Lent is traditionally a time of self-examination as we prepare for Easter.
Today is a chance to check out our “spiritual heart health”
—to see what might be helping it and what might be hindering it.
Story I: Homecoming
1. What struck you in the scene? Were there any new or surprising insights?
2. Read Luke 15: 11-32
Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them.
A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” ’ So he set off and went to his father.
But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.
“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’ ”
3. Are there times when you’ve felt like the prodigal child in the story? Do you need to ask for forgiveness for anything in your life right now? Do you feel grateful for past forgiveness?
4. Are there times when you’ve felt like the older brother in the story? Is there anyone in your life you need to forgive?
In the parable, the father says to his older son: “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” There is an implied spiritual truth here: The years of close relationship the older son enjoyed by being with the father—the freedom he had to share in all the father’s riches—these were infinitely more precious than anything his brother experienced in the far country. How did the older son miss this? Somehow his relationship with his father had eroded into one of duty and obligation rather than an experience of joyful intimacy.
5. How are you currently experiencing your relationship with God: More times of joyful intimacy or more times of dutiful rule-following?
Suggested Task: God loves you unconditionally. Spend some time allowing yourself to receive that love and rest in that love.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Story II: The Lord’s Prayer Dialogue
1. What struck you in the scene? Were there any new or surprising insights?
We grow in faith when we stay in daily communication with God.
2. Read Matthew 6:7-14
7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;
15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
3. What is God saying to you right now?
Suggested Task: Write a dialogue with God.
Instructions: Find some private space with a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. (You can you the blank page after this one as your paper if you wish.) Take a deep breath, pray for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and then—at the top of the page—write one sentence to God about how you are feeling in this moment. After you’ve written your sentence, take another breath, listen carefully, and then write a sentence or two that you imagine God might say to you in response. Once again, pause, and then write a line you might say to God in response. Continue down the page, creating a written dialogue between yourself and God.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Story III: The Samaritan Woman at the Well
1. What struck you in the scene? Were there any new or surprising insights?
God both knows us completely and loves us completely.
When we experience this personally, our relationship with God
becomes more intimate and real.
2. Read John 4:5-26
5 Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you[c] say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”
Suggested Task: When have you experienced a time when you felt loved, known, or seen by God? Follow the instructions below to write a Three Sentence Story about that experience.
Testimony Haiku: Three Sentence Stories
“The mystery of story is this: everybody is one, everybody has some, and—given a conducive setting—everybody wants to tell theirs.” –John Shea
Instructions: Think of a time in your life when you felt loved, known, or seen by God. In a moment, we’re going to invite you to write that story down. But here’s the thing: All good stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end—so we’d like you to tell your story in just three sentences. This is a little bit of a challenge, so let me give you some examples of what I mean: These are stories that were written by people in other workshops or by Friends of the Groom staff.
I was on a plane in bad weather when something went wrong with the guidance system. The flight attendants told us to prepare for a crash landing, and we prayed for fifteen frightening minutes as the plane descended through clouds to finally touch down safely. We learned later that a small private jet in the area had gone ahead of us to guide us to the runway.
On a vacation near Lake Michigan, our family went looking for a private spot to watch the sunset. We discovered a road that dead-ended at a rocky beach, but when we climbed down to the water we found a small group of people—each of whom had been drawn to the place separately to see the view. For the next half hour, we all sat in reverent silence as the sun descended—an intimate crowd of strangers, united by a sense of the Presence that had arranged this sight for us.
My daughter Katie had been diagnosed with epilepsy at age 21, but had been incident free for a year when I got a call that she’d had another seizure five hours away. I found out later she’d been driving in her car alone for an hour, following friends for an outing to a lake. The seizure had come when they had pulled over for gas for 10 minutes, where she was 50 feet from friends in the safety of the parking lot.
Because I am four foot ten, weigh 85 pounds, and have several auto-immune diseases, the doctors told me I would not get pregnant. When I got pregnant, the doctors told me I was too small to carry the child to full term, and too weak for a Caesarian. I am now the mother of a healthy four-year old son.
You get the idea. So find a space where you can be by yourself. Take a deep breath and get relaxed, and then pray for the help of the Holy Spirit to bring to your mind an experience of being loved, known, or seen by God. Then work on writing that story in three concise sentences. When we gather back together, you’ll have a chance to read your story to the whole group. Of course, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. It’s always O.K. to pass.