Pray
Gather together as a community in a comfortable setting. Have one person read John 11:20-35 over the group and then pray to ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide your time together.
Recap
Contrary to what we might hope, the life of a Christian is not free from suffering. Nonetheless, we are promised that we do not suffer alone or without purpose. Holding tightly to the knowledge that God does not cause our suffering, we also embrace the knowledge that God, in his kindness, makes use of our suffering for our refinement and to draw us to himself. Furthermore, moments and seasons of suffering can become guideposts, pointing us in the way of Jesus, who suffered on our behalf and ministers to us in our own suffering.
That said, we are not automatically carefree beings who embrace suffering joyfully at every turn. Most people fall somewhere along a spectrum between getting lost and isolated in our own or others’ suffering, or ignoring the suffering within and around us with heartless platitudes, poor theology, or misguided comparisons. As Christians, we are called to turn towards Christ and his body in full honesty of our experience of suffering. In so doing, we find hope and encouragement in the midst of our stories of pain, both as an act of resistance to the enemy and of redemption for this broken world.
Discuss
- If you are willing, share something from your journal or your experience more generally from the practice last week.
- What particular point or section from this past Sunday’s message did you find most impactful for you?
- Which side of the spectrum of experiencing suffering (as mentioned above) do you tend to find yourself on the most?
- If you are in a season of suffering, what might resistance or redemption look like for you?
Practice
This week, the practice is to do an imaginative reading of the John 11 passage that was read at the beginning of this practice. To do this, simply read the story slowly, while imagining yourself as one of the characters presented there. Allow your thoughts and emotions to come up during the reading and see if you can imagine Jesus attending to you specifically as you read.
The goal is to do this practice at least twice, so that you can imagine yourself as each of the sisters. Notice how Jesus attends to the head/theology of the one, but the heart/emotions of the other. See if you can imagine Jesus meeting you in each of these same spaces.
If time allows, do a third reading imagining yourself as a member of the fellow mourners, in which you may be interceding on behalf of someone you know who is suffering, perhaps someone in your own community. Ask the Spirit of Jesus if he might offer you something to share with that person.
Write down anything Jesus says to you during these imaginative Scripture readings, and come to your next community night ready to share about your experience.
Pray
End by allowing members of your community to briefly share their present experiences of suffering. Then have someone read Isaiah 53:2-5 over the group and then lift the names of those who shared to the Lord in prayer.