SESSION 12 (2023)
LEG 1 (9/25-10/8)
READING
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero
Chapter 5: Enlarge Your Soul through Grief and Loss - Surrendering to Your Limits
Fasting by Scot McKnight
Introduction: A Montage of Christian Voices on Fasting
Chapter 1: Fasting and Body Image
Chapter 2: Fasting as Body Talk
Soul Feast by Marjorie Thompson
Chapter 6: The Practice of Self-Emptying - Rediscovering the Fast (DOWNLOAD PDF)
Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun
Fasting (DOWNLOAD PDF)
PREPARING
Watch or listen to “When You Fast” from Matthew 6 in our series The Sermon on the Mount from 2021.
REFLECTING
Reflect on the following questions regarding the reading, writing in your journal:
What is one step you can take today to quiet the noise in order to listen more attentively to the voice of Jesus and slow down in order to live more faithfully to the way of Jesus? (EHS-WB, p26)
Fill in the blanks: What I am beginning to realize about God this week is _______. What I am beginning to realize about myself this week is _______. (EHS-WB, p34)
EHS-WB (p70 #2) = As you were growing up, how were you taught to deal with disappointments? Reflect on recent disappointment and how your family of origin impacted the way you dealt with it - both positively and negatively.
List out each decade of your life and identify a significant loss for each decade - they could include the loss of a relationship, loss of a job, moving, changing schools, or the death of a loved one. How has each loss impacted you? Afterwards, reflect on how you felt in the moment as you filled out each decade’s loss. How have you seen growth through your life in the way you have responded to and dealt with loss? Where do you still have room to grow? (EHS-WB - #7-8, p73-74)
Scazzero writes in EHS, “we carry many defense maneuvers into adulthood to protect ourselves from pain.” (EHS, p124) He lists eight common defenses on p124-125 and then adds two more in a similar list in the EHS Workbook: over spiritualizing and medicating. Identify three of these ten that you most relate to and turn to and briefly describe a situation of loss where this occurred. (EHS - p124-125; EHS-WB - #4, p72)
Jesus was not only fully and truly God, but also fully and truly human. We see this as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Spend time slowly reading Matthew 26:36-44 using lectio divina. How did Jesus deal with and move through his losses? What about Jesus’ example of grieving most speaks to you about embracing your own grief and loss? (EHS-WB - #5-6, p72)
As we enter into the spiritual practice of fasting, what are you most nervous or apprehensive about and why do you think that is?
What are your past experiences (good or bad) with fasting (as far as a spiritual practice, not from a dieting perspective)? What was your reason for fasting?
After reading the opening two chapters of Dr McKnight’s book, how has your perception of fasting changed?
PRACTICING
In the first leg you will be fasting from a meal in its entirety. Please note that if you have any health related conditions that require you to modify this fast, please feel the freedom to do so. Prepare for your fast by answering the following questions in anticipation of what is to come:
WHAT are you going to fast from? (for this fast, a fast from food is encouraged)
WHEN are you going to fast? (i.e., what meal on what day)
HOW are you going to use this time?
WHO do you need to inform? (at a minimum, let others in your household and formation group know)
LEG 2 (10/9-10/22)
READING
Emotionally Healthy Discipleship by Peter Scazzero
Chapter 6: Discover the Treasures Buried in Grief and Loss
Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Chapter 5: Confession and Communion
Fasting by Scot McKnight
Chapter 3: Fasting as Body Turning
Chapter 4: Fasting as Body Plea
Chapter 5: Fasting as Body Grief
REFLECTING
Reflect on the following questions regarding the reading, writing in your journal:
In Chapter 3, Dr McKnight suggest adding a fast to different moments in our lives: during holy days such as Lent; when God seems absent from us; when we recognize our own complicity in the problems around us; at conversions or baptisms. In what ways could this response to events bind us as a community of faith? How might fasting at these times deep our commitment as well as our memories of the events? (Fasting - CH3, p171)
How would the addition of fasting to our prayers help unify us, body and spirit, in our pleas to God for help in the five situations explained by Dr. McKnight in Chapter 4? In what ways do you think fasting could make us more aware of God’s guidance and direction in our life along with prayer? (Fasting - CH4, p171)
Fasting as a natural result of great sorrow is probably the most natural form of fasting. Thinking back to times of loss in your life, in what ways do you think grief and the natural urge to fast show a respect, a way of honoring the depth of that loss? How does such a fast draw us nearer to God? (Fasting - CH5, p171-172)
Spend time exploring the iceberg as Scazzero refers to it in EHD, reflecting on the following four questions to help you identify and pay attention to your emotions, particularly those that may be hidden beneath the surface. Before engaging the questions, close your eyes, and sit quietly for a few moments. Ask God to guide you and speak to you (much like the way we begin our corporate lectio divina after the sermon on Sunday). Be open to what God may want to bring to the surface. (EHD, p120-121)
a) What are you angry about (a betrayal, a coworker’s hurtful comment, a car breakdown, unanswered prayer, etc)?
b) What are you sad about (a small or big loss, disappointment, or a choice you or others have made)?
c) What are you anxious about (your finances, future, family, health, church)?
d) What are you glad about (your family, an opportunity, your church)?
Scazzero lists a number of individuals from Scripture who had to learn to wait on God (EHD, p122). Whose story do you most relate to and why? What can you learn from their story to help you learn to more patiently wait on God?
In all the “Breakthrough” sections in Chapter 5 of Life Together (Breakthrough to Community, to the Cross, to New life, and to Certainty), which one was the most instructive for you personally and why is that? How does this change the way you approach community and life together with others?
PRACTICING
In the second leg you will be fasting from food for a day (for example from sun up to sun down). Please note that if you have any health related conditions that require you to modify this fast, please feel the freedom to do so. Prepare for your fast by answering the following questions in anticipation of what is to come:
WHAT are you going to fast from? (for this fast, a fast from food is encouraged)
WHEN are you going to fast? (i.e., what day)
HOW are you going to use this time?
WHO do you need to inform? (at a minimum, let others in your household and formation group know)
LEG 3 (10/23-11/5)
READING
Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren
Chapter 4: Losing Keys - Confession and the Truth About Ourselves
The Cry of the Soul by Dan Allender & Tremper Longman III
Introduction
Chapter 1: Emotions - The Cry of the Soul
Chapter 2: The Psalms - The Voice of the Soul
Chapter 3: Relationships - The Context of the Cry
Then read the two chapters that show the unrighteous and righteous sides of the emotion you most connected with out of the six
REFLECTING
Reflect on the following questions regarding the reading, writing in your journal:
When small things go wrong in your day, how do you typically respond? What do you do? Reflect on a recent example (likely one from earlier today or yesterday). What does your response reveal about your loves and fears? (LOTO - #1-2, p163)
Have you ever confessed sin aloud to another person? Why or why not? If so, what was that like? How did you feel entering in to the conversation? During the conversation? After the conversation? How did this differ from a private confession? (LOTO - #5,7, p163-164)
Throughout your life you have likely been told that certain emotions were bad and others were good. Which emotions were you taught to believe were in and of themselves bad? How has this impacted you in your expression of these specific emotions? How has your view of this changed?
Which of the six emotions (anger, fear, jealousy, despair, contempt, shame) did you choose from the table on p44 in The Cry of the Soul? What made you select that emotion instead of the others?
Reflect on your own unrighteous demonstration of this emotion. How are you seeing this emotion in a different light after reading the corresponding “righteous” chapter? Think back to a recent time when you felt this emotion. How might you feel this emotion differently? How might you respond out of this emotion differently?
Spend an extended time reflecting on your journey through fasting over these three legs. How has your perspective of fasting changed? What have you learned about God through your fasting? How has this spiritual practice deepened your awareness of God and affection for God?
PRACTICING
In the third leg you will be fasting from something of your choosing for an entire week (such as social media). Prepare for your fast by answering the following questions in anticipation of what is to come:
WHAT are you going to fast from?
WHEN are you going to fast? (i.e., what days)
HOW are you going to use this time?
WHO do you need to inform? (at a minimum, let others in your household and formation group know)
PUBLISHED: Wednesday, September 13th, 2023, at 3:07PM CT
UPDATED: -