Mosaic Teaching Guide
29 March 09
The Fifth Sunday in Lent

Our mission is to become a diverse community of friends who know, love and serve God in the way of Jesus.

Matthew 26.36-46
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again he went away for the second time and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.”

1. Stroke
1. What happens when healing doesn’t happen? 
2. Disappointment with God
1. Have you ever been disappointed with God?
3. Let this Cup Pass From Me
1. My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.”
4. The Problem of Suffering and a Good God
1. Providence: How God works in the world:
1. Control Freak God
2. Watch Maker God
2. Toward a Third Way
5. Human Freedom and a World that’s Not Quite Right
6. Why God?
1. Much of the biblical narrative is caught up with this question.
7. Staying Awake

 

Study Guide
For Personal Study or Smaller Group Encounters

Questions for Everyone: If you had to change your first name, what name would you choose?  What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?  Would you bungee jump?  Do you still have your tonsils?

Questions for the Courageous: Have you ever been disappointed with God?  Have you ever prayed for something with great intensity without receiving the desired response from God? Have you ever prayed for healing, for yourself or someone else, without the desired result? 

On Sunday we talked about two theological explanations for the way God works in the world. Deism surmises that God made the world but doesn’t intervene in the world.  The other extreme found in some Calvinist traditions surmises that God is absolutely in control of everything.  Cancer is his doing.  Tsunamis and earthquakes all come from the hand of a God.  People are really just puppets doing God’s bidding.  It was suggested that perhaps there is a third way. 

Questions: Are you more of a Deist or a Calvinist?  What are the strengths and weaknesses of either view?  Does either seem more palatable than the other?

On Sunday we discussed the reality of suffering.  We also confessed the God is good and just. If both of these statements are true, then perhaps there is a third way of understanding the world.  Human freedom may have a great deal more to do with the world’s condition then we can imagine.  In the end our responsibility is to stay awake to God’s presence so as to do God’s bidding, but how? How do we stay awake in order to be part of God’s healing in the world?

 

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