By Cameron Silsbee
Begin with prayer.
Gather together as a Community in a comfortable setting. Take a moment of silence in the presence of Jesus and each other. Have one person read over the group Exodus 3v7-8 and then pray to ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide your time together.
Debrief the teaching.
- Was there anything that stood out to you about the teaching?
- What response do you have to the formula: Intimacy with God + Holiness + Faith = Power?
Discuss the following prompts.
As you talk through these prompts, we can demonstrate respect and care for each other by listening well. It’s usually best to avoid correcting, “teaching,” or attempting to fix a person’s problems unless they invite the group to respond in any of those ways. Feel free to share as much or as little as you feel comfortable sharing.
- What has been noteworthy to you from the weekly practice of Lectio Divina throughout this series? Is there any particular text or experience that has lingered in your mind?
- We began the series with this fill-in-the-blank: “Because God is the one who rescues us out of slavery and into freedom, he will [blank] for you.” How did you fill in that blank at the beginning of the series? How would you fill it in now?
Talk through this week’s Practice.
For the next three weeks (beginning tonight), practice listening prayer over each person in your Community. Ask the person/people being prayed for whether there is anything in particular they would like the group to ask Jesus about on their behalf.
One way to do this is to have the person being prayed over sit in the group’s center, have everyone lay hands on the person, and invite God’s Spirit to speak over the person. After a few minutes of silent listening prayer, begin to share with the person what the group members felt God wanted to say to them. Remember, this is done with humility (“I could be wrong, but I felt like…”), and it is for the encouragement of the person (1 Corinthians 14v3).
Another way to do this is to choose a third of the people in the group for the Community to be praying and listening to the Spirit on behalf of throughout the coming week. When you come back together next week, be prepared to share with the person anything you felt the Spirit wanted to say through you. Once everyone has shared, pick others to pray and listen to the Spirit for the coming week.
If listening prayer is new to you or you’re not very comfortable with it yet, ask Jesus to bring something to your mind that is good about the person or perhaps a verse that might be appropriate for them. In this way, you can still speak blessing over the person with an openness to God’s Spirit.
Close in prayer.
End your time together by having one person read the Nicene Creed over the group.
I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him, all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father [and the Son], who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy and apostolic Church. I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
Amen.