03 Dec Discussion Guide: Prophets, Poets, Priests, and Kings: The Prophets 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 begin 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 Prophets of Christmas
Isaiah 9:2-7
The people walking in darknesshave seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
Discussion Questions
Do you have an advent calendar that you use to count the days until Christmas?
Confronting the Darkness
Barbara Brown Taylor, Learning to Walk in the Dark
Even when light fades and darkness falls–as it does every single day, in every single life–God does not turn the world over to some other deity…Here is the testimony of faith; darkness is not dark to God; the night is as bright as the day.
Tim Keller
The world is a dark place, and yet the coming of Jesus Christ shows us no one and nothing is hopeless.
Lauren Daigle
The world waits for the miracleThe heart longs for a little bit of hopeOh come, oh come Emmanuel
Why is facing and naming the darkness in the world or our personal lives important?
What darkness feels particularly troubling for you right now?
How can the waiting season of Advent help us wait for God in other areas of our life?
Reaching for the Light
Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking
We can’t see light itself. We can see only what light lights up, like the little circle of night where the candle flickers-a sheen of mahogany, a wineglass, a face leaning toward us out of the shadows.
When Jesus says that he is the Light of the World (John 8:12), maybe something like that is part of what he is saying. He himself is beyond our seeing, but in the darkness where we stand, we see, thanks to him, something of the path that stretches out from the door, something of whatever it is that keeps us trying more or less to follow the path even when we can hardly believe that it goes anywhere worth going or that we have what it takes to go there, something of whoever it is that every once in a while seems to lean toward us out of the shadows.
Anne Lamott
Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.
Mary Oliver, Singapore
If the world were only pain and logic, who would want it?
Of course, it isn’t.
Neither do I mean anything miraculous, but only
the light that can shine out of a life.
Given light’s illusive, non-material nature, what does “reaching” for it look like for you?
How does God’s Light “reach” for us?
During Christmas, we see many more lights in our neighborhoods. What role do lights play in Advent for you?
The Unfailing Light of the World
John 1:1-5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were created through Him, and without Him nothing was created that was created. In Him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. The light shines in darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.
1 John 1:5-7
This then is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Psalm 27:1-2
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom will I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
of whom will I be afraid?.
What are some ways we can best shine the light of Jesus with the people around us during Christmastime?
How does focusing on the light of Jesus help us overcome fear as Psalm 27 promises?
Can you share about a time when God sent light to rescue, lead, strengthen, or comfort you?
Closing Thought
Ann Voskamp, The Greatest Gift
He who carved the edges of the cosmos curved Himself into a fetal ball in the dark, tethered Himself to the uterine wall of a virgin, and lets His cells divide, light splitting all white. He gave up the heavens that were not even large enough to contain Him and lets Himself be held in a hand. The mystery so large becomes the Baby so small, and infinite God becomes infant.
Take some time to pray for light and hope together, especially given whatever needs people in the group might have. End your prayer time by thanking God for sending his Light-of-the-World-Son into the world to save us from the darkness of sin.