Over the past six weeks, you've courageously engaged with some of Christianity's most challenging paradoxes—questions that many people think about but rarely get permission to discuss. Courageously facing these disruptive tensions is the pathway from simplistic answers to a mature, robust trust in God.
Over the past six weeks, you've courageously engaged with some of Christianity's most challenging paradoxes—questions that many people think about but rarely get permission to discuss. So for some, these conversations are a relief. Finally, a safe space to wrestle with my questions! For others, confronting these unsettling issues was upsetting. I didn't realize following Jesus would be so hard. Or perhaps you've experienced both perspectives! But courageously facing these disruptive tensions is the pathway from simplistic answers to a mature, robust trust in God.
To integrate these challenging paradoxes into a more mature and resilient Life Plan. We will celebrate the courage it takes to wrestle with difficult questions, develop spiritual practices that sustain our connection to God in difficult seasons, and find ways to support and encourage each other.
Over the past six lessons, we've fallen into valleys and climbed mountains. This is the challenging terrain where pat answers and easy explanations fall flat, and we crave God's time-tested wisdom.
**God is Good, Yet Suffering is Real:** How can we trust in God's goodness when we experience suffering?
**Christ Is Lord, Except In Our Lives:** God loves us and lives with us, yet we still battle persistent sin.
**God is Near, but Feels Far Away:** How do we live faithfully when God seems distant, silent, or absent?
**Hard Work, Total Rest:** We seek to embrace both God-honoring work and restorative rest as integrated rhythms of a flourishing Christian life.
**Unchanging Truth, Changing Questions:** With so much disagreement, how can we confidently interpret God's Word?
**God's Revelation, Stubborn Doubts:** We attempted to develop honest practices for navigating doubts as faithful disciples of Jesus.
For some Christians, these six discussions were a relief and a comfort. You found it energizing to engage in these deeply! You're feeling grateful for a community that can handle uncomfortable questions and more compassion for your friends who are struggling with doubts or suffering. You knew life was hard, but now you have faith strong enough to handle these challenges.
For others, you didn't enjoy these sessions. You're still unsettled by some questions that didn't resolve, tired from the emotional weight of wrestling in the dark, and uncertain about what you believe. Of course, that's why we're discussing these disruptive paradoxes. Permitting yourself to work through tough questions with Christian friends who love and support you is one way that God invites us to grow.
I studied philosophy in college, and I'm hard-wired to pursue skeptical, even cynical objections to Christianity. But as much as I enjoy the intellectual challenge, I've unexpectedly endured long seasons of disillusionment, doubt, and frustration. There's no 'right' way to go through these paradoxes, except the requirement to love one another as we struggle together.
Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God. Carry one another's burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body.
Which paradox most challenged your intellectual confidence in Christianity?
What questions feel too dangerous to ask?
Where have you felt God's absence?
What forms of suffering are hardest to reconcile with God's goodness?
How has persistent sin affected your sense of identity in Christ?
What spiritual practices have sustained you through difficulty?
Lord, we come before you having wrestled with some of the hardest questions of faith. Some of us feel strengthened; others feel weary. Meet us where we are.
Thank you for this community where we can be honest about our struggles. Help us to carry one another's burdens and fulfill the law of Christ.
We are afflicted but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair. We carry the death of Jesus in our bodies so that his life may be displayed in us. Amen.
How has wrestling with difficult questions deepened your relationship with God?
What spiritual practices feel more authentic now?
Do you want to integrate lament, questions, or discussing your struggles with God in prayer?
What contemplative practices could help you encounter God in the darkness?
How has wrestling with hard questions affected your ability to love others?
Where do you need more support from your community?
Is there anyone you can be vulnerable and unfiltered with?
Where do you need better boundaries to protect yourself from hurtful people?
What have these paradoxes revealed about your spiritual needs?
Are you in a season of spiritual survival, steady growth, or faithful service to others?
When you feel ashamed, what restores your connection to God?
Even amidst suffering, what is the purpose of your life?
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