Belonging - End of Week 1

INTRODUCTION
The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion between you and the person you’re studying with or with your Connect Group. Feel free to add, subtract, or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.

OPEN QUESTIONS
What is one of your favorite things about the Christmas season?  What’s one of your least favorite things?

HEAD

1. Read Mark 5:24-34 together and share any wisdom, insights, or thoughts that come to you from the reading.
2. Knowing that the condition of this woman at this time would have banned her to isolation for twelve years, describe what you think the journey was like for her, and at what point she finds herself in by the time she sees Jesus.
3. What risks was the woman taking to get to Jesus, knowing that there was a crowd of people around her, pressed up so tightly that she would have had to touch people to get to Jesus?  Why take those risks?
4. Why do you think the woman wanted to sneak in and sneak out to get her healing from Jesus?
5. How do you think this woman knew that simply by touching Jesus’ robe she could be healed?
6. What was the difference between the crowd touching Jesus and this woman touching Jesus?
7. What do you think verse 34 meant to the woman to hear? 

HEART

1. If you or a loved one had been sick for a long time, and you had spent everything you had but the problem only grew worse, to what lengths do you think you’d go next to seek healing?
2. Jesus wasn’t just about healing, He was about restoring.  What other ways does Jesus work to bring restoration in us aside from physical healing?
3. What do you think this story has to do with the idea of belonging?  How are we introduced to the woman at the beginning of the story versus the end of the story?
4. What lessons can we learn from this story as to how we, at Crosswalk, seek to look out for those that are lonely and on the fringe, and bring them into community?

HANDS
Think of someone you know who has been battling an illness, whether that illness is temporary or has been a long battle.  What is one thing you can do this week to encourage them in their journey and make them feel loved? Pray for them? Send a hand-written note of encouragement? Buy a plant to drop by, or a meal, or a gift card for a meal? If you can’t think of anyone, what’s one way you could bless someone who works as a health care professional as they care for others?

LIVING WORDS FOR YOUR WEEK
“When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.””
‭‭Mark‬ ‭2‬:‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬