10 Dec Discussion Guide: Prophets, Poets, Priests, and Kings: The Poets of Christmas
Before We Get Started
For our discussion today, we will be using the sermon series discussion guides. If you would like to follow along you can access this discussion guide on the website at mosaicchurchaustin.com and then select “community group resources” in the menu options.
Prayer
Because the primary goal of our time together is to establish relationships and learn how to walk with one another in all that God has called us to be and do, we’d like to begin by praying for one another. So, does anyone have anything you’d like us to pray for or anything to share regarding how you’ve seen God moving in your life that we can celebrate together?
This Week’s Topic
Today, we continue with our series, Prophets, Poets, Priests, and Kings: Why Christmas Makes Us Sing. Join us as we take a look, one week at a time, at how the prophets show us Jesus is The Great Light, the poets show us he is our Great Longing, the priests show us he is our Great Lover, and the kings show us he is our Great Leader.
Today’s Topic
The Poets of Christmas
Discussion Questions
What is one poem or song that you have found meaningful in life?
A Countercultural King
Isaiah 42:1-2
Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
Matthew 20:25-27
You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Rick Warren
Servants focus on others, not themselves. This is true humility: not thinking less of ourselves but thinking of ourselves less.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Everybody can be great because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.
How do you define servant leadership?
What part does humility play in leadership and positions of authority?
How do we see humility and servant leadership woven into the birth story of Jesus?
A Counterintuitive Healer
Isaiah 42:3-4
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his teaching the islands will put their hope.
Morgan Stephens
Right actions upstream (tsadaq) plus right actions downstream (mishpat) equals the way things ought to be (shalom).
Richard Sibbs, A Bruised Reed
Physicians, though they put their patients to much pain, will not destroy their nature, but will raise it up by degrees. Surgeons will pierce and cut but not mutilate. A mother who has a sick and self-willed child will not cast it away…And shall there be more mercy in the stream than there is in the spring? Shall we think there is more mercy in ourselves than in God, who plants the feeling of mercy in us? There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.
Randy Woodley, Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision
Jesus, properly understood as shalom, coming into the world from the shalom community of the Trinity, is the intention of God’s once-and-for-all mission. That is, the mission of birthing and restoring shalom to the world is in Christ, by Christ, and for the honor of Christ.
What part do mercy and justice play in healing what is broken in the world?
When you imagine our society achieving shalom, or the world becoming as it ought to be, what stands out most to you?
How is the birth of Jesus God’s answer to our longing for justice, mercy, and peace?
Our Cosmic Hope
Isaiah 42:6-7
I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles,
to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from prison
and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
Ann Voskamp, The Greatest Gift
God gives God. That is the gift God always ultimately gives. Because nothing is greater and we have no greater need, God gives God. God gives God, and we only need to slow long enough to unwrap the greatest Gift with our time: time in His Word, time in His presence, time at His feet.
Isaiah 33:22
For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King. He will Save us.
How possible is it for people to rise to the challenge when God says he has called us to righteousness in Isaiah 42?
What practices help you “unwrap” the gift of Jesus?
Can you share any specific needs you have for Jesus as King, Healer, and Hope this Christmas season?
Closing Thought
In the final moments of your time together, please read this poem aloud and take some time to share your thoughts about it.
John Westall, Oh How Shall I Keep Christmas?
O, how shall I keep my Christmas?
My heart whispered softly to me,
For I had been reading the story
Of the Lord’s nativity;
And slowly and clearly before me
The words like pictures rise,
And the scenes appear in the beauty
Of the starry Syrian skies.
O cradled He was in a manger!
For lowly and poor was He,
Whose throne is the splendors of heaven
Whose power is infinity;
And He bore His cross to save us,
To save us from death and sin,
And He trod all alone the winepress
To make us pure and clean.
In glory, the hosts of the angels
Came singing His song of praise,
And filling the heav’ns with their music
In those wonderful old days;
Singing Glory to God in the highest!
And peace upon earth,
And the mighty chorus of voices
Pealed forth goodwill to all.
O, how shall I keep my Christmas?
As they keep it in heaven above;
O keep it with peace and thanksgiving,
And kindliest deed of love;
And share with the poor and needy
The joys which the Lord gives thee;
And thy heart shall keep with the angels
The Lord’s nativity.