About This Guide: This weekly groups guide, “Do Not Be Afraid,” is designed as a companion to our Advent 2021 teaching series, fostering discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting. Join a group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.
towards a complete joy
Teaching Text: 1 John 1:1-5
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
A joy like no other
Presence
Meditate on these with others:
What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?
Best toy you received as a kid?
Share a stand out christmas memory: good or bad.
Meditate on these with God:
Jesus famously said: come to me all who are burdened and heavy laden. He invites us to bring our cares and anxiety to Him.
During this season of advent, we are invited to articulate theses as we come to to him.
Take some time to ponder and confess: name longings you still have that is unfulfilled; name hopes that you have that still needs to be realized.
Ask God to meet you in these places of lack and longing. And if you can, confess these also to another person who can pray with you for these longings to be met and satisfied in Christ.
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
The shadow side of Christmas
It’s a time when you are supposed to be happy and full of wonder, but it can come with a lot of pressure; we actually know it can be a very difficult time of year many of us; and sometimes that pain can be accentuated by how much you are supposed to be loving it.
So we’ve got the music and the tree and the plans and the savings and the lists, and the good movie season. But we also have omicron, and a still broken society, and the stress, and the grief, and the mental health challenges, and tension in family relationships.
If you feel anxious or depressed and you are hearing all day every day that it’s the most wonderful time of the year it can be extra difficult.
We write this to make our joy complete. (1 John 1:4)
What makes up a real and substantial joy that can endure in loss, and banishment, and death, and loneliness, and fear and hope and promise?
The Embodiment of Eternal Life
Embodiment (theory or ideas)
We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. (1 John 1:3-4)
The Christian insistence in incarnation means that God has insisted in embodiment.
The incarnation of God in the person of Jesus says God deeply cares about this physical world and his redemption and repair of this world includes the bodies.
Moving towards the complete joy offered in Jesus is moving toward an integrated life that respects the full life God has given us and God is offering us.
God has kept the age to come under wraps, as it were, waiting to reveal it at the right time. But the secret at the heart of the early Christian movement was that the age to come had already been revealed. The future had burst into the present, even though the present time wasn’t ready for it. The word for that future was Life, life as it was meant to be, life in its full, vibrant meaning, a life which death tried to corrupt, thwart and kill but a life which had overcome death itself and was now on offer to anyone who wanted to come and take it. Life itself had come to life, had taken the form of a human being, coming into the present from God’s future, coming to display God’s coming age. And the name of that life-in-person is of course Jesus. (NT Wright)
The Fellowship of Eternal Life - Belonging (Self-Sufficiency)
This deep sharing of inner reality, this ‘fellowship’ between father and son, has been extended. It extends to all those who came to know, love and trust Jesus while he was alive, while he was, so to speak, on display as God’s public unveiling of the coming life. (NT Wright)
The Kingdom moves along relational lines by the the power of the Holy Spirit. Our advent hope, that makes possible a complete Joy is this opening of relational possibility with God.
The Light (Integrity) of Eternal Life - Wholeness (Compartments)
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:5-7)
This is how first Advent hope become future Advent hope
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5)
Advent Longing
Love
Read these notes and discuss the questions below:
God’s love was made known. It was most perfectly displayed in the incarnation of Jesus.
We are now his body and hands to reveal him to the nations, to the neigborhood we live in. Think about how you can make God’s love tangible this week to your neigbors, co workers, and loved ones.
Some ideas:
Invite your neighbors for a meal.
Plan out by yourself, with your group or family one intentional act of kindness for each week of advent.
Share in God’s nature generosity and learn about The Rebuilders Initiative.
Pray for one another in the group.
