Advent 03: The Wilderness of Advent

Redemption Church KC Sermon Podcast

1. One of Tim’s slides in his sermon today read, “the trajectory of our lives will shape the way we react when Messiah shows up.”
How do you understand what this means? How would you describe the trajectory of your own life, relative to this concept? What has it looked like or would it look like for you to orient or position your life on a trajectory that is or would be better able to receive Messiah when Messiah shows up?
2. Part of John the Baptist’s message to those who came to the wilderness to hear him was that they can’t rely on their status as part of the people of Israel to ensure their ability to receive Messiah and move toward the Kingdom.
Reflect on the fact that this admonition also applies to us today. Consider that neither your status in church membership nor your embrace of Christian cultural traditions are reliable qualifications for your readiness to receive Messiah in your life. How do you feel as you sit in that idea for a moment? What questions arise for you? What ideas?
3. Whether you count yourself among their numbers or not, how does it feel to consider those who are in processes of deconstruction and reconstruction as people in the process of repentance? Tim called the undertaking brave and faithful. How does that tally with the ways in which you usually think about deconstruction and those in the process?
Do you consider yourself as one of the people in the midst of deconstruction and reconstruction? How does it feel to consider yourself, in that context, as brave? As faithful? As repenting?
Share about what this framework for deconstruction and reconstruction stirs in your thoughts and feelings, and how it relates to your own experience.