Each week we’re publishing some questions to think about based on the Sunday messages & Bible readings.
These can be used in home groups, with others or on your own, and are designed to help you engage in the passage and themes in more depth and reflect on how God might be speaking to you through them.
There wasn't a sermon this week, so instead we're building on some of the themes from the prayer time we had together.
Opening Prayer
Father God,
We thank You that You have made Yourself known to us through Jesus Christ.
Thank You for the truth of the gospel, for Your love shown at the cross, and for the hope we have through the resurrection.
As we meet together, remind us that You are greater than our understanding, deeper than our wisdom, and beyond anything we can fully comprehend.
Give us humble hearts, willing ears, and teachable spirits.
Help us to listen carefully to You, to Scripture, and to one another.
Through Your Holy Spirit, reveal more of Yourself to us and shape us into a church that seeks You together with prayer, listening, and humility.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
Reading & Questions
- The sermon suggested that we need to try and hold together two truths illustrated by these two passages:
- We can confidently affirm historic Christian belief (especially as articulated in the Nicene Creed) and that God is revealed to us in Jesus.
- We do not have all the answers, and there is always more for us to learn about who God is.
How do you feel about living with this tension?
- James quoted the fourth century theologian Gregory Nazianzen, who said 'The deity cannot be expressed in words, but all we can do is sketch him by his attributes and so obtain a certain faint, feeble and partial idea concerning him.'
What do you think Gregory meant by this?
- How can/should the suggestion that none of us can comprehend the fullness of God shape the way we approach theological disagreements?
- James suggested we should listen to others, including voices we might normally overlook. Why can this be difficult? How might our understanding of God grow through listening well? What might God teach us through the voices of others, and especially those who have often been marginalised?
- How can we as a church remain deeply committed to our core beliefs while also remaining humble, teachable, and open to learning?