We find ourselves in ordinary time, a time in which we learn to pay attention to the good news in the particulars of that which is routine and regular. Within the ordinary, God’s goodness abounds. Together, we act on, nurture, and discover the good news of what God continues to do among us, as we participate in the unfolding kingdom of God here and now. We take time to celebrate the goodness of God, the goodness in one another, and the good news. During this season, we are stretched to grow in our imagination of what could be. We consider what it looks like to grow in the ordinariness of gathering together, not only among ourselves, but with our neighbors in ordinary spaces. Consider using this guide as you gather together.
WEEK BY WEEK
*Readings each week come from the revised common lectionary.
June 16: Ordinary Goodness
June 23: Presence as Goodness
June 30: Discover
July 7: Brunch Sunday in the Park
July 14: Goodness of Love
July 21: Act
July 28: Good & Gracious God
August 4: Nurture
August 11: Goodness Promised
August 18: Boundaryless Good News
August 25: A Community in Conversation
DISCUSSION PROMPTS
Act: Name where the Spirit is moving in our lives and calling us to embodied participation in God’s redeeming activity in the world. Together, reflect on these experiences and identify how you might be held accountable to re-integrate that reflection back into practice, as we continue to discover the good news and be nurtured in it.
Nurture: Wonder together. Hold space to tell, and listen to, stories. Ask questions with compassionate curiosity. In what ways does the good news need to talk hold in our lives? And how God is moving us to embody the good news in the world?
Discover: As we foster a haven of belonging, name the good news at work in one another’s life. Exploring this week’s scripture reading(s), name the ways in which you see God re-narrating the world, or sharing your experience of the love of God enfolding you in divine union. Together, discover the kingdom of God breaking forth here and now.
RESOURCES
*The following is a suggested list of books and music and per usual, there’s a wide variety of thought and content (some will be challenging, some you may not agree with) that is meant to spur conversation and continued growth.
Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott
The Very Good Gospel by Lisa Sharon Harper
Luminous by T. David Beck
Present Perfect by Gregory Boyd
Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
God Can’t by Thomas J. Oord
Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
A Guidebook to Prayer by MaryKate Morse
Disunity in Christ by Christina Cleveland
Roadmap to Reconciliation by Brenda Salter McNeil
Strength to Love by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Brother, album by The Brilliance
KOSMOS, album by William Matthews