Shalom: Wholeness for all Creation
Psalm 51, Exodus 14:13-14
Nathan Nelson, Pastor of Missions and Outreach, nathann@churchbcc.org
The parting of the Red Sea divides two distinct chapters in Israel’s history; their liberation from captivity in Egypt and their 40 year adventure through the wilderness.
This Ash Wednesday we are invited to a similar precipice moment in our lives with God... to be set free from our places of bondage and step further into the journey of transformation that awaits us in the wild of God’s story.
Through Moses, God gives Israel three invitations:
- To not be afraid
- To stand and see
- To keep still
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Discussion Questions
Before questions, attempt to give the group a bit of a summary of the main points of the sermon and then choose a few questions that fit your group’s needs and style. We don’t intend for you to use all of these. Three to five questions may be a good number.
Pastor Nathan’s notes are listed below but he closed our time together with the following questions to reflect upon:
- How would you define the shore you come up against in your life today?
- When you look back, what brokenness seeks to entrap you and keep you captive? (For example, is it addiction, prejudice, a superiority complex of some kind, a way of seeing the world that to let go of would mean letting go of how you’ve seen things or certain privileges you enjoy, is it bitterness, anger, or deceit)?
- What uncertain waters lie ahead? (ex. the fear of, what would happen if you confessed, if you sought help, if you named it… said it aloud, acknowledge it as part of your story)?
- What might it be for you personally, or for us collectively as a church, as a community here in Seattle?
- At the outset of this Lenten season what would you have the courage to repent and be brought to ashes?
- End with pray for one another that in doing so you may enter the wilderness on the journey of transformation with Christ that lies ahead!