Preparations

DOWNLOAD Advent, Year C Small Groups Resources (PDF)

Fellowship – Snacks or a Meal (10 minutes with snacks; longer, obviously, if there is a meal).

Gathering Time (5-10 minutes).

To jumpstart conversation, go around the group and have people name a particular trick, habit, or “pet peeve” about preparing for a major event, occasion, or celebration. Then, invite folks to huddle in pairs or threes to say more about what they had shared. [For example, “When I was a teenager, I dreaded having special company over for dinner, because inevitably, my mother would prepare an elaborate feast that required the use of just about every single appliance, cookware, and utensil that we owned…and I was usually the ’human dishwasher.’”]

Group Dialogue (Approximately 30 minutes). Read Jeremiah 33:14-16; Luke 21:25-36.

• What words or phrases from the two lectionary selections catch your attention? Why? [nations confused; fear and foreboding; justice and righteousness; days are surely coming…] Do you hear any resonance between what is expressed in the Jeremiah and Luke passages and what we hear in wider culture and society today? [divisive politics; the fear and foreboding of war; confusion in an age of disinformation; the “average Christian” may not know what to make of “end times” …]
• When flustered by the fullness, busyness, and messiness of everyday life, what helps keep you grounded? What helps direct you to hope? [counsel from trusted friends; an embrace of a loved one; clear sense of self, values, and commitments; prayer…]
• Do you think it is okay to not have hope? Why or why not? [false hope or cheap hope can be harmful, especially for people whose backs are pressed against walls…]
• Jeremiah 33:14-16 is in a section that biblical scholars refer to as the “Book of Comfort.” It doesn’t offer a recipe for hope; instead, it stokes the imagination for what the future could be. It envisions a day when Israel and Judah will have rulers (kings) who are “just” and “righteous” (33:15) and priests who will care and mediate and intercede for the people (v. 17). Today, what visions dare we have:
  • for our political leaders?
  • for our religious leaders?
  • for the young “prophets” in our churches and communities?

• The exhortation in Luke 21:34 reads: ““Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down.” How will you commit to being on guard in this season of Advent? [e.g., take up the practice of “paying attention” as a daily spiritual discipline.]

Prayer (10 minutes). Share prayer requests and respond appropriately.

Sending Forth (2 minutes). End with the following prayer, a similar prayer, or the Lord’s Prayer:

Perfecting God, when our lives spill over in fullness, busyness, and messiness; when we are overwhelmed with fear and foreboding thoughts; when we struggle in yearning for things to be better, brighter, fairer for our communities, our nation, and world, help us pay attention, live in anticipation, and see glimpses of you breaking into our lives in places and moments we least expect. Amen.

Mai-Anh Le Tran is associate professor of religious education and practical theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. An ordained elder of the California-Nevada Annual Conference, she regularly contributes to the ministries of local churches, districts, conferences, and denominational agencies. She is the author of Reset the Heart: Unlearning Violence, Relearning Hope (Abingdon, 2017).