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Where God Is Nadia Bolz-Weber

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Where God Is Nadia Bolz-Weber WElcome To ANImATe! SesSIOn TItLeS This Facilitator Guide will help you make the most out of GoD | FAItH IS A QUEST the videos and the Journal. As you prepare to dive into this ReLIgIOn | SpIRItualitY IS NoT EnOUgH session, keep these things in mind: • You know your group best. Adjust the activities as JEsUS | THe ReVOlUTIoN Of LoVE needed based on the interests, questions, and SAlVATIoN | ABUndant LIfE NoW background of group members. • Get ready for creativity. The Journal is meant to CRoSs | WHEre GoD IS be a right brain experience. Think of the animate BIbLe | A BoOK LIKe No OtHEr experience as a journey through the content with many stopping points based on the questions, CHURCH | AN IMpErFeCT FaMIlY wonderings, and interests of the group. • You don’t have to know everything. As a facilitator, you don’t have to be the expert, or even agree with everything the speakers say. Be ready to spark Icon WATCH conversation and see where this takes the group Look for these icons that guide you in activities. as you explore these ideas together. • Social media can help. Think of ways to use social — Group ACTIVIties wiTH quesTIoNs designeD media and other online tools to keep the conversation To helP animATe conVErsation. going. How about a Facebook group, a Twitter — INtRoducToRY and out-Going THoughtS hashtag, or posts on Instagram or Pinterest? To Set-UP THe Session and To KEeP intEracTIoNs GoIng BeTWeEn SessionS. — Leader TipS: ideas To helP facilITAtOrS SesSIOn FloW IDEAs facilITAtE. To get each session started, try this structure: — Factoids: infOrMAtIonal TidbItS To • Recap previous animate sessions or other learning Spice UP THe conVErsation. experiences. — QuotEs FrOm THe Video and ElSewheRe To Get FoLKs ThinKing. • Update the group on any between-session — FoOtNoTeS: EXtra bacKgRound MAtErial reflections or research. To MAKe You Sound EVen SmartEr. • Explore the content on the first Journal spread. • View the video. • Dive into the rest of the Journal content together. FoR BeSt ResULtS CROSS | WHERE GOD IS • Reproduce the Facilitator Guide in landscape format on 11x17 paper. NADIA BOLZ-WEBER • Reproduce the Journal pages in landscape format on 8.5x11 paper. What is it about us that makes us always choose • For both resources, use a color copier. the bedazzled cross and not the actual one? Animate Faith Facilitator Guide. Cross: Where God Is. wearesparkhouse.org ©2013 sparkhouse. All rights reserved. May be reproduced for local use only provided each copy carries this notice. 1 CRoSs: Where GoD is | Nadia BoLz-WEbeR In the last session, Shane Hipps introduced some different ways to think about salvation. Now, Nadia offers her take on the cross and how we might make sense of what was accomplished by the crucifixion of Jesus. Nadia asks us to think about Nadia challEnGeS TWo Views Of THe how our interpretation of the cross lines up with our understanding of God. cross that are central to many Christians’ faith. This may fly in the face of your beliefs or the beliefs of your group members. If objections arise, direct the conversation toward healthy debate. Asking questions, disagreeing, and looking for answers are MaKe This weeK’S ToPic—THe croSs— central to journeying in faith. obvious. Fill the meeting space with a variety of crosses. Announce NADIANADIA BoLz-WEbeR BoLzBoLz-W WEbeREbeR HAS HAS BeEn BeEn THe THe PAsToRPAsToR Of HoUSeHoUSe FoRFoR ALlALl SInNeRsSInNeRs AnDA nD SAInTsSAInTs BYOC (Bring Your Own Cross) by texting or emailing the group ahead IN DEnVeRDEnVeR SInCESInCE ITsITs INCePtIOnINCePtIOn IN 200200822008.008. of time. Have songs about the cross playing as people arrive. Ideas IN 20082002008,8, HHEr Er FIrSt BoOKBoOBoOK,K, Salvation on thethe Small Screen Screen, DOCUmEnTeDDOCUmEnTeD HErH Er eXPeRIeNCeeeX XP include, “By the Marks” by Gillian Welch, “The Beautiful, Terrible Cross” Of WATCHInG 24 COnSeCUTIVe by Selah, or the traditional hymn “Lift High the Cross.” HOUrS oF THe tRInITY BrOADCAsT NNetWOrK. SInCESInCE THTHeN, eN SHSHe e HAsHAs COCOnTInUED nTInUED To SSpEAK, pEAK PrEACH,PrEACH AND WRItE ABoUT tHE DeLICAtE BAlANCeBAlANCe Be BeTWeEnTWeEn tH tHee AN ANCIenTCIenT LI LItURgICALtURgICAL TrADItIOnS oF HEr DeNoMInATIoN AnD THeTHe PoPoStMoDErN StMoDErN SSensIBIlITIeS ensIBIlITIeS OOf f ToDAY’SToDAYToDAY’S CHRIsTIAnS. CHRIsTIAnSCHRIsTIAnS. FoR NADIA, NADIA THe CRoSs TeLlS Us As MUCH ABoABoUT THeTHe NAtURe NAtURe Of Of GoD GoD AS IT IT DOeS DOeS ABoUT ABoUT tHE tHE StATe StATStAT You’ll see in the video that Nadia Of HUMAnITY.H HUMAnITYUMAnITY talks about lots of different crosses— MoReMoM Re NADIAN ADIA TrIVIAT rIVIA the cross Jesus died on, the ornate + OrDAINeDO LUtHErAN MInIStEr, ElCA + WOrKEDWOrKED AS A ssTAnD-UPsTAnDTAnD-UU UPP COmEDIAnCOCOmEDImEDIAn crosses the church created, and everything in + COlLeCTsC BeLt bUCKLebUCKLeSS between. She asks a tough question: “How [did] + BlOgSB AT sARCAsTIClUtHErAN.COm sARCAsTIClUtHErAN COm + BAB IN ReLIgIOUs StUDIEs FrOm an instrument of death and torture in the Roman UNIVeRsITYUNU IVeRsITY Of Of CoLoRADo CoLoRADo ATAT BoULDeR BoULDeR Read Romans 6:1-14 together. Empire . have anything to do with a loving God?” + MDIVM FrOm THe ILIfF SCHoOl oF THeOloGY This passage connects the cross with Talk about images of the cross with your group. NADIA’SNA BoOKs: + SAlVATIoNSAlVATIoN OnO n THeTH e SmALlSm ALl sCReEnsC ReEn baptism. Martin Luther said, “The Old Adam • What comes to mind when you think about the in each of us is a pretty strong swimmer and cross? Images? Music? Feelings? Situations? is not easily drowned in the waters of baptism.” • What are some unusual places you’ve seen a cross? What does this mean? Our sinfulness is with us our • Read Nadia’s quote to the group. Reactions? whole lives. Being baptized doesn’t make us sin-free. Perhaps the truly unusual place is a cheap A PAIr Of NADIA’S TAtTOoS ReAD “SImIL IUStUs Et PeCCAToR” WHICH Encourage group members to write this quote in jewelry rack in a discount store! MeANs “SImULtANeOUsLY SAInT AND SInNEr” IN LAtIn. CEnTrAL tO NADIA’S UNDeRsTAnDINg Of FAItH IS THIs IDEA their Journals. Talk about the quote together. THAt HUMAn BeINgS ARe A MIX Of CoNtRADICtIOnS AND • When have you felt like Old Adam or Eve was THAt tHEre IS ALWAYs SoMe TeNsIOn IN THe MIDsT Of THe StOrIEs We TeLl. THAt’S TrUE Of THe CRoSs sitting in the Devil’s place on your shoulder? AS WElL. THe CRoSs HAs LoNg CARrIED IT’S OWn SeEmINg COnTrADICtIOnS. IT IS A sYMbOl oF • Draw a chart, graph, or sketch DEsTrUCtIOn AND RenEWAl, DEAtH AND LIfE, OpPrEsSIoN AnD FrEeDOm. THIs tEnSIoN representing the levels of sinner and BeTWeEn DeSpAIR AND HOpE IS eVErYWHeRe IN THe tWIStED RoAD Of THe CHRIsTIAn StOrY. saint you see within yourself. To get to know who Nadia is, follow 72 cross: where god is | nadia bolz-weber 73 the tats. She has images of the cross and Luther’s Latin phrase simul justus et peccator, which means “simultaneously righteous and a sinner.” Nadia’s church is called “House of All Saints and Sinners.” Notice a pattern? • How do Nadia’s tattoo images relate to each other? • If you were going to get a tattoo representing LUther MeNtioned THe PHrase “simul justUs Et PeccaToR” your belief about the cross, what would it “I caMe To the ChrisTian faitH BY A Twisted as earLY as 1515, TWo YearS BeFoRe he PoSteD THe 95 look like? Sketch it in your Journal. Road . IT tOoK Me TeN YearS, A nagging THeSes. SeVEral Years latEr in A Treatise Of 1521 called • Why might someone start a church called chemical abusE PrObLeM, and A cuTe NeW “AgainSt LAtOmus,” he DeVeLoPeD THe concepT BY arguing “House of All Saints and Sinners”? LUtheran BoYFrienD FoR Me To comE bacK THAt we are NoT justifieD BY our “innEr rigHTeousNeSs” To the ChrisTian faitH.” –Nadia BoLz-WEbeR • If you could start a church, what but bY ChrisT’S rigHTeousNeSs. LUther BelieVed THAt our sinfulNeSs ReMainS wiTH us throughoUT our liVeS. would you call it and why? Chapter 7 of Paul’s letter to the Romans played big with Luther, especially Romans 7:19: “The good that I wish I do not do, but I practice the “In 1517 in the little university town of Wittenberg, Germany, a Roman Catholic Monk named Martin Luther proposed ninety-five very evil that I do not wish.” Interpreters continue to debate whether Paul was portraying himself as a Christian (Luther’s view) or speaking statements for debate about the Christian faith.” Rolf Jacobson goes on to assert in Crazy Talk: A Not So Stuffy Dictionary the frustration of someone who has not yet embraced Christ or received God’s Spirit (John Wesley’s view). of Theological Terms (Minneapolis, Minn.: Augsburg Books, 2008) that by doing so Martin Luther started “a revolution in Christianity” that is “still happening.” 2 CRoSs: Where GoD is | Nadia BoLz-WEbeR Watch the video together. Leave a couple quiet minutes after it ends for the group to write or sketch in the Journal, or just think. Then talk together about Nadia’s point of view. • What three pictures of God does Nadia paint? • Which picture of God do you most relate to? Look at the variety of crosses in the • Have you always thought of God that way or THe CRoSs Journal and in the room. Take a tour of your did you used to view God differently? How so? HAD BeEn A AS YOU LoOK AT tHEse SYmBoL Of CRCRoSsEsCRoSsEs,oSsEs, WWHICHHICH OOnEsnEs church building or ask group members to recall • How is thinking of “God on the cross” different THe CHRIsTIAn ARe YOU DRAWn To? what crosses they’ve seen in the church. As a group, from thinking of “God above the cross”? CHURCH SInCE WHWHICHICH OnOnEsEs FFeELeEL assign an adjective to each cross.
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