Feb 12 2024
1. In today’s sermon, Tim talked about the way in which, “In attending to life’s measurable realities, we seem to have lost the ability to recognize life’s immeasurable realities…” He also spoke of God as, “not a mystery that is unknowable, but rather endlessly knowable.”
How do these ideas sit for you? What do they make you think of and feel?
Remembering that there are no bad answers, reflect on how important measurable, concrete realities are in the way in which you understand and show up in the world. How much space is allocated for the mysterious and unknowable in your life and in yourself?
When does it feel more natural or comfortable for you to interact with and engage with an immeasurable and endlessly knowable God? When does it feel more natural or comfortable to relate to God as more finite, certain, and calculable? What do you take away from these comparisons?
2. One slide from today’s sermon read, “God can be most easily lost by being thought found.”
Does this resonate for you? Do you have experiences in which you feel like you’ve learned this lesson, in whole or in part?
In what ways or contexts do you find yourself most likely to eelate to God as “found” in this sense? What are some of the ways in which you’ve learned to help yourself to lean into the mysteries of a mysterious God when you might be more comfortable with a certain and fully clear God? Are there other practices that help keep you engaging with the “endless unknowability” of God in general?
3. Tim talked about the concept of the “great cloud of unknowing” as a place in which we can have an encounter with God. He said that one of the places we most often encounter this cloud is in other people.
Do you have experiences in which someone else has unexpectedly brought you into an encounter with God? Share about places you’ve seen God through unanticipated or surprising experiences with other people.
What conditions make it easiest for you to
“love each other as if God is actually living through and in each other?” Which conditions make that harder for you?