Elemental Season 1 - End of Week 3

Deconstruction - how you take your faith apart matters (deconstruction, tools of deconstruction, inspiration, interpretation, what can we really know, epistemology)

INTRO
The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion. Feel free to add or subtract or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.

OPEN
Have you ever taken apart something that you couldn’t get back together?  Or did you ever start a job and realized you needed a special tool to finish the job?

HEAD
Read Psalm 22: 1-2 together and share any wisdom, insights, or questions in response to the reading.

How do you think the Psalmist felt when he sat down to write this Psalm?

If you stop here and don’t read further, what would you imagine this Psalm is about.

Now read all of Psalm 22 together and share any wisdom, insights, or questions in response to the reading.

How do you think the Psalmist turned from feeling distant, no relief, to seeing God as holy and “enthroned on the praises of Israel”?

Jesus quoted Psalm 22: 1-2 from the cross, but Rabbi’s in his time would rarely have just quoted part of a Psalm.  More likely, they would have quoted the whole Psalm.  Even more likely, they would have sung it.  If true, how would Jesus singing this Psalm of victory from the cross change how you see him in that moment?

If Scripture is a critical tool for constructing our faith, and Scripture says it “is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path” and it is “alive and powerful,” how do you think a document over 2,000 years old speaks to us today?

Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14: 6). What does it mean to you that Jesus Himself IS truth?  How do you think Jesus may have felt when standing before Pilate and Pilate said, “What is truth?”

HEART
Deconstructing our faith can be incredibly scary at times, isolating.  We can feel distant from God.  What can we learn from Psalm 22 that can be encouraging when we feel this way?

Why do you think Scripture impacts us at different times and in different ways over the years? For example, we can read a passage 10 times over 10 years and it can impact us in 10 different ways.  Why?


HANDS
What are some of your tools for this journey of faith?  Who are some of the people that have helped you, or that you could foresee helping you, as you navigate your faith with all it’s questions and doubts?  What is one intentional way you can engage in these tools as we continue through this sermon series?

WORDS TO LIVE BY
“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message….“O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”
John 17:20, 25-26 NLT