Lessons: Meeting with Jesus

Exploring Spirituality

What To Do With Guilt. We live in a world that is filled with conflict and alienation, a world of fragmented and broken relationships, a world of lost dreams and personal failures. People are hurting for all kinds of reasons and often choose to resolve their pain in ways that instead bring greater pain to themselves and others. It’s so often the case that when we have unresolved guilt and pain inside, we lash out either at ourselves or at others. And the result is a “lose-lose” life. Is it possible to stop this inherently painful and destructive cycle of alienation and brokenness? Is it possible to live life with a sense of peace in a world of conflict? What can be done with our personal guilt from our own failures? Just live with it? What do we do with those areas of life where we need to either receive forgiveness or give it?
Why am I Here? This presentation is designed for people who have not yet come to a point in their spiritual journey where they have decided to become a follower of Jesus.
How Can I Be More Compassionate and Centered? Your life is like either a small bowl of still water or a wide, deep and fl owing river. The truth is, we cannot keep the “salt” from entering our lives—pain, crisis, difficulties, distasteful people and things happen—usually beyond our control. But we do have the ability to absorb the “salt” and make our lives livable by how wide and deep our hearts are. We can grow our hearts bigger to the point of being capable of embracing all of life. So the question is, what does it take to grow a bigger heart? What are the keys to centering ourselves more and more in compassion and peace? Are there tools we can use to help expand our hearts and minds and spirits?
Why Would I Want to be Saved? Many people grow up with a fairly defined view of life: Do good and you go to heaven, do bad and you go to hell. So the basic human problem is trying to do good and trying to not do bad. Your outcome is all about how well you do with one or the other. Some simply give up on the exercise and throw away the whole concept. Perhaps you’ve had the experience of being confronted by a well-meaning Christian with the blunt question, “Are you saved?” The question most often means, “Are you confident that you’ll go to heaven when you die?” The implication is that the most important thing about life now is to concern yourself with the afterlife. Getting saved means securing your future in the next life.
The Hungers of My Life. There are two things that are endemic to the human condition. Number one, we all have heart hungers, deep longings that sometimes seem so hard to fill; dissatisfaction with the way things are, a restlessness that sometimes manifests itself inthe form of an aching feeling inside. These are often the hungers that either aren’t acknowledged or seem impossible to fulfill. Some people do not spend much time considering these hungers. Others use many strategies that prove ineffective. Yet these heart hungers are the most significant in terms of life fulfillment and meaning. Number two, we all face “a mountain of obstacles,” that tend to prevent those heart hungers from being adequately fed. Just admitting or embracing our hungers isn’t enough. Hungers automatically drive toward fulfillment. But all of us encounter obstacles needing to be overcome and dealt with in order for satisfaction to be realized. And that means work, more energy, focus, determination, tenacity; all those traits that take time to develop and insist upon extra energy to be applied.
Is It Possible to Know If there is a God? How do you know what you know? When we have a conversation with someone about God or the Bible we usu- ally ask questions about the content of our faith. People who are curious about faith typically ask content questions as well. Someone may say, “What do you believe?” And underneath the question of belief is usually the question of knowledge, “What do you know to be fact?” But more and more in our postmodern world, people are asking a different question.
Global Values and the Sabbath. Ziggy, clothed in his swim suit, is standing on the beach. He’s holding a big shell up to his ear, listening. A voice from inside says, “Good afternoon, sir. I represent the Crustacean Liberation Front ….” Let’s face it, more than just crustaceans need liberating on this planet. Several years ago, dead porpoises were washing up on the Atlantic beaches. Someone theorized that a virus was killing them, maybe even AIDS. After all, used medical syringes and hospital waste were washing up on beaches near the major metropolitan areas along the east coast.
Ways to Encounter God. John Dunne wrote about some early Spanish sailors who reached the continent of South America after an arduous voyage. The fleet sailed into the headwaters of the Amazon, an expanse of water so wide the sailors thought they were still at sea. It never occurred to them to drink the water, since they expected it to be salt water, and as a result some of these sailors died of thirst. That scene of men dying of thirst even as their ships floated on the world’s largest source of fresh water is in many ways a metaphor for our age. Is it possible that many people starve to death spiritually while all around us are the footprints of God and rumors of transcendence in places we never thought of looking? And that if we lived with more awareness of the divine, the eyes of our hearts open to those mysteries and wonders, we might experience God in meaningful and life transforming ways? Before we explore how it might be possible to encounter God more often in our lives, it would be helpful to acknowledge the various obstacles that exist to that experience.
Human Destiny. Eschatology is the study of the end of history and the world as we know it. It relates to the ultimate destiny of humanity. It is from two the Greek words; eschatos, meaning “last” and logy, meaning “the study of.” In Christian theology, eschatology is the study of the religious beliefs concerning the future, final events or the “end times,” as well as the ultimate purpose(s) of the world, of mankind, and the Church. Eschatology refers to doctrine about the destiny of all things. In a Christian context, this inquiry is vested in prophesy and the purposes of God as documented in the Bible. Another way to look at eschatology is “the coming of God,” because in Christian theology, the coming of God is the decisive event that signals the end of an age and the beginning of a new age.
What Is Faith And How Do I Get It? The teacher in a children’s Sunday school class asked what faith was. A little boy raised his hand and said, “Faith is believin’ what you know ain’t true.” Many people have that concept of faith. Faith is the opposite of reason. It’s that special something that helps you hang on in spite of the evidence or in the face of no evidence, contrary to what reasonable people know. Faith is what you turn to when knowledge runs out. It is what you need when beliefs and knowledge conflict. Nine-year-old Joey was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday school. “Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his army build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely. Then he radioed head- quarters for reinforcements. They sent bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved.” “Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?” his mother asked. “Well, no, Mom. But if I told it the way the teacher did, you’d never believe it!” This is the way many people approach life; if something doesn’t make sense, then faith steps in and rewords reality so that we have something to hang on to, something to still believe in. Faith is believing something you know isn’t true, the big leap across the chasm of the unknown, the big jump no matter what the evidence. But is this genuine faith?
Influences on Your Spirituality. Newsweek magazine reported on a statue that sits in Manhattan on Fifth Avenue near the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s a three-foot statue of Cupid in a courtyard fountain. Thousands of people walk by it every day. Many admire its beauty, but most don’t pay much attention. Then an art professor, on her way home from work one evening, stopped to look more closely at it and made an amazing discovery. This Cupid statue was in fact a work of art created by none other than Michelangelo himself, the great 15th century artist. This incredible art treasure had been missing from the art world for 90 years. Thousands of people had been walking by it every day, but no one recognized it as a valuable treasure, until one person looked more closely at it. What made the difference? John Burroughs was one of America’s best-loved naturalists. In simple style, his books convey his avid enthusiasm and vast knowledge of nature. One day, Burroughs was visiting a neighbor friend. She was familiar with his writings and particularly impressed with his knowledge of birds. As they sat on her front porch, she asked him, “Why is it, John, that there are so many birds at your place, but I have no birds at all in my yard? Do I need to build some special kinds of bird houses and plant some bushes and trees that attract birds? What’s your secret?” Burroughs smiled. For the last 15 minutes he’d been watching all sorts of birds flutter in her bushes, land in her shrubs and trees. He replied, “You won’t see birds in your yard until you have birds in your heart.” Another story is told of a naturalist and his friend walking down a city street. The naturalist stopped suddenly and said, “Listen to that cricket!” His friend was amazed. “All this city racket, and you can hear a cricket?” “Oh, you can hear what you ears are attuned to,” said the naturalist. He pulled a tiny, thin dime out of his pocket and dropped it on the sidewalk. All around them, people stopped and turned their way. People do not hear the crickets or see the birds, but money? Oh, yes! What makes the difference? You see only what you have in your heart. That’s why the art professor discovered Michelangelo’s invaluable statue but not the thousands of others who walked by every day. She had art in her heart, so she saw art on the street. That’s why John Burroughs saw the birds that were invisible to the woman, and the naturalist heard the cricket. You see what you have in your heart.

Exploring Christianity

Introduction to Spiritual Growth. So how does one go about paying attention to what matters most? This is what is often referred to as “spirituality,” taking the time to pay attention to the internal issues of life, the heart-soul stuff that deals with the depth of life, the “below the waterline” concerns.Paying attention to spirituality is what ends up providing stability and ballast and depth. The result is that when the storms of life blow, there’s enough internal weight to weather it and end up not just functioning but flourishing. So how do you do it, this thing called spirituality?
Being a Christian. The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a parochial school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. A teacher made a note, and posted it on the apple tray, “Take only one. God is watching.” Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. One of the children wrote a note, “Take all you want. God is watching the apples.” Interesting picture of God, isn’t it! Sounds like the same picture many adults have; God is watching us and every little thing we do will come under judgment by God, so be very careful and be very obedient! It’s amazing how often religious people use this kind of fear and guilt to motivate godly living.
Introduction to the Bible. A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child’s work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. The girl replied, “I’m drawing God.” The teacher paused and said, “But no one knows what God looks like.” Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, “They will in a minute.” Oh the confidence of childhood! It never even occurred to this little girl that someone wouldn’t believe her or that she didn’t know what she was doing. She simply assumed that she had what it took to picture God and that people would appreciate the finished product. After all, it’s her experience of God so who can argue with that? It’s this same sense of personal authority that exudes from the book called The Holy Bible. This most widely read book in the history of the world continues to inspire millions of people as they look for a picture of God to include within the portrait of their lives. And the fact that there are so many differing pictures might say something about the differing authors included in this Book.
Does Church Help Me? Prayer is the most basic and the most powerful way that we experience God. Prayer is our attempt to reach up to God. Grace is God’s hand reaching down to us. And somewhere in there, a connection is made and we experience God. Martin Buber was a Jewish philosopher and author. He wrote a book called I and Thou in which he examined the relationship between people and things, and then by extension, he looked at the relationship between humanity and the Divine. The Divine, he explained, was always out of our reach. We cannot explain the Divine. We cannot fully know the Divine. We simply reach up, struggling, opening ourselves up, not understanding, yet yearning to connect. This, he said, was prayer. I have never found a more satisfying explanation of prayer anywhere.
A Church that Values People. The way we see and respond to life is so different. It’s almost as though diversity is hard-wired into human beings (though we have a big tendency to obscure and forget this reality).
Why Organized Religion? So what community do we belong to today? There is the national community, the country to which we belong. We are American, Canadian, British or Ghanaian or Mexican, etc. There is the regional community, where we might identify ourselves as coming from the west coast, the prairies, the south, etc. There is the metropolitan community, where we might identify ourselves as from a particular city like Toronto or Cincinnati. We reside in an city neighborhood or a suburban town, each of which has a certain reputation or social standing or historic identity. But at the end of the day, we still don’t know our neighbors. The need to belong to a community still exists, however. It is a powerful human urge. Ryan Messmore suggests that young adults are searching for a sense of community and place to belong and are turning to the government to fill that need, looking for programs and policies to create community instead of relying on natural association between neighbors and people who meet. (Messmore)
Finding Rest in a Restless World (Sabbath for Pre-Christians). We live in a world that is filled with the shocks of life; stress, anxiety, fear, danger, failure, hurt, pain, brokenness. The list is long. We are surrounded by forces that drain us, damage our dignity, and call into question our identity. Each year seems to bring with it a faster and faster pace of life, more demands on us, more things to do to just keep up and survive, not to mention what it takes to go beyond maintenance to the increasingly impossible dream of actually thriving. If there’s ever a time when we need a safe place, a secure point of reference in the middle of the rat race, a sanctuary in which we can stop and regroup, be refreshed and reassured it is now!
Forgiveness. Even the best among us spend time demanding payment, don’t we? Think about it. Doesn’t someone owe you something? An apology? A second chance? A fresh start? An explanation? A thank you? A childhood? A marriage? If we were to think about it, we could all make a list of lots of people who are in our debt. Parents should have been more protective and nurturing. Children should have been more appreciative. Spouses should be more sensitive. Employers should have been more attentive and understanding. And the list goes on.
How God Communicates. One of the fundamental truths about God is that God communicates. God is not silent, withdrawn, aloof or distant. God desires to be known. Which means that God chooses to communicate with people for that to take place. The question is, how does God communicate? What are the ways God chooses to be revealed? How does God interact with people? Let’s outline a few and notice the dynamics of each divine process.
Accepting Christ as Savior and Lord. This unit deals with the cross; the primary, most basic reality of Christian faith. This session is about the heart of the gospel, making a decision to follow Jesus. Two different approaches are included in these presenter notes.