations of the story can’t escape the fact that as with big movies like Titanic – we kinda know where everything is heading. We understand that Jesus will be handed over to die, but it is going to be ok. The risk of this, is that the story gets watered down. This week, we are going to carry on the theme of God rescuing his people. In the Old Testament, this was a journey from slavery in Egypt to the promised land. Sadly, Israel proved consistently unable to be faithful to God, and in the New Testament, they find themselves once again under oppression, this time by the might of Rome, but more importantly, they are once again far from God. In the Old Testament story, we see an angel of death pass over the Israelite doors, prompting a pilgrimage (journey) to their own promised land, in this second story, we see Jesus leading his disciples on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where the Passover is to be celebrated, and once again, God is determined to set his people free.
Welcome: Write the following familiar bible names across the top of a sheet of paper (*leaving enough space between each name for a post it note sized gap): Herod Mary
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Peter Lazarus Zacchaeus Take a few post it notes each, and write a sentence on each one about the people listed above. Think about what they were like before and after meeting Jesus. If you are not sure, chat about it as a group. Stick each post it note under the named person at the top of the page, so there forms a chain of notes showing what they were like initially, running down to what they were like after Jesus appeared in their lives. • Did meeting Jesus make their life better or worse? Why? • Discuss: What difference has meeting Jesus made in your life? *Stick the character post it chains to the timeline you created last week.
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MARCH 2012
celloutlines | week two (continued...) Word: Parables, miracles and action: Luke 19 and 20 are amazing chapters of the bible. They follow a number of incredible stories of Jesus spending time with ‘the wrong type of people’, and teaching the Pharisees the true nature of God’s kingdom through parables (Lost sheep, lost coin, lost son etc) and miraculous healings (Crippled woman on the Sabbath, LAZARUS!). They contains one of the most well known stories of all time (Jesus meeting Zacchaeus), followed by one of the least known stories of all time (Jesus telling the parable of the Ten Minas – or the story about investment, as the Message version helpfully calls it). The stories surround Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem. • Why does Luke make sure he captured the odd Zacchaeus and ten Minas stories alongside the more triumphant Jerusalem entry bit? 1. Luke is the only gospel author to remember the Zacchaeus story, and he places it right here before the whole Easter story kicks off! He obviously felt that there is something important about Jesus meeting this man who was despised by everyone. • Read aloud, or have someone who has done this week’s reading recap the story of Zacchaeus from memory. The theologian Tom Wright points out that one of the reasons that Zacchaeus is such a loved childrens tale, is that kids can relate to being small, and stuck behind all the larger people trying to see when something important is going on. Many young people and adults also might relate in a different way to the man who wants to get close to Jesus, but was afraid of the cost this may bring. This story is amazing, because it highlights one of the important messages of Jesus the Messiah – once you recognize who he is, and have faith, your whole life is open to change! Everyone hated Zacchaeus, because they knew that he lived a rich life on their money. It is fairly well accepted that he would have over taxed people, and perhaps even his own employees and servants, but when Jesus says “I must stay at your house today”, he quickly repents and gives away everything, because he has found something worth so much more. Jesus says “Salvation has come to your house today”. Even the most despised man of the day is loved by Jesus and welcomed in to God’s salvation.
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2. Read Luke 20 and sketch out the parable as a comic strip. The story of the ten Minas is very odd to sit here. Luke could have simply left it out, as Jesus has already given loads of parables about the Kingdom, and he is currently involved in a great debate with the chief priests about where he got his authority from (technically the chief priests should have been the ones with authority, but that story was beginning to unravel). Luke recognised why Jesus stops to tell the story of a man who sends messengers and finally his son to his people, only to find they would not listen, and they ultimately kill his son. This is a picture of what is about to happen to him – he is the son, and the tenants want to keep the vineyard to themselves – i.e. the corrupt priests and religious people want to act like they are the owners of God’s truth. Jesus wants the crowd to understand what is about to happen, as he, like the son in the story is about to be killed. Tom Wright says ‘Israel has rejected the way of peace, and will now reject its final messenger (19:41-44). In the story, the owner comes in person and with strong judgment. In reality, Israel did not embrace Jesus way of peace and repentance, and was eventually wiped out by the Romans. • How can we be sure to listen to the voice of God when it comes? How do you generally hear from God? • What did the Pharisees, and the disciples make of the story, and the meeting with Zacchaeus? • The God of Israel still loved Israel’s enemies, and even the most despicable characters like Zacchaeus. How can we be sure we live an inclusive life that has love for everyone? • The tenants story reminds us that whilst the Pharisees may get their way in the short term, Jesus was ultimately proven to be the true Son of God. Do we, like the Pharisees sometimes miss the real Jesus wanting to have more of our lives? continued over >>>
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Worship: Within 2 chapters, we find ourselves back at the Passover meal. The pilgrimage to Jerusalem is at an end, and the first Easter is about to begin. Try to think from the perspective of someone living at the time. You may choose one of the characters from above. Imagine you have picked up the journey to Jerusalem with this group of people, and write a diary entry detailing what you make of the teacher, Jesus. You will have only heard snippets about this Rabbi passing through your town – but now you have seen him for yourself, and he tells stories that are obviously about God rescuing his people, using language that reminds you of all the old stories of the Messiah, God’s coming king. Now he is starting to cause a bit of a stir, challenging those in power and ending with the parable about tenants killing the land owner’s son. You feel that the King in the story must be God, and sense that something incredible is about to happen through this man Jesus. Complete your diary entry with a prayer, asking God to reveal to you more about this man Jesus. Pray that his stories and blessings will apply to your life.
For next week: Read Luke 22 and 23. Bring some food to the next cell group – (group leader can prepare this, or each member can bring something to share). Listen to lots of ambient music over the coming week – tracks that help you think about Jesus facing and conquering death! Bring a track next week.
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MARCH 2012
celloutlines | week two (continued...)
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MARCH 2012
celloutlines | week three These Cell Outlines are written by ALOVE UK. They are available each week from our web site. For more information and other cell resources, visit www.salvationarmy.org.uk/alove/resources
The God/Man dies. What is God doing through the crucifixion? We will be looking at the classic themes of forgiveness, sanctification, atonement and the resurrection (and briefly explaining what these words mean). You will need: Some snacks, ambient music tracks, 5 prepared title sheets – *Leaders see appendix resource. We are going to look ahead to the crucifixion today and spend some time reflecting on what Jesus chose to do for us. But before we do, let’s consider the final events leading up to Jesus’ death.
Welcome We have got to the Passover festival. Jesus had purposefully chosen his moment to enter Jerusalem to coincide with this coming festival, as it was the season where Israel was most excited. There was a general feel that because Israel’s God was the God of the whole world, all the other rulers from Greece, Rome, Persia etc were false Gods. At Passover, there was the feel that God’s kingdom was close, perhaps the other rulers would be overthrown so that Israel could once again be under God’s direct kingship. Jesus chose this time to tell the parable from last week’s session about the tenants, and his meaning was obvious to everyone – the leaders of the time would have to accept Jesus teaching, or kill him. Having made his mark on Jerusalem, and even cried over the city knowing that they would not repent, Jesus called his followers together for one last meal. • Spend some time eating together. Catch up on the comings and goings of the last week. *Important – leave some food for the end! • After 10-15 minutes of enjoying each others company, stop and read Luke 22:14-23.
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• Have a quick discussion about what Jesus was doing with the bread and wine. Do you think the disciples understood yet what was about to happen?
Worship Place 5 large sheets of paper around the room with the words: Atonement, Substitution, Sacrifice, Victory, Adoption. Spend 5-10 minutes in quiet prayer whilst listening to the ambient music (you can choose a few different tracks if each member has brought something). • Thank Jesus for his willingness to die for us. • Ask God to remind you that he loves and died for you. • Bring all the sin and rubbish that you have going on in your life, as well as any worries, and silently whisper them to Jesus in prayer, remembering that this was one of the reasons he died – so that all the punishment and guilt that we deserve from a perfect God could be taken away. Look at some of the ideas written on the papers suggesting different interpretations of what God was doing through the cross. These are by no means a full list. Each idea can be helpful in thinking of why God chose to intervene in the world through this way, but none of the ideas are the full truth. continued over >>>
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MARCH 2012
celloutlines | week three (continued...) • Write your thoughts around each of the titles. These could be words of thanks, or questions about whether you find each idea helpful or not. (It is ok to struggle with the idea that God choose to save the world in this odd way). • Together, read Psalm 22. Take a verse or two each. Remember that even though we know that in the end everything will be ok, at the time, Jesus really did suffer and die. Someone loved you all (and individually) enough to go through pain so that you could one day be in a relationship with the God of the Universe who is perfect.
Word In the crucifixion, God is placing the end of the story in the middle of the story. We all know and trust that despite all the rough things we see in the world, God wins, and one day Heaven and Earth will be the same! God will be King! Jesus dying and being resurrected 2000 years ago was the end of the story, but because we already know about it, we can live a life where God is king now! Have someone read the quote below from Lesslie Newbigin’s brilliant book ‘A walk through the Bible’. “And so he is condemned, humiliated, flogged, taken out to die. One more crucified fighter for the kingdom. But unlike all who had gone before, Jesus’ words are not curses for those who torture him, but words of forgiveness. As each nail is hammered in he repeats the words ‘Father forgive them’, and his final words are of peace and forgiveness to a terrorist crucified beside him, and for his heartbroken mother and disciple. Then comes those terrible hours of darkness, followed by the cry: ‘My God, why hast thou forsaken me?’… He goes down into the very depths of dereliction, so that there could be no depths of despair into which we could ever fall in which the son of God would not be there beside us. And then all things achieved, he cries out: ‘It is finished.’”
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Spend a few minutes in silence thinking over these words. Next week we will think about the resurrected Jesus, and what that means for his followers. The best picture of this he gives, is that our lives should resemble a party – so spend the last minutes of this week’s session finishing off the food, and being glad together that God loved us enough to give his Son for us!
Resources for leaders: Write the following titles and accompanying text onto separate large sheets of paper. Atonement: Perfect God and fallen man are brought back into relationship with each other forever. Substitution: All the horrific things that happen in the world and in our personal lives are punished and finished with through Jesus. Sacrifice: Israel had lots of different sacrifice practices designed to take away sin, but they were all temporary. Jesus was perfect and without sin – but chose to take on sin for us for all time. Victory: Death would not be the end for Jesus, so we are offered a resurrection life (now) where we do not need to fear death, sin or evil anymore.
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Adoption: Jesus is God’s son. He continues the idea that we are to be rescued by God, and offers us adoption into God’s family for all time.
For next week: Read Luke 24 Bring magazines, paper, scissors and arty materials. Get online and print out some pictures of the resurrection – try and find different ones (some classical paintings, more contemporary ones, etc).
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MARCH 2012
celloutlines | week three (continued...)
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MARCH 2012
celloutlines | week four These Cell Outlines are written by ALOVE UK. They are available each week from our web site. For more information and other cell resources, visit www.salvationarmy.org.uk/alove/resources
From Ashes to Beauty. The true Boundless Easter story. Welcome Catch up with each other. Alongside this group cell journey, many of you will have given up (or taken up) things as an individual journey for lent, and will be quite excited by now about the prospect of succeeding in this effort. Lent began a while back on Ash Wednesday (Feb 22), and runs for 40 days highlighting what is sometimes referred to as Holy Week, and marking the death and resurrection of Jesus, finishing as a celebration on Easter Sunday. The general idea is that through an extended period of prayer, fasting things, giving, repentance and self-denial we ask for the truth of the boundless Jesus to be more real for us. • Have any of you experienced something positive through lent? • Have any of you read a lent related article through Facebook, twitter or a podcast that has challenged you? • How does the act of self-denial bring us closer to God? • Did any of you take part in Live Below the Line last May – and if so how did you feel when taking part in that? • Why not suggest for your group take part in Live Below the Line this year and then draw on the comparisons and differences in taking part in something like this and Lent.
Worship Lent ends with resurrection. We are going to spend some time in prayer and praise of the God who conquers death.
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Using the titles below and Luke 24 for inspiration spend 10-15 mins writing poems, painting/sketching pictures, collating collages from magazine pictures: • Back from the dead • New Life • Boundless Easter • Resurrection • (Title of your choosing) Get really creative, and try to pour out something of the joy of the creator God who conquered death for us. • Take the pictures of the resurrection and discuss each one. Which is your favourite and why? • Choose a picture each, and write the passage from Luke 24: 5 – 8 onto the picture. You can do this in any way you choose. Remember the angel’s message of Luke 24:5 (Why do you look for Jesus among the dead?) in the coming weeks and months try and adopt a prayerful attitude. Take your picture and put it somewhere as a reminder of the continued over >>>
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MARCH 2012
celloutlines | week four (continued...) resurrection God’s presence in your life. Ask Jesus each morning to truly live in our everyday lives and give him the opportunity to teach you and pour out his love to others through you.
Word Read Luke 24:13-35 (the road to Emmaus) Jesus explains what has happened to disciples that have already missed the point. A living breathing Jesus on Easter Sunday changes everything we know about the world. Dead people are not meant to come back. And yet, in Luke 24 we find Jesus very much alive, and gathering his disciples for action, setting them on a lifelong journey to be his witnesses in the world. It is because of this event, that we are able to worship today – the fact that the disciples met with the living breathing Jesus, and were inspired (and spirit filled) to get the message out to all people, spanning decades and centuries, and now we find ourselves involved in the same journey of bearing witness to the most remarkable event in the history of everything. Lots of people struggle with the idea that dead tissue could be brought back to life. This is most likely down to the fact that we do not see it happen often (if at all). Usually, when we see death, we see decay, and eventually we see nothing at all. However, as the theologian Lesslie Newbigin points out, in this scenario, we are witnessing the ‘first fruits of God’s intention to recreate the whole cosmos according to his glorious purpose’. Get around your group timeline from weeks 1 and 2, write some of the key themes you have discovered around the resurrection. Take pictures of the timeline if you have a camera phone (if not, get your group leader to take a snap that can be sent around everyone at a later date). Congratulate yourselves – you have read a whole book of the bible, and will always be able to dip back into the book of Luke as a resource for God’s views on salvation and faith.
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This is exciting stuff!
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