Awaiting the Wonder:
Study Guide for Small Groups
Advent 2012
Oak Grove United Methodist Church
Introduction
Before we know it, Christmas will have come and gone again one more time. We will have filled and fulfilled our Christmas shopping lists, gone to countless parties and celebrations, and gathered in the sanctuary to sing Silent Night. You may be one of those people who looks for a new way to spiritually prepare yourself for a new experience of God’s presence during Advent and Christmas, but most of us are taken by surprise every single year at how quickly the next Christmas comes once we finally get all the decorations put away. Let us decide that this year will be different.
Oak Grove offers you Awaiting the Wonder by Tim Wesseman as a gift this Advent. In keeping with our habit of giving you something to ponder in the form of a devotional booklet, this time around we are taking another step in discipleship. We are encouraging you to participate in our Spiritual Strategic Journey and join a small group for the season and study this booklet together. More than that, though, we are asking you to practice wonder this season—to find new anticipation in your mind and your heart for the coming of Jesus this year. We know the story, and we know the need we face in our world for a Savior, even today. Maybe we know it so well that we have forgotten how incredibly exciting the whole idea of Immanuel (“God with us”) can be.
So, over the course of 4 weeks together we invite you to do the following things as you prepare to receive Christ in new ways this season:
· Recapture your spiritual imagination,
· Learn to stand in awe of the presence of God,
· Worship God with all you have, and
· Wonder at the gift of God in Christ for us all.
You will find in the pages that follow a small group study guide intended to be used with Awaiting the Wonder. We hope it gives you questions to discuss for your reflection together and suggestions for ways you can pray together and individually and open yourself to a new experience of God. Please spend time with your small group once every 7-10 days between now and Christmas discussing your thoughts on the booklet and on the season of Advent. Learn from each other, respect each other, be inspired by each other, find wonder in one another. Most of all, enjoy the time getting to know someone in your church family a little better.
May the peace of Christ and the excitement of the season be with you in these holy days.
Week 1: Recapture Child-like Wonder (beginning on the 1st Sunday in Advent)
Opening Activity
Spend some time catching up or getting to know each other if this is your first meeting.
· What are your hopes and expectations for this experience?
· Does anyone in the group already know each other?
· If you are continuing your Prayer Triplet, how do you anticipate that this experience will deepen your small group experience together?
· Allow each person time to respond to this question: what is your favorite child-hood Christmas memory?
Discussion
How do you define the word “wonder”?
During this first week of Advent, you may be spending a lot of time getting your home and your schedule ready for Christmas. Perhaps you have already gotten out your decorations, including your tree full of ornaments, a wreath on your door, shopping lists, maybe even your plans for New Years’ Eve. Lots of memories and familiar things are making their annual appearance. You’re thinking of favorite family members you will either see or not see this year. You’re thinking of the traditions that mean the most to you. You may already be singing or listening to your favorite Christmas carols. This week’s readings remind us of one we don’t hear very often: “I Wonder as I Wander”.
So, with all the busy-work of getting ready for the season, is there time to wonder about things like what we experience in these holy days that points us toward Jesus in a personal way? We so rarely find ourselves wandering around—can we slow down for a minute to remember what it felt like when we were children and we thought Christmas would never come?
Advent not only points us toward the story of the birth of Christ all those generations ago in Bethlehem, but it also points us toward the anticipation of another coming of Jesus into the world. Reflect together on these questions:
· How will he become real in your life this year?
· How will you help to make his presence known in your world?
· What are you most looking forward to about Christ’s return?
· What intimidates you about the second coming of Christ?
Closing Prayer
God of awe and wonder, give us grace to take time to look for you in our lives. Help us recapture the wonder we felt as children waiting for the celebration of the birth of your Son Jesus. And as we are getting ready for another busy season, help us find moments to slow down and be in your presence. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Week 2: Learn to Stand in Awe Once Again (beginning on the 2nd week of Advent)
Opening Activity
Allow everyone to respond to the following question: what is your favorite Christmas tradition (at home, at church, in your family, with a friend)?
Discussion
The daily readings for this week ask us to think about Jesus’ parents: Mary and Joseph. They both respond with grace and strength to the news that Jesus is coming into the world through their lives, though the news is disruptive and causes a bit of stress. Both, however, turn to the God they have come to know and love through the tradition of their faith and do not abandon God’s call on their lives when it is frightening.
Sunday’s devotion asks us to consider Advent/Christmas traditions that we could start in our own lives that might help us connect in a more meaningful way to the power of the birth of Jesus into our world, into our lives. Are there traditions in your own faith journey, on in the life of our church, or in Christianity at large that you find comforting when you find yourself in the midst of a difficult time? Perhaps you remember the words to the Lord’s Prayer or the Apostles’ Creed, or maybe you sing in the choir or the Praise Band and you find comfort and peace in God’s presence through the words of the great songs of our faith. You may have first learned about the importance of serving others by being a part of a local church. These traditions shape us into the people God wants us to be, and they help us reconnect with faith when we feel that we are straying away from the path that we should go.
What traditions of Christianity are most meaningful to you? Are you finding ways to participate in those traditions of our faith in a regular way? How is that participation helping you to stay connected to God and grow in your faith?
Closing Prayer
Pray in unison: Holy God, we thank you for the traditions of the church that have helped to teach us our faith. Call us again into relationship with you so that we me be in relationship with each other in the love of Christ, and help us to remember who we are and whose we are. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Week 3: Worship God with All You Have (beginning with the 3rd Sunday in Advent)
Opening Activity
Allow each person time to respond to these questions:
· What is your favorite Christmas carol or hymn?
· Why is this one your favorite?
Discussion
“In the Bleak Midwinter” is a carol that reminds us of the lowly and difficult circumstance of Jesus entry into the world. While it may likely have not been cold at the time of his birth, he was born to parents who were of no consequence to society and who did not and could not shower him with precious gifts or much of anything in abundance. The final stanza of the carol reminds us that we have nothing that could reimburse God for the gift of Christ.
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.
So, humbled, we are called to realize that what God wants from us is not possessions; it is heart—a heart that feels deeply for others. It is soul—the very core of our being and who we are. It is commitment—giving ourselves fully to God and to the ministry of the Gospel. These are all things that cannot be bought, yet they are more valuable than the brightest, most expensive, most beautiful gift we could think of giving or receiving.
The most important gift we have received from God is the gift of the people who are in our lives. Spouses, children, parents, friends, neighbors, and the people who share our pews in worship on Sunday are all gifts to us out of God’s abundant love for us.
· How are we giving back to God in abundance?
· Are there new ways that you can begin to offer God everything you have in worship and praise of God’s great love for us?
· Can you spend more time with others encouraging and helping sisters and brothers along the way?
· Can you find 5 minutes every day to pray and listen to what God is saying to your about your life?
As you are looking for the new way that Jesus will come into your life this year, look for ways God is asking you to take a step beyond where you are right now in your relationship with God and give more of yourself to living out your faith.
Closing Prayer
Ask on person to being the prayer, and then join in one at a time until everyone has had a chance to complete the following prayer:
“Generous and loving God, thank you for giving me life and grace. Help me to have confidence and assurance in my life as I work at giving you ______, even and especially when it is difficult. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.”
Week 4: Wonder at the Gift of God in Christ For Us All. (beginning with the 4th Sunday in Advent)
Opening Activity
Talk with the others in the group about friends or family you have who are not Christians. It is sometimes hard for us to know how to communicate with others who do not share our beliefs. And yet, the promise of hope in Christ is that his work of salvation has been done for us all—for us in the church and for us outside the church.
Discussion
This week’s Sunday reflection tells the story of children in Gaza who risk their lives to participate in a Christmas play in their church. “The play went on because the good news of hope through Jesus had to be shared, even in the midst of war.” (Wessman, p. 24) This is a somewhat startling reminder that life in other parts of the world is very different than what we experience in our daily lives here. And yet, the world and all its peoples are God’s people. It is God’s world, and Jesus came to all of us to offer a new way of life and salvation. That is the good news of Christ’s coming that the whole world, whether its people be living in war or peace, needs to hear!
You may not have thought of Advent and Christmas as a time to invite others to Oak Grove, but there is no better time! There are so many opportunities for the community to see us at our best in worship, drama, music, and more. And when we are at our best, it is God’s gifts being lived out in us that we see. And when we see God at work in our lives, we begin to see God at work in the lives of others.
As we get closer and closer to Christmas, take a break from the consumerist push of lists and Santa Claus and add a trip over to the church to sit in the Sanctuary and ponder in your heart all that God has done for you in your life, all that God has done for our church and those you know well who are part of our community of faith. Ponder the work of salvation that is offered to all of us and what might cause someone to turn away from that gift. Remember how you came into relationship with God and pray for an opportunity to offer someone else the same opportunity.
Has this study helped you to slow down a little this season? Have you been able to keep your commitments and responsibilities in check and to focus some extra time on prayer and your relationship with God? Have you gotten to know someone new who has added to your faith journey in a positive way?
Closing Prayer
Spend more time than usual in prayer as you close this session. Pray for each other’s concerns and each other’s joys. Name them so that others can pray for you. Pray for others’ needs specifically. Spend a minute or two in silence so that you can listen for God’s voice, and take your time and listen to each other as you pray for one another. Covenant to follow up by email with each other the week after Christmas to see how this small group experience has enhanced the Advent and Christmas experience of the members of your group.
Thank you for participating in this small group experience!